—, I've been having some success with morph animations in Q3D after not knowing how to do it at all, and I'm working on a mini-tutorial for your post, “Q3D Tips and Tricks.” I also figured out how to export the animations embedded in the .json file, so I don't need two files. And also, I figured out how to rename each separate animation without having to do everything by hand, frame by frame. And I'm also going to put that in the tutorial. I was surprised to find that the separate animations tween or transition nicely, and they seem to work better than rigged animations in Q3D. But—my method still requires that you create a rigged animation first. I don't have time right now to give all the details on how to do it (I'm not at home), but here's the basic idea:
You take a rigged and animated model and capture each of its poses using the armature modifier. I do that by creating multiple duplicates (shift+D) of the original, one for each pose, capturing each pose and deleting the bones from each. I do this also with the first pose. I will then use the shape keys to create a “basis” pose for each model, select that model, then also select the first-pose model, and use the Specials menu to select “Join as Shape,” which transfers the basis shape key from the posed model to the first-pose model. Once I have all of the poses “captured” as shape keys in the first-pose model, I delete all of the other models so that only the first-pose model remains. Then it's a matter of using the Shape Key Editor in the action editor to place all of the shape key poses in the timeline and record them.
I put all of my animation cycles in a single timeline, since it will all end up in a single timeline in the .json file anyway. (Edit: I misspoke here: I actually created all of the animations separately, then copied and pasted the animation portion of each .json script into the Q3D model's final .json file. Putting them all into a single timeline in the original model was wishful thinking; I haven't tried it yet, but I'm planning to soon.)
I wish I had more time to give all the details, but I'll have that mini-tutorial up soon. There are a lot of tricks that I had to figure out before it would work.
When exporting the model, I turn the skeletal animation off (no “pose” or “rest”), and click “Morph Animation” and “Embed Animation.” I can't remember all of the details of how I set up the export without my Blender in front of me, but I'll include that in the tut.
Finally, to rename all of the “animation_” frames in the .json file, I made note of where each separate animation cycle begins and ends (by frame number). In the .json file, in Notepad, I used Edit>Replace to search for “animation_0000” and then the following digit (like 2, 3, etc.), typed in the name I wanted to replace it with—like “walk”-- and clicked “replace all.” I didn't explain that very well here, because I'm out of time, but I will also include that in the tut.
I'm not sure if I answered your question for the time being, but I'll have more detail later.