When talking about the animation system in CryENGINE 3, or almost any animation system in general, it makes sense to divide it into a high-level and a low-level system. A more detailed subdivision is possible, of course, but is not necessary for the topics covered in this chapter.

The low-level system is responsible for blending the individual keys together for all animations that are currently running on a character. The components of the low-level system work directly on the character's skeleton. The code for this system is highly optimized for performance and should not be modified without proper technical knowledge.

This is where the Look IK is applied; the Aim Poses are blended together which makes the character look and aim in the direction he or she is supposed to. Then, the blendspace or locomotion groups are evaluated—these blend together various walk and run animations of the character to match his or her animation with the speed, slope, and angular...