Reversing Clips
You can play clips backward in a graph or sample their poses in reverse order. Choose the approach based on whether you need automatic playback, events, root motion, or direct control over the sample time.
| What you need | Use |
|---|---|
| Play an existing clip backward | Animation Clip > Play In Reverse, on an unsynchronized branch |
| Choose forward or backward from gameplay | A Bool parameter connected to Play In Reverse |
| Control the exact playback position in either direction | Time Controlled Animation Clip, with matching Time and Play In Reverse inputs |
| Sample poses backward without events or root motion | Animation Pose, with decreasing Time |
| A reversed asset that plays normally in synchronized blends | Reverse/bake the animation in your source animation tool, then import it as a separate .anim |
Reverse an Animation Clip
Start with an Animation Clip connected directly to Graph Output:
- Add a Bool constant and set it to true.
- Connect it to the clip's Play In Reverse input.
- Keep Speed Multiplier positive, such as
1. - Disable Loop if it should play backward once.
Bool (true) ---> Animation Clip.Play In Reverse
Animation Clip.Result ---> Graph Output
Set the reverse input before the clip starts to play from the end toward the beginning. For a gameplay-controlled direction, connect a Bool control parameter instead of the constant.
Changing that bool during playback changes direction around the current pose; it is not a general "restart at the end" command. Re-enter the state or use an explicit Reset Time request when you want a fresh playback.
A non-looping reversed clip holds its first source pose when finished. It still needs a state completion transition or external-graph disconnect to stop contributing.
When Play In Reverse is ignored
A normal Animation Clip does not read its reverse input during a synchronized update. Its parent supplies the time instead.
This includes clips driven by:
| Parent setup | Why reversal does not work independently |
|---|---|
| Blend 1D, Blend 2D, or Blend 1D (Velocity) | The blend synchronizes its source clips |
| A Local Layer or State Machine Layer with Is Synchronized enabled | The layer follows the base pose's timing |
| A synchronized state-machine transition | The transition supplies synchronized timing while active |
The C# builder has the same restriction. Blend, BlendSpace, BlendSpace2D, and VelocityBlend synchronize their inputs. In particular, Blend is a two-point blend space, not an unsynchronized crossfade.
The graph compiler warns about reverse inputs under synchronized blends or layers. Check Compile Log even if the graph still compiles.
For an independent reversed action, use an unsynchronized state-machine branch or layer. Keep the path inside that branch unsynchronized too: disabling synchronization on the outer layer does not make a Blend 1D inside it stop synchronizing its clips.
If the animation must participate in a synchronized locomotion blend, import an already-reversed source animation and play that clip forward. If you deliberately want to own its clock instead, use a time-controlled clip—but it will no longer follow the parent's synchronization.
Reverse a time-controlled clip
Time Controlled Animation Clip samples the source position supplied to Time. It ignores parent synchronization.
For backward playback, do both:
- Drive Time from
1down to0. - Set Play In Reverse to true so event and root-motion sampling interpret that movement as backward playback.
The reverse bool does not turn an increasing Time input into a decreasing source position. You still supply the desired position yourself. If you have a progress value increasing from 0 to 1, use 1 - progress for Time.
Conversely, decreasing Time while Play In Reverse is false is interpreted as wrapping forward through the loop for event and root-motion sampling. The pose may look right while events or movement are wrong.
Keep the supplied position within 0 to 1. For arbitrary scrubbing where you do not want playback events or motion, use Animation Pose instead.
Sample poses in reverse
Animation Pose has no playback direction or automatic clock. Drive its normalized Time from 1 to 0 to sample the poses in reverse order. With Use Frames As Input, drive from the last frame down to the first.
This samples poses only: it does not sample animation events or root motion. It is useful for a manually positioned door, lever, or pose sequence—not a drop-in replacement for an action that needs playback events.
What does not reverse an animation
Negative speed is not reverse playback. A negative Speed Scale is treated as zero. Negative Duration Scale or desired velocity inputs are not reverse controls either. Keep the clip's Speed Multiplier positive and use the reverse input.
A single-frame clip has no sequence of poses to reverse. Also, there is no general-purpose node that reverses the completed output of a blend, layer stack, or state machine: choose direction at the clips, drive sample time yourself, or prepare a reversed asset.
Reversing poses does not undo gameplay. Review event meanings, root motion, and any warp markers before reusing an action backward. When importing an already-reversed source, review its .anim event timings as well.
For C# examples, see reversing clips with the runtime builder.