Changelog

Latest available builds, and history of changes.

Latest Build

This update adds a new animation export feature, better error handling, and fixes various issues with drivers, moving to origin, and applying modifiers.

Thank you to everyone reporting issues. If you still run into bugs or problems with your exports, please let me know on the belnderartists.org thread (linked under "Report Issues" on the sidebar).

New Features:

• Export action frames as separate 1-frame animations
• The Quick Action Select panel now has an "Advanced" dropdown with an "Export Frames Separately" checkbox
• Animations exported this way will be numbered _001, _002, _003...
• Useful when authoring poses for blendspaces, and other niche animation tasks
• Improved error-handling of invalid filepaths, with better error popups
• Manual export window (File > Export > PROTO FBX) is now clearly labeled as a fallback, and now legacy options from the default FBX exporter are in their own category with a warning.

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed various cases of driver animation not being exported correctly when unit-scaling exports (e.g. exporting for Unreal)
• Fixed Move To Origin not working correctly when objects were parented to non-armature objects
• Fixed various issues with applying modifiers
• Modifiers are now applied earlier in the export process. This should fix various issues with mirroring, geometry nodes, etc.

History

New Features:

• Updated to support Blender version 5.1

This update adds comprehensive support for Unreal, Unity, and Godot -- all known oddities for exporting to these engines are solved. The goal is no compromises or limitations when compared to FBX workflows from other 3D packages.

Other highlights:

• Overhauled Shape Key animation exporting
• Custom Property animation exporting
• Batch exporting

New Features:

• Now built and tested for Unreal, Unity, and Godot, and providing specific export options that target these engines.
• Overhauled Shapekey animation export
• When exporting an armature, deformed meshes with shapekey animation are automatically detected and exported
• 2 different methods supported:
• Custom Properties - export just an armature, shape key anims converted to custom property curves (recommended for Unreal)
• Dummy Mesh - export just an armature, dummy mesh is added to export with shape key curves (recommended for Unity, Godot)
• Filter for exporting zero'd shape keys.
• Custom Property animation export
• Can export animation of custom properties on pose bones, the armature object, and the armature data.
• Filters for exporting zero'd props, props on non-deform bones, armature object props, and armature data props.
• Batch Exporter
• Define multiple 'Export Items' in a file, which let you define object lists and unique export settings.
• Export multiple Export Items in 1 click.
• New Exporter Features
• 'Don't Simplify Root Bone' option
• Enabled by default, a workaround for a bug with Unreal FBX animation imports (Unreal can fail to detect the correct number of frames and framerate if no bone track moves or has keys on every frame.)
• Forces the root bone to be keyed on every frame.
• 'Scene Rotation Mode' option to convert the scene to Z-forward, for correct transforms in Unity and Godot.
• 'Remove Rotation From Bones' option to make all bones (0,0,0) rotation in bind pose.
• 'Anims Dummy Mesh (Unity)' option, to always add a dummy mesh to animation exports (works around Unity importer requiring 'Preserve Hierarchy' to import animation-only FBX files).
• 'Move to Origin' option, automatically moves export objects to origin (0,0,0) before export.
• 'Remove Scale From Bones' and 'Flat Bone Hierarchy' can now be used with any exporter mode.
• Overhauled export interface
• Now select between "Model + Animations (1 File)" and "Separate Anims" modes, which filter available options based on the workflow.
• Animation export fields are now more context-sensitive and take up less space.
• You can now select options presets for Unreal, Unity, or Godot.
• More organization into sub-panels to accomodate growing number of options
• Animation export fields are now more context-sensitive and take up less space.
• 'Manual Export' tab removed from UI panel. Was confusing in user testing. Manual export is still available in File>Export> menu.
• When exporting model separately from animation, will always set armature to rest pose (helps with Unity and Godot).
• Vertex Color Tools
• Now possible to set Alpha channel
• UI panel exposes additional options in Vertex Paint mode
• Now ignores paint mask when not in Vertex Paint mode

Bug Fixes:

• Exporting animations in 1 file vs separate files now use the same heuristic to choose which anims to export, fixing inconsistency.
• Fixed error when exporting a static mesh (no armature) with unit scaling.
• Fixed some export problems with Transform and Limit Location constraints when exporting with unit scaling.
• Fixed "'NoneType' object has no attribute 'fcurves'" error when exporting with unit scaling and an action had a slot with no channelbag data (could happen under some circumstances when keying shapekeys).
• Fixed incorrect exports when actions have keys on the armature object itself.

New Features:

• Now supports Blender 5.0
• Action Slots are now supported (Blender 4.4 and newer). There are 2 modes available in the Add-on Preferences:
• Use Armature Name (recommended) - the add-on expects a selected Armature to use Action Slots matching its name. It will create slots automatically and warn you to enforce this naming convention. It will also detect Legacy Slot data from previous versions of Blender and prompt you to migrate it. Action exports will also use this naming convention to determine which Actions to export for a given Armature.
• Manually Set Slots - the add-on displays a Slot selection UI, and you manage Slots yourself.
• The "Simplify" option from Blender's FBX exporter is now exposed to the Quick Export UI.
• It now defaults to 0.1 (rather than Blender's default of 1.0) which is a better balance between accuracy and filesize.
• The Quick Export UI now organizes some options into an "Advanced" dropdown.
• New Add-on Preferences option to change the name of the Viewport panel category name for the Add-on's UI. It now defaults to "Game Asset Tools" instead of "PROTO".

Bug Fixes:

• "Remove Scale from Bones" and "Flat Bone Hierarchy" broke exports when exporting multiple actions in 1 file, and they are no longer allowed to be used this way. A contextual warning has been added to the UI to make this clear.
• Fixed minor spelling mistake "heirarchy" to "hierarchy"

New Features:

• Export Option: Remove Scale from Bones option
• Forces all exported bones to have 1.0 scale. Useful for avoiding distorted animations in game engines due to scaled bones in bone chains.
• Export Option: Flat Bone Heirarchy
• Sets all exported bones to be parented to a bone of your choice (or have no parent). Useful for skeletons that will do advanced squash and stretch animations, without causing distortion in game engines due to scaled bones in bone chains.
• Now supports meshes parented to armature bones, that do not use skin weights or an armature modifier
• These will export skinned to the bones, just like with the default Blender FBX Exporter.

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed issue in unit scaling algorithm causing Stretch-To constraints to sometimes produce wrong bone positions
• Fixed issue in unit scaling algorithm where Child-of constraints sometimes produced wrong bone positions
• Now, Child-of constraints should be correct regardless of what pose the armature was in when you set their inverse

Addressed Blender Extensions review issues:

• PropertyGroup is now unregistered
• Added blenderartists thread for support link
• Removed "Animation" tag

• Added manifest and built for Blender Extensions.

New Features:

• Vertex Color Tools now respect the face selection mask in Vertex Paint mode.
• Vertex Color Tools now have buttons to flood a channel with 100% value.

Initial release