Characters

Characters are the heart of any HELIX experience. Whether you're spawning a player-controlled avatar, a wandering NPC shopkeeper, or a cinematic MetaHuman, the HCharacter class gives you full control over appearance, movement, and behavior.

Spawning a Character

Every player who joins your world needs a character to inhabit. You can spawn one at any location and rotation you like.

Blueprint

Blueprint— Spawn a character and possess itScroll to zoom · Drag to pan · Drag nodes to move

Lua

-- Spawn a character at the world origin and possess it
local my_char = HCharacter(Vector(0, 0, 100), Quat(0, 0, 0, 1), player)
player:Possess(my_char:GetPawn())

JavaScript

// Spawn a character at the world origin and possess it
const myChar = new HCharacter(new Vector(0, 0, 100), new Quat(0, 0, 0, 1), player);
player.Possess(myChar.GetPawn());

Animations

Characters support a wide range of animations out of the box. Use PlayAnimation to trigger any animation asset -- from idle gestures to full combat sequences.

Blueprint

Blueprint— Play an animation montageScroll to zoom · Drag to pan · Drag nodes to move

Lua

-- Play a wave animation montage
my_char:PlayAnimation(WaveMontage, 1.0, "DefaultSlot")

JavaScript

// Play a wave animation montage
myChar.PlayAnimation(WaveMontage, 1.0, "DefaultSlot");

PlayAnimation plays a montage animation on the character. You can specify a play rate and a start section name. Use StopAnimation to stop a playing montage with an optional blend-out time.

Movement

Characters come with built-in movement and physics. You can toggle ragdoll mode, enable or disable player input, and attach objects to skeleton sockets.

Blueprint

Blueprint— Toggle ragdoll and disable inputScroll to zoom · Drag to pan · Drag nodes to move

Lua

-- Toggle ragdoll physics
my_char:SetRagdollMode(true)

-- Disable player input
my_char:SetInputEnabled(false)

JavaScript

// Toggle ragdoll physics
myChar.SetRagdollMode(true);

// Disable player input
myChar.SetInputEnabled(false);

Appearance & MetaHumans

HELIX supports full character customization, including Epic's MetaHuman system. You can swap skeletal meshes, apply materials, and adjust morph targets to create unique looks.

Blueprint

Blueprint— Change mesh and attach a static mesh to a socketScroll to zoom · Drag to pan · Drag nodes to move

Lua

-- Change the character mesh
my_char:SetMesh(UE.UObject.Load("/Game/MyMeshes/MyCustomMesh.MyCustomMesh"))

-- Attach a static mesh to a socket
my_char:AddStaticMeshAttached("backpack", BackpackMesh, "spine_03")

JavaScript

// Change the character mesh
myChar.SetMesh(UE.UObject.Load("/Game/MyMeshes/MyCustomMesh.MyCustomMesh"));

// Attach a static mesh to a socket
myChar.AddStaticMeshAttached("backpack", BackpackMesh, "spine_03");

NPCs

NPCs are characters that aren't possessed by a player. You can give them AI behavior by setting waypoints, using behavior trees, or scripting their actions directly. Since they share the same Character class, everything above -- animations, movement, appearance -- works for NPCs too.

tip

For more complex NPC behavior, look into HELIX's built-in AI navigation system which provides pathfinding, obstacle avoidance, and patrol routes out of the box.