Export 2D Animations from Blender

2D Animations from Blender to Godot

January 28, 2025
Using Blender 4.3 and Godot 4.0

Export from Blender

This assumes you have a finished Blender animation ready for export. The output from this will be a bunch of single images that will be imported into Godot.

Get the correct image view:
You need to move your Camera in Blender so that it points straight at your model along the Y axis and the image you see in the camera view is what you want the image to be in the finished animation. Change the transforms for the camera. Make sure to run the animation and that all parts of the character stay within the camera's viewport

In the Outliner Window, click on the eye symbol next to your armature to hide it from view

Set up for output:
In the properties window click on the "Output" tab

To give the correct size when brought into Godot
Format > Resolution - you may want to change the aspect ratio or set the percentage to something less than 100%
(you can save a single image and test it in Godot to find what percent you want)

Crop the output to just the area needed
Format > Render Region - set enabled
A frame of dashed lines will appear around your image
Format > Crop to Render Region - set enabled
In the workspace, drag the frame to set the area to include in the result
Make sure to run the animation and that all parts of the character stay within the frame

Format > Frame Rate - you might want to change this. I use 30 fps. It will effect the speed of your animation and how smooth it looks. You can also make modifications to this in Godot

Frame Range > Start and Frame Range > End - set these to match the part of the animation you want

Set where you want output to go
Output - in the box there will be some default path. Use the button with the file folder picture to select the location you want the files to go.
Output > File Format - set this to PNG
and below it:
Output > Color - make sure it's set to RGBA
Output > Compression - If you have really large images you may want 100% to reduce storage space but it will take a while to render. Setting this to something lower will be faster. PNG format doesn't lose quality with compression, it just takes more time. Godot will transform the images after they are imported so this choice won't effect your game.

then click on the "Render" tab

Film > Transparent - set this enabled

Render your animation:

In the Main Menu tabs (File, Edit, Render... ) choose Render > Render Animation
Wait for the rendering to run.
The files you need to import into Godot will be located in the folder you chose in the output tab
( the default location is C:\tmp )

Import into Godot

You can place the files you made into your Godot project folder and Godot will automatically import them

To setup the character or object in your scene:
Create a new scene and add a Node2D to be the root
Add an AnimatedSprite2D node as a child of the Node2D
In the Inspector panel:

Animation > Sprite Frames - choose “New Sprite Frames” from the little drop down menu
Click on the word “SpriteFrames” that shows in that same menu window
that should open the Animations Panel

In the FileSystem panel:

Find the PNG images you imported from Blender
Select all of the images

In the Animations panel:

Drag the images from the FileSystem panel over to empty space under “Animation Frames”
The images should all appear in that space
You can set the Frames Per Second (FPS) in a box in the toolbar

In the Viewport you should see your character or object. There are playback controls in the Animation panel that you can use to see your animation