FBX Export From Blender to Unity (In 60 Seconds!!!)

[@TheRoyalSkies]

For anyone wondering if there is any difference in the results of the two methods, I've done the testing for you below. The differences are quite substantial and may surprise you. The more animations you have, the more important these differences are. I have 138 animations, about 2700 frames total. 1- When I export everything in a single timeline, the final file size = 4819 KB. 2- When I export using the separate action method the final file size = 14,903 KB. 3- If you try export by dragging the entire .blend file into Unity, the file size = 139,705 KB. Needless to say, the larger the file, the slower everything loads. Inside Unity, there are drastic differences in response time (Time spent waiting for the file to load in the inspector) If I click on the single timeline file, it reacts in about 1 second. If I click on the split-action file instead, it takes 30.1 seconds for the file to react and show me what's inside. When I drag the .blend file. It doesn't even allow me to separate the Actions, so as far as I can tell, it's unusable for me. I don't have a particularly amazing computer. Just a standard windows 64 bit, with 16 gigs of ram, and 1 AMD A 10 Radeon graphics card (4CPUs). So you can get an idea of what that might mean on your machine - As far as performance goes, the single timeline export remains extremely faithful to the original animations, however, the multi-action export almost always has the head and neck bones facing the wrong way in different animations. I have no idea why the results from Blender are so inconsistent considering the animations and total keyframes are exactly the same. But, from all the tests I've done, If I'm being totally honest, I would not trust the multi-action export for any professional or serious project. I've run about 56 different tests on all the different settings, and something almost always goes wrong or glitches out. I've had meshes disappear on certain frames, objects that don't show up in unity, and shapekeys that trigger the destruction of the mesh, and many other problems I haven't had time to share yet. So, if you're working on a big project, where you need the minimum amount of weird glitches from Blender, I highly recommend going with single timeline export rather than the multi-action export. While Blender is very powerful, it's very clear to me that weight painting, rigging, animation, and FBX exporting get's the least amount of attention from the developers. Just about everything related to rendering, modeling, sculpting, and texturing has improved drastically since 2.79, but I would be exaggerating if I said I've noticed any significant difference in features or efficiency for character rigging and animation. On the contrary, some features actually got worse, For example, copying and pasting multiple keyframes from every bone at the same time on the timeline stopped working as soon as I downloaded the final build of 2.83. The dope sheet error tab not showing errors, AND not showing ALL errors even if i shows anything baffles my mind- FBX files are THE most common rig/animation type of files for game designers. Fixing and making sure this stuff works correctly should really take priority over adding new features to stuff like grease pencil. The user should never have to worry about a file being exported properly. I expect this problem to be solved by 3.0 otherwise, Blender is going to start to lose it's footing to other software that do, especially for indie game developers. At, this very moment, Houdini is literally 1 step away from outperforming Blender in every aspect of 3D character animation now that it's free. The ONLY advantage Blender has on Houdini for hobbyist 3D animators is it can export FBX files for free. DON'T LOSE THAT ADVANTAGE. You have to make sure the FBX file exports properly, otherwise when Houdini finally drops the FBX paywall, it'll be very hard to make any argument to keep aspiring 3D animators in Blender when they can get AAA level 3D software that can do everything they need faster, better, with less glitches, and for free. Anyway, those are my thoughts on this, hope you find the information useful -

[@TaHaKaT]

Thank you for sharing your exp and saving us time

[@loyalleoblade8486]

Is it possible to go from having multiple actions to having a single timeline?

[@SianaGearz]

Proper, fully featured, issue-free FBX interchange is impossible without the Autodesk FBX SDK, which Blender can't use, because it's incompatible with GPL. Blender will be putting priority on glTF for model and animation exchange with game engines in the future, and of course people are working on Unity glTF import. The sooner we as an industry escape FBX, the better, it's a horrible deliberately designed trap made to keep people within the Autodesk ecosystem. Please don't advocate for FBX. As to the issues that you found, have you filed bugs? 2.83 has been updated 3 times since release. All reported regressions in 2.83 WILL be fixed, if you just supply failing files and reproduction steps.

[@TheRoyalSkies]

@@loyalleoblade8486 Not that I'm aware of. I hope I'm wrong, but I ended up having to manually copy and paste everything :(

[@TheRoyalSkies]

​@@SianaGearz That's great to hear - Can you share the direct link to the page I'm supposed to report bugs for this? I'll be sure to submit a file for the regressions - As for the FBX issue. I completely agree and support moving to glTF in the future. I look forward to running some tests with glTF to Unity and see how it compares to FBX. If it works well, and keeps the file size just as small, then you can bet I'll be the first one to advocate the new file type here on the channel- In the meanwhile though, I still think it's important improve the output of FBX exports until glTF becomes the new golden standard for rig/animation transfer. FBX is still popular and common enough to be a priority, especially considering that other software aside from Auotodesk Maya like Houdini, and Cinema 4D are able to export FBX files just fine despite not owning the SDK either.

[@sayuriartsy5108]

Finally an explanation on what boxes to check~

[@nosh247]

Man, I have learned more new things in your 60 seconds videos than in 1+ hour tutorials! And I have watched quite a lot. Thank you! keep up the good work!

[@Raziel.2377]

This video literally just saved my entire internship project. Thank you, you absolute tech god.

[@Fongletto]

I spent 5 hours trying to figure this out before finding your video and realising I just had to shift click both the armature and the mesh. Thank you sir, you're a godsend.

[@mendezcreative]

Finally! Jeez, don't know what this was so hard to find! Thank you!!

[@Reisen_Inaba]

It's a rare talent to make videos so short that include all the information 15+ minute videos sometimes _don't_

[@11pasa11]

You can put your actions on a nla track (with a 1 frame gap between them) and export the nla track instead.The only problem is that you will get a index at the end of your action name, but its not that bad. You can also export the shapekey animations this way, by adding them in another nla track below.

[@fleity]

Do you know why they have to be one frame apart? I see that the animation clips in unity jump back to the base pose / first frame. Is there a better way than creating 1 frame gaps?

[@gjuroo]

I have watched every your tutorial in year or so although I haven't done a single rig or bone or whatever in my life. Now I completely lost you but still enjoying tuts.

[@TheRoyalSkies]

Hey, it's cool man. I love reading comments like yours here even if you don't rig and stuff. I think you'll find the next week more interesting. It will be a little more development related instead of tutorials :)

[@gjuroo]

@@TheRoyalSkies I don't need next week to find your tuts interesting :) However, I'm in big trouble now. It happens that I need to do some rigging and I know nothing about it. Should've focus on some other things than just "Not a problem" and "Have a fantastic day". As usualiy, I failed on focus. Obviously, I googled some "blender rigging" and found some tuts where you sound like a human being :D

[@gjuroo]

...also, I realized that I don't even know what means "Inverse kinematics". "But I try, Ringo. I try real hard,"

[@lateautumn8447]

Thank you dear sire, you are the savior of humanity.

[@rohitaug]

Btw if you have any modifiers on your objects and you have the "apply modifiers" checked on your export then your mesh loses its shape keys when you import it. At least that's what used to happen, I don't know if it is fixed now. Best to try and figure out a way to apply the modifiers beforehand and leave "apply modifiers" unchecked.

[@TheRoyalSkies]

What really?!!? Wow, OK, thanks for letting me know - I'll share that with anyone who has that problem!

[@Thesupperals]

OH!! Hey @RoyalSkiesLCC, just a future heads up for coding with Shaders (if you haven't already known about it)- Unity has an engine that lets you design it through via nodes. It is set up almost entirely just like Blender's Node Shader. I just found out about it 3 days ago and wow... it is AMAZING!

[@RisuNiku]

thank you for blessing us with another video

[@ankithay.s1778]

Amazing tutorial, gave me the solution I spent hours looking for. Thank you!

[@gabrieldorner3792]

thanx for the tutorial, used it for exporting to unreal and works perfectly.

[@varunverma95]

With the recent Blender to UE plugin , the same of UE is super easy too. U can do a tutorial for ur audience

[@jamestroici732]

Its not really easy though if youre using anything with decent complexity. Ive run in to countless issues with models and characters in Unreal where textures just dont work and appear white so if youre using procedural textures in Blender its kind of bust from what Ive seen

[@varunverma95]

@@jamestroici732 for textures , I usually create them in substance and import them separately. When if I do make them in blender , then they always imported for me no issues. And Geometry can be twitchy at times but after recalculating normals and re-importing has fixed issues for me.

[@jamestroici732]

@@varunverma95 A lot of the models I made for my environment had a lot of procedural elements to create the effect of worn down paint and cracks. When I imported them into Unreal they either looked very flat and lower quality or just didnt import any color at all

[@jamestroici732]

Im guessing for complex textures Id have to make them in substance and not go the procedural texture route :(

[@varunverma95]

@@jamestroici732 yes bro I feel Substance is the way to go.... Or u can wait for UE5 to bring some new functionality who knows...

[@Scarlett_vfx]

OMG thank you this was the only thing that worked!!!!

[@lostcrusader8053]

I hope there will be a tutorial for Unreal Engine as well

[@TheRoyalSkies]

I plan to cover UE for another project after Macrophage. We'll get there :)

[@lostcrusader8053]

Royal Skies LLC Awesome! Love ya mate! (No homo 😂)

[@vivy5588]

@@TheRoyalSkies Unreal!? Where 🦾

[@mszczesnik]

You should also change "Apply Scalings" from "All Local" to "FBX Units Scale". Aaaand you may also need to make the -90x rotation trick before :).

[@TheRoyalSkies]

Thank you. I'll test that out! And, what's the -90x rotation trick?? I've never heard of it, what does it do lol

[@maciejszczesnik9441]

@@TheRoyalSkies Soooo you just want to make the -90x rotation trick! Not a pro... OK, OK :). Blender's Z-axis points upwards, Unity's points forward. When you export from Blender to Unity objects are rotated -90 degrees in X-axis (when you place them in the scene in Unity). It matters when you create characters with root motion animation. To avoid the problem - rotate your rig in object mode -90 degrees in X-axis (in Blender), apply the rotation, and then rotate it back 90 degrees in X-axis. Visually your character will still be standing normally, but the rig will be rotated 90 degrees in X-axis. When you export it and import it into Unity the rotation will be 0.

[@brokenspielt]

Great help, quick, precise and understandable, thank you!

[@ThatUltra]

I Tested My Fbx Animation In Unity And It Worked,Thank You :D

[@FlynnTheRedhead]

I’m still wondering about the modifiers, since the armature is a modifier

[@TheRoyalSkies]

Unity doesn't count the armature as a modifier. So, if that's the only modifier you have, don't check the box lol

[@luisarenas5892]

man you are a fucking god u search for long time, a good tutorial , my animations export bad in evrything when i export in fbx but wit this tutorial no more, thank you bro

[@vivy5588]

Is there a video on blender to unreal by you!? You make everything seem soo simple.

[@makorays]

So, back when you made the spine IK, you said to parent the chest bone (spine3) to the spine IK bone, but this results in the hierarchy going "spine1 > spine2 > coreIK", and then spine3 just isn't parented to anything, and unity REALLY doesn't seem to like it when you have a non-standard spine hierarchy. Am I missing something? How'd you make your spine IK compatible with unity?

[@steelcoregames9676]

Hi everyone - any idea why rig game object is scaled 100, once imported? In the blender armature has all scale 1, apply scale to everything (meshes has correct scales of 1), using default Unity importer settings for model (scale factor=1, convert units=true). Thanks!

[@capitans12]

Damn good help👌

[@anonymous30609]

VERY CLOSE ... THIS MOMENT WHEN WE FIND OUT HOW TO FINALLY EXPORT THE ANIMATIONS WITH DRIVERS, SHAPEKEY ETC.

[@hotsauce7124]

Question, how do you select the animation in the Action Editor? Do you need to select all the keys?

[@junweidong2448]

I have a question. I learnt a tutorial in which a human model with quite exquisite clothe is designed in UE4, then is it possible to export this to blender for further animation--- I mean I am not sure whether the physic of cloth and human can be perfected modeled in blender?

[@luxor9339]

Can you please make a video on how to export Rigify amature to FBX. I've been struggling with it for so long and tried many solutions but nothing works. Thank you so much. Appreciate.

[@Smash_ter]

How do I make the armature from the advanced rigging series with all the bone drivers put in place work with in unity specifically with a game like VRChat

[@s3ntry948]

HEY! I NEED TO KNOW THIS REAL QUICK. Is it possible to bake geometry nodes animation into this fbx file as animation. I can make instances real. FBX export applies modifiers so geonodes is a modifier i think it should export. IF U HAD EXPERIENCE please let me know how fbx files work in this case. THANKS SO MUCH FOR THIS CHANNEL!

[@anyidentifier]

If I make a new animation after, is there a way to export only the animation or a trick to avoid setting again all animations, avatar masks and animator on Unity?

[@fangzhangmnm6049]

Question: It seems unity have a bug that if I re-export the animation to fbx, unity will not re-read the animation from it. I have to delete the fbx and reimport it again. I hope if I can test my animations in the game engines and do small tweaks back in blender

[@SianaGearz]

I got Vanguard Knights... it's fun, but there is something horribly wrong with right-stick controls. I'm using Xbox360 wireless controller on Windows via an official adapter kit. When i go into the settings, by default "turn left" shows as being mapped to "right stick up", turn right to "right stick down", "turn up" as "right stick left", and turn down as "right stick right". The overlay and name controls correspond to how they appear on my controller. I thought the actions were mismapped somehow so i remapped them to the obvious ones. In the game, in the second i think level, i find that the turning controls now seem to be turned by 90 degrees so i can't predict which way to turn! Now when i reset the controls, they appear to work correctly in game, so at least the bug is only limited to controller setup screen, the mapping between the control descriptions and visuals does not correspond to actual controls in the game. Would you consider fixing this? If you do, i'll gift the game to some friends.

[@TheRoyalSkies]

I really appreciate that man, and unfortunately I've stopped updating the game to focus on Blender Tutorials. Most of my responsibilities now lie on KZbin here making Blender tutorials, so all my time is focused on that. You don't have to share it, I'm going to be making a much better game in the next few months. I'd be much happier if you share Macrophage when it's completed instead :)

[@ameliacult6869]

Hi! I have made an animation for a game with 2 "humans" hugging each other and I need to export each human with the own animation. I have exactly done what you explain in your video and I exported each human into Unity. In the preview box in Unity the animations are shown in the right places and with the right rotations, I extracted the animation files and built each single animation with the game prefab. When I play the animations in the game then each body does the own animation but the bodies are in different positions and rotations and the "hugging pose" is naturally broken. Is there any way to "force" both bodies the do their animation in the exactly position where they were made in Blender? Thank you in advance and sorry for my english :P

[@lordinferno5071]

Thanks man.

[@Mogo-jan]

For some reason accessories I parented to the bones aren't located in the right spot when I export them.

[@s0ft_sparkles949]

How do I change the order of the actions and what even is the right order?

[@Baszczer]

Fast and curious! :)

[@nessdevelopment8779]

I'm having a horrible time with my materials and textures inside of Unity. When I bring in the FBX the mesh and animations load fine. But the texture I used is just gone. The material itself is just a flat color and lost all the texture data. Been looking at various threads for over an hour and nothing proposed works.

[@nessdevelopment8779]

Found the solution for me anyway. Two things: 1 - In the settings while exporting, near the top, select "Copy" from the "Path Mode" dropdown. Also check the little toggle box immediately to the right of the dropdown so it turns blue and looks like a toaster. 2. Once in Unity, click the FBX in the folder where you exported from Blender. Then toggle the "Materials" button in the Inspector. Click "Export Texture" and select the "Materials" subfolder which should already be in your Assets folder as the export location. Details on this were found on this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/roDIoJeigbmrbsk

[@tomtomh5]

How do I export 2 models from the same scene to unity. 2 people dancing for example?

[@20DollarGoldPiece]

@Royal Skies LLC I'm trying to export an animation with multiple moving parts as an FBX with a single animation sequence. I've made sure that NLA and All Actions are check on but when export it to Spark AR, I am given multiple animations sequences. Do you know why this could be?

[@StickmanStrozzi]

i tried doing this with a rig that has no animations, bones came out like shit when imported into unity and back into blender, some bones got disjointed, some got unparented, and the ik bones for the legs just flat out disintegrated, gone into nothingness i swear, either i am just extremely dumb or this format is cursed.

[@Loic-57]

The FBX export, also work for 3DS Max no ?

[@0211-s5b]

What do I do when I imported my rig into unity and one of the bones have an error saying that the length of the bone is zero?

[@chriscode6789]

Apply Transforms says "Experimental" and "known broken with armatures/animations" .... I realise this video is old, but....any update?

[@ea.400]

Where are you from? @Royal Skies LLC

[@gentsu8112]

you is cool, good job

[@KellerMaks]

Reduce Simplify to 0 for better animation accuracy

[@awkner]

is it possible to both work on animations each on its own separate Action, but export them all in the same timeline (without manually copying and pasting each one to the same timeline, of course)?

[@TheRoyalSkies]

Not that I've found :(

[@FlashySenap]

I got a model. 3 bones connected to parts of the model (a gun). No animations as the SDK use the bones for the animation they have there (its a skin with its own model,). Export as an FBX... can see the model in windows 3D viewer. If it doesn't crash SDK when importing (Unreal 3,) it adds like 21 bones in total fucking the mesh over.

[@furkanozkahraman6101]

thank youu dude

[@arkthul8872]

Do shape keys and/or drivers export?

[@millaganwillagain]

Never add leaf bones?

[@sabeerahamed4946]

Blender to Unreal engine datasmith character animation importation also we want

[@vmmi8215]

So you've choosen unity, blender jesus There is something cool in unity named unity rigging, it's currently on preview but i'm very glad if you implement it and share your experience with us (your believer), thank you very much

[@sujalhanji4231]

Will it work in ue4

[@Joe8th]

HELP ME TO USE MY MARIO MODELS OR ELSE THAT MEANS I DOWNLOADED THEM FOR NOTHING!!!!!! I JUST WANT TO POSE THEEEM BECAUSE IM A MOBILE USEEEER

[@piff2297]

Make sure to export in pose mode....>.>

[@NicoNoInteresa]

yeah but how do i use it on unity?

[@bricedeguigne4527]

Thank you !!!!!!!!!!

[@M3DuaTP]

Oh, more videos abouy Unity please o_o

[@Aryazaky]

25 seconds ago! Second comment

[@yats0114]

THAT SHADER IN UNITY THO. PLS TUTORIAL!

[@lucascastro2802]

what shader?

[@kevinlol]

my body mesh turns into a stick person

[@digitaltrash]

i watch with 2X speed

[@TheRoyalSkies]

No, that's impossible -

[@bonebard6178]

if animations are still being fucky try setting simplify to 0

[@sandhiwistara9128]

My model turn into 10 time smaller when animated :I

[@sylvi6269]

FBX Export From Blender to Unity (In 60 Seconds!!!) ANIMATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! would be fucking good title

[@NumianVonKami]

That was fast...

[@dumpylumpo5525]

60 seconds and 3 seconds

[@wingit7602]

this no longer works, dont know why the fuck its not working, no animation is exported at all.

[@user-sd6jz9tf8w]

this is not working!! 2024!! BLENDER 4.2 / UNITY 2024 / 6 DO NOT WORK!!!

[@user-sd6jz9tf8w]

blender the worst shit ever.

[@exanimussnake]

You are losing a lot of Spanish speaking people. You should hire someone to translate your videos

[@SianaGearz]

Why don't Spanish speaking people make use of the contributed subtitles feature before it goes away? There are a lot of people in the world who speak both English and Spanish and who could do that for their non English speaking mates. Look at his subscriber/view count. Look at his Patreon. He's making several videos a week and he'd be spending ALL of his money to translate the videos, and get what in return? Probably nothing.