(exporting-animations)=
# Exporting Animations

This section explains how to export animations from Mcblend and mentions some additional settings that can be configured before exporting.

## Exporting Configuration
To export an animation, you first need to create one using the `New animation` button in the `Object Properties` panel under the {ref}`Mcblend: Animations<mcblend-object-properties-animations>` tab. This tab is only visible when an armature is selected. If you want to remove an animation, use the `Remove this animation` button.

Before exporting the animation, you can configure some additional settings in the `Object Properties` panel. The `Skip rest poses` checkbox allows you to create more optimized animations by skipping unnecessary keyframes that don't affect the pose of the model. The `Export as pose` option changes the animation to a single pose, creating a looped animation with a single frame.

The `Override previous animation`, `Loop`, and `Anim Time update` settings are properties of Minecraft animations and are directly exported to the file. They have no effect on Mcblend. The `Frame start` and `Frame end` settings determine the range of frames that will be exported to the animation.

The `Optimize Animation` checkbox allows you to apply **lossy** optimization to the animation during export. This option also lets you configure the error acceptable margin for the optimization. More details in {ref}`Optimizing animations<optimizing-animations>` section.

## Exporting a single animation

Exporting a single animation is similar to exporting a model, as explained in the {ref}`Creating animations from scratch<creating-animations-from-scratch>` documentation page. Go to `File > Export > Export Bedrock Animation` and select the export path. If the file already exists and is a valid animation file, the exported animation will be appended/updated.

(batch-exporting-multiple-animations)=
## Batch exporting multiple animations

If your armature contains several animations you can export **all of them at once** using the *Batch Export Bedrock Animations* operator:

1. Select the armature containing the animations.
2. Choose `File > Export > Batch Export Bedrock Animations`.
3. Pick an existing `.animation.json` file or provide a new path. If the file already exists, the exported animations will be appended/updated.

![](/img/animations/batch_export_file_explorer.png)

The sidebar lists all animations on the armature with check-boxes, allowing you to exclude individual clips from the batch.