🔸Layered Blending

Overview

Component

Layered Blending combines the main Animator output with the Overlay.

Global Weight — controls the overall influence of the component.
Always Animate Poses — evaluates Overlays every frame. Disable to process them once for better performance.
Link Animator Parameters — updates parameters in the current Overlay Animator Controller using values from the main Animator.
Apply Root Motion — toggles root motion.

Tip: Click “Generate Layered Blends” when skeleton hierarchy is updated - it will re-create Layered Blends elements.

Layering

Layered Blends define which body parts are affected and which float parameters drive the blending.

Generated bone chains (by default):

Lower Body (legs and pelvis)
Spine
Head
Left Arm / Right Arm
Fingers

Tip: You can create custom bone chains. Click ”+” and then “Edit” to pick bones.

Each blending layer exposes three weights:

Base Weight — mixes Base Pose vs. Overlay on this layer
Additive Weight — scales additive motion on this layer
Local Weight — blends the Overlay in local space (useful for fingers/toes; sometimes arms)

All layering parameters are Animation Curves that are attached to an Overlay clip. At runtime, Animation Clips update their values, hence telling the system how to blend them with the main Animator output.

Tip: This gives greater flexibility to any Animation Clip used in the Overlay, as each animation can have a unique blending with the locomotion.

Overlay Parameters

You can propagate custom float parameters from the base Animator to Overlays using Overlay Parameters. Each overlay parameter acts as an additive offset that CAS applies on top of the base value at runtime.

Add a parameter and bind a float Add a float parameter to the Overlay Parameters list. At runtime, CAS will add this float to the current value of the corresponding Animator parameter.
Example: Disabling IK while climbing To disable hand IK when the character is climbing:
- In your climbing animation, add a float parameter named Enable_HandL_IK.
- Set its value to -1.
- Add Enable_HandL_IK to the Overlay Parameters list in CAS.
When the climbing overlay is active, CAS adds -1 to the current Enable_HandL_IK value, effectively masking it out (disabling the IK for that hand).

This mechanism lets the base Animator drive the parameter while Overlays locally adjust or override it.

Curve Property Editor

Adding Curves

To add layering properties to an Animation Clip, right-click on the animation and select “Edit Curve Properties”:

Use ”+” to add, and ”-” to remove a property. The toggle box is used to switch between the slider and free-range property. The latter is useful when a value has to be specifically out of [0;1] slider’s range. All custom float properties are added to Animation Clips as curves. It’s possible to edit the curve directly, instead of using the float field or slider. Right-click on the parameter and select “Curve Mode”:

Curve Mode means the property will be represented as a curve. Value Mode means that the property will be a constant curve with a value assigned in the slider or float field.

Blending Parameters

Layered Blending provides these float properties by default:

Layering_LowerBody
Layering_Spine
Layering_Head
Layering_Arm_R
Layering_Arm_L
Layering_Fingers

These additional floats are available for use with Procedural Animation and IK:

Mask_Procedural_Animation
Weapon_Bone_Weight
Mask_Look_Rotation
Mask_Attach_Hand
Enable_HandR_IK / Enable_HandL_IK
Enable_FootR_IK / Enable_FootL_IK

Each new blending parameter is authored as a float curve in the animation clip and bound to a corresponding public float property. At runtime, Unity creates and resolves these bindings, allowing clips to drive our layering properties. Those values are then forwarded to the Layered Blending component. Unity has an important limitation: it does not automatically reset curve-bound values each frame. As a result, if an animation clip sets Enable_HandR_IK to 1, that value can persist even after the clip stops playing. These “stale” values may continue influencing blending and lead to incorrect results. To prevent this, manually reset the layering curves in your main Animator Controller:

Create a new default layer (first in the layer order).
Drag the Curves_Default clip from CAS into that layer.

Tip: This ensures all blending parameters are driven back to 0 every frame, eliminating issues caused by lingering values.

Custom Properties

Prefabs

Assign the Character Prefab to add a public float field or property from a component:

Click Add Custom Parameter and select the desired property:

Once selected, it will appear in the parameter list and Animation Clip:

Float parameter curve in the Animation Clip.

Animator Controller

Assign the controller reference to select a float parameter from an Animator Controller:

Runtime API

You will usually switch overlays through CharacterAnimationComponent. These members are useful when your gameplay code needs to talk to the active layered blend itself.

Drive an overlay controller

public AnimatorControllerPlayable OverlayAnimator { get; }
public bool IsAnimatorValid();

When the current profile uses an Overlay Animator Controller, OverlayAnimator gives you its playable. Check IsAnimatorValid() first. A profile that uses a single Overlay Pose has no controller to drive.

using KINEMATION.CharacterAnimationSystem.Scripts.Runtime.Core;
using UnityEngine;

public sealed class OverlayActions : MonoBehaviour
{
    [SerializeField] private LayeredBlendingComponent layeredBlending;

    public void PlayAttack()
    {
        if (!layeredBlending.IsAnimatorValid()) return;

        layeredBlending.OverlayAnimator.SetTrigger("Attack");
    }
}

PlayAttack only talks to the overlay controller when one is running. The rest of CAS can still use a static pose for profiles that do not need controller states.

Fade or replace the active blend

public virtual void UpdateDynamicBoneBlending(float weight = 0f);
public void StopLayeredBlending(float blendOutTime = -1f);
public virtual void UpdateLayeringData(AnimationLayeringData layeringData);

UpdateDynamicBoneBlending lets dynamic bones fade with the overlay. StopLayeredBlending fades the current overlay out. Give it a duration when you want a specific fade; otherwise, it uses the active profile’s blend-out time. UpdateLayeringData swaps the base pose, overlay, and blend settings. The data needs a base pose plus an overlay pose or controller. For normal profile changes, call CharacterAnimationComponent.UpdateAnimationSettings instead. It prepares this data for you.

using KINEMATION.CharacterAnimationSystem.Scripts.Runtime.Core;
using UnityEngine;

public sealed class OverlayVisibility : MonoBehaviour
{
    [SerializeField] private LayeredBlendingComponent layeredBlending;

    public void SetDynamicBoneWeight(float weight)
    {
        layeredBlending.UpdateDynamicBoneBlending(Mathf.Clamp01(weight));
    }

    public void Holster()
    {
        layeredBlending.StopLayeredBlending(0.2f);
    }
}

The first method keeps the dynamic-bone weight in the 0 to 1 range. Holster fades out the active overlay over 0.2 seconds. Update the character animation settings when you need to start a new overlay afterward.

Read root motion yourself

public KTransform GetRootMotionDelta();

CAS applies this delta for you when Apply Root Motion is enabled. Turn that option off if your own movement controller should apply it instead.

using KINEMATION.CharacterAnimationSystem.Scripts.Runtime.Core;
using KINEMATION.Shared.KAnimationCore.Runtime.Core;
using UnityEngine;

[RequireComponent(typeof(CharacterController))]
public sealed class CustomRootMotion : MonoBehaviour
{
    [SerializeField] private LayeredBlendingComponent layeredBlending;

    private CharacterController _characterController;

    private void Awake()
    {
        _characterController = GetComponent<CharacterController>();
    }

    private void OnAnimatorMove()
    {
        KTransform delta = layeredBlending.GetRootMotionDelta();
        _characterController.Move(delta.position);
        transform.rotation *= delta.rotation;
    }
}

This example moves the CharacterController by the translation delta, then applies the rotation delta to the character root.

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🔸Layered Blending

Overview

Component

Layering

Overlay Parameters

Curve Property Editor

Adding Curves

Blending Parameters

Custom Properties

Prefabs

Animator Controller

Runtime API

Drive an overlay controller

Fade or replace the active blend

Read root motion yourself

​Overview

​Component

​Layering

​Overlay Parameters

​Curve Property Editor

​Adding Curves

​Blending Parameters

​Custom Properties

​Prefabs

​Animator Controller

​Runtime API

​Drive an overlay controller

​Fade or replace the active blend

​Read root motion yourself

Overview

Component

Layering

Overlay Parameters

Curve Property Editor

Adding Curves

Blending Parameters

Custom Properties

Prefabs

Animator Controller

Runtime API

Drive an overlay controller

Fade or replace the active blend

Read root motion yourself