Block Texture Animation (flipbook_textures.json)

Unlike entities that can swap textures via render controllers or animate UV coordinates in geometry, blocks use a dedicated texture atlas baking system called a flipbook. During resource pack loading, the game engine reads your vertical sprite sheet, slices it into square frames, and cycles those frames directly inside the terrain texture atlas on every game tick.

Because the animation happens inside the texture atlas itself, every instance of that block in the world animates in complete unison. There is almost zero performance cost for placing thousands of animated blocks, because the game only updates the single atlas slot once per frame rather than updating each block in the world individually.

A flipbook texture must be a single PNG file where all animation frames are stacked vertically in a single column. The width of the image determines the size of a single frame, and the total height must be an exact multiple of that width. For example, a standard 16x16 pixel block texture with 4 frames of animation requires an image that is 16 pixels wide and 64 pixels tall.

Frame indices are zero-based, counting from the top of the image down to the bottom. Frame 0 is the top square, Frame 1 is directly beneath it, and so on. If your image height is not an exact multiple of its width, the engine will fail to slice the frames properly and will render the pink-and-black missing texture checkerboard across the block.

Before defining the animation parameters, you must assign a short texture name to your sprite sheet in RP/textures/terrain_texture.json. This short name is the link that connects your block definition (in blocks.json or the minecraft:material_instances component) to the flipbook animation file.

Point the texture path directly to your vertical sprite sheet PNG, omitting the file extension just like any static block texture.

{
  "resource_pack_name": "custom_blocks_rp",
  "texture_name": "atlas.terrain",
  "padding": 8,
  "num_mip_levels": 4,
  "texture_data": {
    "my_pack:energy_core": {
      "textures": "textures/blocks/energy_core_anim"
    }
  }
}

Create a file named flipbook_textures.json directly inside your RP/textures/ folder. Unlike most Bedrock JSON files that start with a root object and a format version, flipbook_textures.json is simply a top-level JSON array containing one object per animated texture.

In each object, you specify the file path to the sprite sheet, the short name you registered in terrain_texture.json, and how fast the frames should advance. If your pack merges with vanilla and other add-ons, the game automatically combines these arrays in load order.

[
  {
    "flipbook_texture": "textures/blocks/energy_core_anim",
    "atlas_tile": "my_pack:energy_core",
    "ticks_per_frame": 4,
    "frames": [
      0,
      1,
      2,
      3,
      2,
      1
    ],
    "blend_frames": true
  }
]

Once your short name is registered in terrain_texture.json and linked in flipbook_textures.json, you apply it to your block the exact same way you apply a static texture. In modern custom blocks, this means referencing the short name inside the minecraft:material_instances component in your Behavior Pack block file (or inside RP/blocks.json if you are using legacy resource definitions).

If your custom block uses a custom geometry via minecraft:geometry, make sure the UV mapping on your model expects a standard single square texture (such as 16x16), not the full height of the vertical strip. The engine handles slicing the strip into a square before applying it to your geometry UVs.

{
  "format_version": "1.20.80",
  "minecraft:block": {
    "description": {
      "identifier": "my_pack:energy_core"
    },
    "components": {
      "minecraft:destructible_by_mining": {
        "seconds_to_destroy": 2.0
      },
      "minecraft:geometry": "minecraft:geometry.full_block",
      "minecraft:material_instances": {
        "*": {
          "texture": "my_pack:energy_core",
          "render_method": "opaque"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Applies to all modern Bedrock versions (1.16.100+ for material_instances, 1.2+ for flipbook_textures.json). Stable; no experimental toggles are required.

Read out of the game itself, so the ids match the version you are building for.