Defold Atlas Export — .atlas and .tilesource from Frames
Defold builds atlases itself from individual images, so a pre-packed sheet has to be split back into frames. This export writes those frame images, an .atlas with one animation group per tag and a .tilesource for the grid.
- DefoldBuilt· Defold bob.jar 1.13.1
- Godot 4Verified· Godot 4.7.2
- Unity 6Verified· Unity 6000.5.3f1
- Phaser 3 / 4Verified· Phaser 3.90 + 4.2
- PixiJS 8Verified· PixiJS 8.21
- Aseprite JSONVerified· Phaser load.aseprite · PixiJS 8.21
- .asepriteVerified· Aseprite 1.3.18
- Spine / libGDXVerified· spine-canvas 4.2
- Starling / Sparrow XMLVerified· Phaser 4.2
- LÖVEVerified· LÖVE 11.5
- GameMakerUNVERIFIED
- CSS spritesVerified· Chromium
- GIF / APNGDecoded· Pillow
What it does
- .atlas listing full-canvas frame images, with one animation group per animation.
- .tilesource for grid-based sheets, under assets/<name>/.
- Checked by Defold's command-line builder bob.jar 1.13.1; the built texture set's UVs were read back.
- One fps per animation (Defold animation groups have no per-frame duration).
How to do it
- Drop a sheet (and Apply), numbered frames, a GIF or an .aseprite file.
- Name the animations on the timeline.
- In Pack & Export choose Defold.
- Copy the defold/ folder into your project and add the atlas to a sprite component.
Engine exports and how each was checked
"Verified" means the exported files were loaded by the real engine or tool on real CC0 assets and the result was compared with the source. Anything that was not loaded is labelled as such.
| Target | Files | Check |
|---|---|---|
| Godot 4 | .tres SpriteFrames · .tscn AnimatedSprite2D · .png.import | Verified Godot 4.7.2Loaded by Godot; every animation frame drawn and compared with the source file. The scene uses Nearest filtering; rotation is never used. |
| Unity 6 | .unity.json · Editor/NerulioSpriteImporter.cs · AnimationClip | Verified Unity 6000.5.3f1Batch mode: sprite rects, pivots, pixels, clip keys and durations checked. |
| Phaser 3 / 4 | atlas JSON (multiatlas) · .anims.json | Verified Phaser 3.90 + 4.2Frames and animations drawn by both versions. |
| PixiJS 8 | spritesheet JSON · animations · anchor · meta.scale | Verified PixiJS 8.21Rotated and multi-page atlases included. |
| Aseprite JSON | hash / array · frameTags · slices | Verified Phaser load.aseprite · PixiJS 8.21Tags keep their direction and repeat count. |
| .aseprite | layers · tags · durations · slices | Verified Aseprite 1.3.18Opened and rendered by the Aseprite command line. |
| Spine / libGDX | .atlas | Verified spine-canvas 4.2Every region drawn by the Spine runtime, rotated and trimmed; libGDX itself was not run. |
| Starling / Sparrow XML | XML per page | Verified Phaser 4.2Phaser 3.90 draws trimmed XML frames wrongly (its own bug); the "Sparrow XML (Phaser 3)" preset turns trim off and passes in 3.90 and 4.2. |
| LÖVE | Lua quads · nerulio_atlas.lua · main.lua | Verified LÖVE 11.5Every frame drawn and every animation stepped through the shipped helper. |
| Defold | .atlas · .tilesource | Built Defold bob.jar 1.13.1Built by Defold's command-line builder; the built texture's UVs were read back. |
| GameMaker | spr_<name>_stripN.png · gamemaker.json | UNVERIFIEDNot loaded in GameMaker (no headless GameMaker). The strips are cut the way its strip importer cuts them. |
| CSS sprites | .css · preview .html | Verified ChromiumEvery class drawn from the shipped stylesheet. |
| GIF / APNG | one file per animation | Decoded PillowEvery frame and delay decoded again after export; APNG is exact. |
Evidence
Exports: 49 runs in the real engines on real CC0 assets, 47 pass — the 2 failures are Phaser 3.90's trimmed-XML bug, which the Phaser 3 preset avoids. Packer head-to-head on 5 real frame sets (CodeAndWeb free web packer, GAPTools, free-tex-packer): smallest sheet on all 5 with rotation allowed, 4 of 5 without; every frame restored pixel-exact.
Limits
- Polygon (mesh) packing is not offered: none of the verified engines draws a mesh atlas from exported data.
- GameMaker strips are UNVERIFIED in GameMaker itself.
- Scale variants (@0.5x–@4x) use nearest-neighbour only.
- Trimmed Starling XML is drawn wrongly by Phaser 3.90; use the "Sparrow XML (Phaser 3)" preset there.
Questions
Was it run inside the Defold editor?
It was built by Defold's own builder (bob.jar 1.13.1) and the resulting UVs were read back; the editor GUI and a running game were not used, so the label is "Built", not "Verified".
Why one frame rate per animation?
A Defold animation group has a single fps; frames with different durations in the Studio are exported with one rate per group.
Is it free, and do I need an account?
Everything on these pages is free and works without an account. There is no watermark and no export that is held back.
Are my sprites uploaded?
No. The Studio decodes, packs and exports in this browser tab. Projects are autosaved in the browser (IndexedDB) and can be saved as a .nerulio file.
Does it need Aseprite or an engine plugin installed?
No. .aseprite files are read and written in the browser, and each engine bundle carries what that engine needs (for Godot, the import settings and scene; for Unity and the Godot TileSet, a small editor script).