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Exports

Take your finished animation out of the editor and into the destination platform. Four formats, all live.

Tier: Starter+ ($4.99/mo) for all export formats. Free Style users can edit and preview but not export. Menu: Export → ...

Format overview​

FormatTarget PlatformsBest forStatus
GLB / glTF 2.0Unity, Unreal Engine, Roblox, Web (Three.js, Babylon, A-Frame), AR/VR (WebXR, Meta Quest)Modern game engine pipelines, the universal interchange format✅ Live
BVHSecond Life Bento, MotionBuilder, Maya, Blender, motion capture pipelinesThe SL-and-mocap interchange standard✅ Live
.anim (Second Life)Linden Lab's Second Life client (in-world upload)Direct upload to SL avatars without extra conversion✅ Live
FBXBlender, Maya, MotionBuilder, Unity, Unreal EngineThe industry interchange — with per-DCC presets so it imports right the first time✅ Live

The right format depends on your target:

  • Game engine? GLB — modern, lean, native to UE5 / Unity Mecanim's glTF importer / Roblox.
  • Second Life? .anim if direct upload, BVH if you're going through tools.
  • MotionBuilder / classic mocap pipeline? BVH.
  • Blender / Maya / a studio that lives on FBX? FBX — pick the preset for your tool and it opens correctly oriented, no fixing.

GLB / glTF 2.0 export​

The most universal export path. glTF 2.0 is the open standard for runtime 3D, supported by every major engine and runtime.

What's included​

  • Skinned mesh with weight painting preserved.
  • Skeleton hierarchy with bone names.
  • Animation tracks (quaternion + position + scale, per bone).
  • Materials (PBR), textures (embedded as binary).
  • Optional: morph targets if your source had them.

Export Settings​

  • Frame rate: matches the source clip's FPS by default; can override.
  • Compression: optional Draco mesh compression for smaller file size.
  • Animation name: defaults to clip name; user-editable.

Workflow​

  1. Export → Export GLB.
  2. Settings dialog opens. Confirm or adjust frame rate, compression.
  3. Click Export. Browser downloads <animation_name>.glb.
  4. Drop into Unity / Unreal / Roblox / your runtime of choice.

Engine import notes​

Unity:

  • Use the glTFast plugin (free, by atteneder). Drag the GLB into your Assets folder, assign the AnimationClip to an Animator.

Unreal Engine 5:

  • UE5 has native glTF/GLB import via the Interchange Framework. Drag the GLB into the Content Browser. The animation imports as an UAnimSequence.

Roblox:

  • Roblox supports GLB animation upload natively for R15 rigs (via the Animation Editor's import). For R6 or custom rigs, may need format conversion.

Three.js / Babylon / A-Frame:

  • Native support. Use the engine's GLTFLoader, attach the AnimationClip to your AnimationMixer.

BVH export​

The Second Life standard, also widely used for motion capture interchange.

What's included​

  • Skeleton hierarchy with bone names and offsets.
  • Per-bone Euler rotation tracks per frame.
  • Optional: root translation track.
  • Loop metadata in the header (when Loop is enabled in the timeline).

Export Settings​

  • Frame rate: typically 30 FPS for SL; configurable.
  • Priority (SL-specific): 0-6, default 4. Higher priority animations override lower-priority AOs.
  • Hand pose: SL-specific, usually default 02 (Spread) or 01 (Fist).

Workflow​

  1. Export → Export BVH.
  2. Settings dialog opens. Adjust priority for SL targets, frame rate as needed.
  3. Click Export. Browser downloads <animation_name>.bvh.
  4. For SL: in your in-world inventory, upload the BVH (costs L$10 typically). Test in-world to verify.
  5. For mocap pipelines: drop the BVH into MotionBuilder or your tool of choice.

SL-specific tips​

  • Priority 4 is the default; priorities 5-6 override AO systems but may stack badly with other priority-4 animations playing.
  • Loop animations (walk cycles, idles) need Loop enabled in the timeline. The exporter writes loop markers into the BVH header.
  • Animation length in SL is bandwidth-billed; keep clips under 30 seconds for cost.

.anim (Second Life) export​

The native Linden Lab format for SL animations. Unique to SL.

What's the difference vs BVH?​

The BVH file format is generic and SL imports it. The .anim format is what SL actually uses internally. Exporting directly to .anim skips the SL upload conversion step, sometimes preserves slightly more data, and is the path some power users prefer.

Status note​

Direct .anim export is available. Note that the underlying coordinate-frame conversion has some open edge cases (tracked in docs/SL_ANIM_PARKING_LOT.md). For most rigs it works; if you see odd behavior in-world after an .anim export, fall back to BVH.

Workflow​

  1. Export → Export .anim (SL).
  2. Settings dialog: priority, hand pose, loop.
  3. Click Export. Browser downloads <animation_name>.anim.
  4. Upload directly via SL inventory.

FBX export​

The industry interchange format — live, and built the Kinetiq way: binary FBX 7.4, generated 100% client-side. No uploads, no server round-trip; your file never leaves your machine.

What's included​

  • Skinned mesh with weight painting preserved.
  • Skeleton hierarchy with bone names.
  • The animation clip (toggleable — export the rig alone if you prefer).
  • Optional embedded textures (inline in the binary — one self-contained file).
  • FPS control — match your target pipeline's frame rate.

Per-DCC presets — no re-orienting, ever​

The classic FBX pain is opening a file in Blender and finding the character face-down, ninety degrees wrong, or a hundred times too big. Kinetiq ships axis/unit presets per destination tool — pick where the file is going and it opens correctly the first time:

PresetConvention
BlenderZ-up · Y-forward
MayaY-up · Z-forward
UnityY-up · Z-forward
Unreal EngineZ-up · X-forward
Three.jsY-up · Z-forward

Direct import, no re-orient needed. Files validated opening in Blender, Maya, MotionBuilder, Unity, and Unreal.

Workflow​

  1. Export → Export FBX.
  2. Pick the destination preset (Blender / Maya / Unity / Unreal / Three.js).
  3. Toggle the animation clip and embedded textures as needed; set FPS.
  4. Click Export. Browser downloads <animation_name>.fbx.
  5. Open it in your DCC. It's already oriented and scaled correctly.

Tier access​

TierExport access
Free Style❌ Editor + preview only, no export
Starter ($4.99/mo)✅ All formats (FBX, GLB, BVH, .anim)
Builder Pro ($19.99/mo)✅ All formats + 50 marketplace downloads / month
Freedom ($49.99/mo)✅ All formats + unlimited marketplace

See pricing for the full tier comparison.

Workflow — typical export session​

  1. Animation finished, polished, validated via Quality Score.
  2. Decide target. Game engine? GLB. Second Life? .anim or BVH. Blender / Maya / MotionBuilder? FBX with the matching preset.
  3. Export → Export <format>. Settings dialog opens.
  4. Adjust as needed (frame rate for game, priority for SL).
  5. Click Export. File downloads.
  6. Import in target platform. Test.

Edge cases​

Animation with no keyframes​

Exporters require at least one keyframe per track. Empty clips export as a single static pose at the rest position.

Very long clips​

Clips over 60 seconds export fine but file sizes grow linearly. A 60s GLB at 30 FPS for a 50-bone humanoid is ~1-2 MB; a 5-minute clip is ~10 MB. For large file sizes, consider splitting into segments.

Custom rig with non-standard bone names​

GLB and BVH preserve bone names exactly. The target platform may not recognize them — use Retarget Studio before export to map onto a standard rig if your target requires it.

Materials look different in target​

Material rendering differs across engines. Kinetiq exports PBR materials per the glTF spec, but Unity / Unreal / Three.js have slight differences in PBR interpretation. Tweak materials in the target after import if needed — the animation is the priority, materials are platform-specific decoration.