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Performers

Billboard and 3D character entity types — PaperFacingHandlerComponent for 2.5D rendering and the Avatar pipeline for rigged EMotionFX characters.

The Performers sub-system defines the character entity types in GS_Performer. Each type encapsulates a complete rendering strategy — from the lightweight billboard paper performer to the full 3D avatar pipeline integrating EMotionFX, skin slots, and locomotion.

The performer type determines the fundamental visual structure of the character entity. Performer Features then layer onto it, independent of type.

For usage guides and setup examples, see The Basics: Performers.

 

Contents

Core Pattern

Each performer type is a self-contained entity configuration. The Paper Performer requires only sprite geometry and a facing handler component. The Avatar Performer drives an EMotionFX actor and composes with skin slots and the locomotion hook. Both types participate in Performer Manager registration and support the full Performer Features set.

Paper Performer

Billboard-based character rendering for 2.5D and top-down games. The facing handler orients the sprite quad toward the active camera or a configurable target each tick. The base component allows custom facing strategies through extension.

ComponentPurposeReference
PaperFacingHandlerBaseComponentAbstract base for billboard facing logic. Extend to implement custom facing strategies.Paper Performer
PaperFacingHandlerComponentConcrete implementation. Orients the entity quad toward the active camera each tick.Paper Performer

Paper Performer API

Avatar Performer

The full 3D character pipeline. Drives a rigged EMotionFX actor with support for skin slot equipment, velocity locomotion parameter binding, and animation asset hot-reloading during development.

ComponentPurposeReference
VelocityLocomotionHookComponentReads entity velocity each tick and writes speed and direction blend parameters to the EMotionFX animation graph.Avatar Performer
PrefabAnimAssetsReloaderComponentHot-reloads prefab animation assets without a level restart. Development utility.Avatar Performer

Avatar Performer API

Extension Guide

Custom paper facing strategies are supported by extending PaperFacingHandlerBaseComponent. Override the tick method to compute any desired facing rotation and apply it to the entity transform each frame. See Paper Performer API for the full extension walkthrough.

See Also

For conceptual overviews and usage guides:

For related component references:

Get GS_Performer

GS_Performer — Explore this gem on the product page and add it to your project.

1 - Avatar Performer

How to work with GS_Play avatar performers.

Get GS_Performer

GS_Performer — Explore this gem on the product page and add it to your project.

2 - Paper Performer

Billboard-based character rendering — paper facing handlers that orient sprite quads toward the camera.

The Paper Performer system provides billboard-based character rendering for 2.5D and top-down games. Facing handler components keep sprite quads oriented toward the camera or a configurable facing target each tick.

For usage guides and setup examples, see The Basics: GS_Performer.

 

Contents

PaperFacingHandlerBaseComponent

Abstract base component for billboard facing logic. Extend this to implement custom facing strategies (face camera, face movement direction, face target entity).

PaperFacingHandlerComponent

Concrete paper-facing implementation. Orients the entity’s quad toward the active camera each tick. Suitable for standard 2.5D billboard characters.

PropertyTypeDescription
Face ModeenumHow the billboard faces: toward camera, along movement direction, or toward a target.

Camera-Aware Variant

A camera-aware paper facing handler is provided by GS_Complete as a cross-gem component (PhantomCam + Performer):

ComponentGemsDescription
CamCorePaperFacingHandlerComponentPerformer + PhantomCamUses CamCore notifications to adjust paper performer facing direction relative to the active phantom camera.

See Utility: Angles Helper for details.

Extension Guide

Create custom facing strategies by extending PaperFacingHandlerBaseComponent:

  1. Create a class extending PaperFacingHandlerBaseComponent.
  2. Override the tick/update method to compute your desired facing rotation.
  3. Apply the rotation to the entity transform each frame.

See Also

For related component references:

For conceptual overviews and usage guides:

For related resources:

Get GS_Performer

GS_Performer — Explore this gem on the product page and add it to your project.