AnimGraph Node Settings

Node: Vertex Turn In Place (FAnimNode_VertexTurnInPlace). It plants the feet in world space while the actor rotates, steps them with procedural arcs, lowers the pelvis, and twists the upper body toward the aim. It also carries moving-platform motion and keeps any foot motion that is already in your animation.

Place it last, after locomotion and after foot IK / Control Rig, right before Output Pose. It keeps the incoming foot height, so ground IK is preserved. Settings marked pin can be exposed as pins and driven at runtime. Like every Skeletal Control node it also has Alpha and LOD Threshold.

Node Details panel, all categories expanded.

00. Presets

Button	Result
UE5 Mannequin	Restores Mannequin legs, pelvis and spine chain.
Quadruped	Sets 4 legs with step groups 0, 1, 1, 0; Step Overlap 0.5, Step Trigger Distance 10, Max Foot Drift 40, Pelvis Drop 1.0. Clears leg bones missing from the skeleton, removes spine entries that are missing or that parent a leg, and renormalises spine weights. Hierarchy based, not specific to any skeleton.

00. Presets buttons.

01. Legs

Setting	Default	What it does	Use case
Legs	Mannequin L/R	One element per leg: Thigh, Calf, Foot bones (a chain, in that parent order) and a Step Group.	Fill for custom skeletons. Any number of legs.
Step Group (0-7)	L=0, R=1	Legs in the same group step together; groups alternate.	Biped: left 0, right 1. Quadruped trot: front-left + hind-right 0, front-right + hind-left 1.

02. Stepping

Setting	Default	Pin	What it does	Use case
Step Duration	0.35 s	yes	Time of one step.	Longer = slower, heavier steps.
Step Height	8 cm	yes	Peak foot lift.	Scale with leg length.
Step Trigger Distance	15 cm	yes	A planted foot steps once it drifts this far from where the animation wants it.	Lower = more frequent steps.
Step Trigger Angle	30 deg	yes	Same, for foot yaw.	Lower = steps earlier on turns.
Max Foot Yaw Offset	75 deg	no	Planted feet never twist further than this from the animation; beyond it they slide with the body.	Prevents twisted ankles during very fast turns.
Max Foot Drift	35 cm	no	Planted feet never drift further than this; beyond it they slide with the body.	Raise for long-legged or long-bodied characters.
Min Step Duration	0.2 s	no	Shortest step during fast rotation. Steps only shorten when the body turns faster than feet can follow at Step Duration. Set equal to Step Duration to disable.	Fast mouse flicks.
Step Overlap	0.25	yes	How early the next group may start, as a fraction of the current step (0 = strictly alternate).	Quadrupeds: about 0.5.

03. Stepping | Settle

After rotation stops, each foot takes at most one small step to match the animation.

Setting	Default	What it does
Settle Delay	0.2 s	Wait before settle steps.
Settle Distance	5 cm	Settle when a foot is off by more than this.
Settle Angle	15 deg	Settle when a foot yaw is off by more than this.

04. Pelvis

Setting	Default	Pin	What it does	Use case
Pelvis Bone	Mannequin pelvis	no	Bone lowered while stepping. Empty = disabled.	Set on custom skeletons.
Pelvis Drop	1.5 cm	yes	Drop at the peak of a step.	Subtle weight shift. Quadrupeds use about 1.

05. Upper Body

Setting	Default	Pin	What it does	Use case
Enable Upper Body Twist	On	yes	Twists the upper body toward the aim while standing.	Turn off if your animation already has an aim offset.
Spine Chain	Mannequin spine, neck, head	no	Bones sharing the twist, root to tip, each with a Weight (should total 1).	Quadrupeds: use neck and head only. Bones that carry a front leg drag the legs.
Max Twist Angle	90 deg	yes	Maximum twist.	Keep it at least as large as Max Aim Yaw Offset in first person.
Twist Interp Speed	10	yes	How fast the twist follows the aim. Smooths sudden camera flicks. 0 = instant.	Set 0 for first person so the arms stay on the aim.

06. Blending

Setting	Default	What it does	Use case
Locomotion Blend Time	0.2 s	Blend in and out of locomotion.	Raise if the idle-to-walk handover pops.
Pivot Blend Time	0.3 s	Blend into locomotion while pivoting at movement start.	Match roughly the pivot duration (angle / Pivot Speed).
Fallback Moving Speed	30 cm/s	Without a Vertex Turn In Place component, the node blends out above this speed.	Only for actors without the component.

07. Debug

Setting	Default	What it does
Draw Debug	Off	Planted feet green, stepping yellow, animated blue. Console: vertex.TurnInPlace.Debug 1.

Compile-time validation

The editor node warns about an empty Legs array, missing bones, broken chains (calf not a child of thigh, foot not a child of calf), spine bones that are parents of a leg, and spine weights that do not total 1.

Examples of node validation warnings after compile.