Animation pack evaluation: Protofactor Climbing Animset
Technical verdict: Usable with conditions
Evaluation completeness: partial — all source files and declared checks were reviewed; engine playback and visual quality remain untested.
Confidence: medium
Evaluation date: 2026-09-16
Current evaluator: AnimSmith 0.14.0
Report format: 3
Detailed evidence: Protofactor Climbing evidence
Technical decision
Prototype decision: Try separate wall and ladder states with controller-owned movement. Configure cyclic policy, wall distance and contacts; source correction depends on reviewed motion.
Camera scope: Full-body humanoid animations; appearance on your target character and camera is untested. Dedicated first-person arms/viewmodel use is unverified.
This animset is one of eight locally evaluated parts of Ultimate Animation Collection. The local asset revision is unknown; the collection report separates evaluated files from the dated vendor listing.
Content in evaluated inventory: Wall movement and ladder movement. Wall directions and ladder up/down are selected; ledge, jump and obstacle actions are outside the selected runtime sets. These are identified motions; gameplay behavior has not been approved.
A conditional traversal source, not a drop-in climbing controller. The selected wall set supplies eight named directions with equal durations; the ladder pair is a separate topology. Use controller-owned surface movement with the selected stationary-root files, or specify how root-motion travel and collision will work. Hand/foot contact, wall distance and ledge transitions remain acceptance gates.
observed-animsmith: the official 0.14.0 evaluator inspected and measured all 77 FBXs; 34/75 declared-contract files pass and 41 fail per output format. The findings below separate source problems, project settings and untested gameplay. Transformed outputs still need gameplay and visual checks.
Capability coverage
Content present
Filename-classified wall movement offers eight directions; ladder up/down forms a separate two-member candidate. The wider inventory also names obstacle and jump actions.
Content gaps and unknowns
Entry, top-out and fall/interrupt state paths are not classified as accepted runtime sets. Wall geometry and hand/foot contact requirements are project dependent.
Evaluation still needed
Test cyclic intent, reversals, surface alignment, collision and contact on actual wall and ladder geometry. Target-engine, IK and artistic acceptance remain open.
Runtime sets and authored motion
Use each row as a separate blend or sequence proposal. The linked appendix names its exact clips, timings and measurements; controller playback and contact quality still need testing.
| Set | Controller use | Adoption decision | Exact members |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wall eight directions | Separate traversal state | Traversal prototype. All ten selected wall/ladder members fail declared-loop contracts; pruning did not clear the WallClimbUp loop findings. Review true cycles and scene contacts (CL-LOOP). | 8 exact members |
| Ladder up and down | Separate traversal state | Ladder prototype with controller travel. Both are among the ten selected motions that fail their declared loop checks; review cyclic intent, seams and rung contacts before repetition. | 2 exact members |
Integration recipe
- Members/topology: Use the wall set in the wall plane, with horizontal/vertical input. Use ladder up/down as a separate state; select obstacle-height and wall-jump actions discretely.
- Timing/synchronization: Establish intended cyclic playback and support-contact timing before choosing synchronization. Equal durations do not prove matching hand/foot support phases. Check neighboring wall directions at intermediate weights and ladder reversals on actual geometry.
- State ownership: The selected root trajectories are stationary. The controller owns wall projection, vertical displacement and collisions. Do not use horizontal-only speed as a measure of a root-motion climb.
- Composition constraints: Keep arm/leg coupling and solve scene contact constraints. Locomotion weapon masks are not validated for climbing.
- Acceptance gate: Test entry, top-out, corner changes, interruption/fall and varying wall/ladder dimensions before treating this as a traversal system.
Technical issue register
Severity describes impact as delivered for the stated use. Residual status is explicit; untested risks are not confirmed artist defects.
| ID | Severity | Problem and impact | Primary owner | Current action | Future AnimSmith potential | Evidence/status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL-LOOP | major | All ten selected wall/ladder members fail their declared-loop contracts; Humanoid@WallClimbUp.fbx still fails its declared checks after pruning. Cyclic traversal requires stable seams and contacts. Readiness guidance. | artist-author | Review genuine climb loops, correct endpoint pose/velocity and preserve contact timing. Pruning did not remove the measured loop findings. Repeating these motions still needs reviewed source loops and engine contact tests. | Current pruning reduces redundant tracks, not contact or loop defects. | Take 001 and current output lint; observed-animsmith. |
| CL-POLICY | minor | Loop-policy failures on obstacle one-shots can be expected; they must not all be reported as broken loops. Readiness guidance. | engine-config | Use non-looping obstacle actions where intended; require entry/exit continuity instead of wrap continuity. Residual: unresolved policy. | Per-clip declarations exist; project semantics remain explicit. | For example Humanoid@ClimbUp1MeterObstacleUnarmed.FBX; observed-animsmith, one-shot role inferred. |
| CL-CONTACT | major | No current test establishes wall distance, rung spacing or hand/foot lock at blended weights. Readiness guidance. | engine-config | Validate selected sets against target geometry and collision movement. Escalate authored contact defects to the artist with clip/time/geometry reproduction. Residual: unknown, not a demonstrated vendor defect. | Future generic contact diagnostics may help; no automatic climbing controller is claimed. | Scene/contact acceptance not-evaluated. |
Engine status
| Runtime | Evidence level | Technical result | Remaining gate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unity unspecified | not-evaluated | No current import or traversal playback. | Controller, contact, visual, and build tests. |
| Unreal Engine unspecified | not-evaluated | No current import or traversal playback. | Retarget, IK, contact, and build tests. |
| Godot unspecified | not-evaluated | No current conversion or playback. | Conversion/import and graph tests. |
| Bevy unspecified | not-evaluated | No current handoff or runtime test. | glTF handoff and runtime test. |
Fit and limitations
Basic Locomotion can provide the approach/ground state, with an explicit transition into constrained traversal. Shared naming or rig conventions do not prove top-out/ground pose continuity. A wall loop cannot supply environment detection, capsule placement or a missing transition by itself.
These are proposed integration decisions (inferred), with target-controller, contact and artistic acceptance still not-evaluated.
Changes between AnimSmith versions
AnimSmith 0.14.0 — reran 77 input baselines, 75 per-file declared contracts and one remediation trial using the official release. Added current exact-member generic scenarios and developer/artist actions. AnimSmith 0.10.0 — superseded historical evidence; none of its generated outputs or engine results is relabelled as a fresh run.
Evidence status
Current evidence uses the official release and the canonical readiness ladder; commercial artifacts remain external.
Sources
- Protofactor, Animset: Climbing — product context.
- AnimSmith, CLI reference and game-ready clips — evaluation boundaries.