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

// Spawn a character at the world origin and possess it
AHCharacter* MyCharacter = HCharacter::Spawn(FVector(0, 0, 100), FQuat(0, 0, 0, 1), Player);
Player->Possess(MyCharacter->GetPawn());

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

// Play a wave animation montage
MyCharacter->PlayAnimation(WaveMontage, 1.0f, "DefaultSlot");

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

// Toggle ragdoll physics
MyCharacter->SetRagdollMode(true);

// Disable player input
MyCharacter->SetInputEnabled(false);

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

// Change the character mesh
MyCharacter->SetMesh(UObject::Load("/Game/MyMeshes/MyCustomMesh.MyCustomMesh"));

// Attach a static mesh to a socket
MyCharacter->AddStaticMeshAttached("backpack", BackpackMesh, "spine_03");

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.