Runtime Module Overview

The runtime module (Texturge) is the plugin’s core subsystem, responsible for compile-time baking, runtime evaluation, and UMG rendering. It compiles animations defined by designers in Blueprints (UTextAnimationBlueprint) into FBakedAnimation baked data, which UTextAnimationStageController evaluates per frame into FGlyphAnimationState, finally drawn to the screen by widgets.

Core Concepts

Concept	Description
UTextAnimationBlueprint	animation Blueprint asset (UBlueprint subclass), holding the GlyphAnimations list, StageTransitionConfig, and Blueprint variables
UGlyphAnimation	glyph animation sequence asset (UMovieSceneSequence subclass) storing 21 channels of keyframe curves
UTextAnimInstance	Blueprint-generated instance holding the bake cache, exposing the BuildDefaultAnimation Blueprint event
FAnimationCompiler	pure-function compiler compiling Blueprint + text into FBakedAnimation
FBakedAnimation	complete bake result containing Intro / Default / Outro FBakedStage stages and dual fingerprints
FBakedStage / FBakedGlyph	single-stage / single-glyph baked data; FBakedGlyph contains multi-layer FPerLayerCurves
UTextAnimationStageController	runtime stage controller driving playback, pause, stage transitions, and evaluation of baked data
UTextAnimator	typewriter pipeline engine driving UAnimatedRichTextBlock (rich text multi-entry path)
FGlyphAnimationState	single-glyph render state (position/scale/rotation/tint/shadow — 10 fields)
UAnimatedTextBlock / UAnimatedRichTextBlock	two UMG widgets, going through the controller and animator paths respectively

NOTE

Two runtime paths: the plain text path (UAnimatedTextBlock → UTextAnimationStageController → FBakedAnimation) and the rich text path (UAnimatedRichTextBlock → UTextAnimator → render tree + multi-entry baking). The plain text path uses the bake pipeline; the rich text path orchestrates multi-entry playback through the animator at runtime.

Initialization Flow

Manual C++ Driving

// 1. Compile: Blueprint + text → baked animation
FBakedAnimation Baked = FAnimationCompiler::BakeAllStages(AnimationBlueprint, MyDisplayText);

// 2. Create a stage controller and inject the baked data
UTextAnimationStageController* Controller = NewObject<UTextAnimationStageController>(this);
Controller->Initialize(&Baked, AnimationBlueprint);

// 3. Advance per frame (usually driven by widget OnPaint)
Controller->TickAnimation(DeltaTime);

Automatic Widget Flow

UAnimatedTextBlock encapsulates the full flow internally: after setting the TextAnimationBlueprint and ParameterOverrides properties, the widget automatically triggers compilation, creates the controller, and binds delegates in SynchronizeProperties(). Call Play() at runtime to play.

UAnimatedTextBlock property	Type	Description
TextAnimationBlueprint	UTextAnimationBlueprint*	the Blueprint asset driving the animation (single animation only; no RichText tag parsing)
ParameterOverrides	UAnimParameterOverrides*	instance-level parameter override container (Instanced)
bAutoPlay	bool	auto-play after initialization
bLoopPlayback	bool	loop playback

Playback Control

Both the controller and the widgets provide a unified playback lifecycle:

Method	Description
Play()	starts playing the animation
Pause()	pauses time advancement, keeping the current state
Resume()	resumes playback from the paused point
Stop()	stops and resets
SkipToEnd()	immediately displays all glyphs (widget level)
RevealAll()	immediately reveals all glyphs (controller level)

UTextAnimationStageController::TickAnimation(float DeltaTime) is driven by the host widget each frame, advancing the stage clock and calling EvaluateAllGlyphs.

Stage System

Animation stages are defined by the EAnimationStage enum (Intro / Default / Outro). The controller maintains CurrentStage and StageTime, advances the clock, and broadcasts OnAnimationComplete when playback finishes.

Cross Fade

UTextAnimationBlueprint::StageTransitionConfig (FStageTransitionConfig) defines stage transition parameters: IntroToDefaultCrossFade, DefaultToOutroCrossFade (default 0.1s), and EasingFunc, participating in the Blueprint fingerprint hash.

Widget Binding

Widget	Base class	Internal driver	Text type
UAnimatedTextBlock	UTextBlock	UTextAnimationStageController	plain text
UAnimatedRichTextBlock	URichTextBlock	UTextAnimator	rich text (tag → animation entry mapping)

Both widgets drive the animation Tick per frame through Slate OnPaint.

TIP

Animation ticking is driven by OnPaint, not an independent Tick function. If the widget is not visible (not painted), the animation does not advance. For background animations, drive TickAnimation manually.

Parameter Overrides

UAnimParameterOverrides provides 6 override maps (FloatOverrides / IntOverrides / BoolOverrides / VectorOverrides / ColorOverrides / Vector2DOverrides) keyed by Blueprint variable name. The widget’s ParameterOverrides property is an Instanced object held independently by each widget instance; at bake time FAnimInstanceCustomizer writes them into the bake temporary instance, and the Blueprint CDO is never modified.