Setting Up

Roblox has certain files that will help speed up the process. The files you choose to work with depend on what you are trying do.

Blender is a fantastic and free 3D Creation tool. We will be using it to make our assets. You may be able to follow along with other 3D Creation tools like Maya or 3DStudio MAX, but some of the details may be different such as Mapping and Export settings.

You may want to texture your character, adding color or detail to your avatar. The best applications for this are Photoshop or Substance Painter. Both of these are owned by Adobe with their subscription model, but Substance Painter is also available on Steam, which means you could get a discount on the semi-regular Steam Sale. You could use other free software like Gimp or Paint.net.

The last thing you need is of course Roblox Studio in order to put your assets together and use in Roblox.

Another great resource is the Roblox Resources page that has a large range of blender and .fbx files you could use to create your avatar.

Requirements

You will need the following in order to create the Avatar :

• The Round Male Character template Blender or FBX file

• Blender (Maya, 3DStudio MAX, etc.)

• Texturing tool (Photoshop, Substance Painter, Gimp, Paint etc)

• Roblox Studio.

With the applications installed and the template file downloaded we can get started!

Getting Started

Let's open the Template file in Blender and have a look at what we need to do.

• Open Blender.

• Go to 'File / Open', and open the 'RoundMale.blend' file.

If you are using another application such as Maya or 3DStudio MAX you could use the .fbx file.

Introduction

The Avatar Template has a lot of assets that we can use as a guide, or actual assets, in your character. Some of these were covered in the Chapter Overview, but let's go into a bit more detail.

Note the following images will be using my own avatar and settings, but the assets will be the same in the template file.

The Rig

The Rig is the assets that looks like a skeleton. You'll have a number of bones that represent the arms, torso, pelvis, legs, head and face.

It is possible to add bones such as fingers to this if you want, but you will need to create custom animations if you want them animated in Roblox.

These bones have specific connections to other bones. If it is connected under another bone it is a 'Child' bone. If it is above another bone it is a 'Parent' bone. Parent/Child connections are pretty common to use in game development.

The design of your character can be any humanoid. If you are not creating an avatar though, such as a creature for your experience, a lot of the techniques can be used for those also. These tutorials will be focusing on Humanoid assets to be used as an avatar however.

A Rig is included in the Template. These bones cannot be renamed. New bones can be named as you like, but if you want to use the same animations for different characters you should have your own standards.

Attachments

Attachments are 19 points on your avatar that allow the user to attach accessories such as hair, backpacks, or other elements. These assets cannot be renamed, but they can be moved around. Once your character is created we can adjust the position of these to line up correctly around the body.

The Attachments are included in the Template. These cannot be renamed.

Cage Meshes

Cage Meshes are used to allow assets such as jackets to shape according to different characters. Once your character has been made we can then update the cage meshes to align with the body so they can wear other assets from the Roblox Marketplace such as jackets, pants etc.

The Cage Meshes are included in the Template. These cannot be renamed.

Face Animation

It is possible to set up the face to have animation in game. This approach uses the Facial Action Coding System, or FACS. This uses a number of bones around the face in specific locations to modify the facial expression over a set number of animation keyframes. These are then used with a Mapping approach that defines key bones, and facial expressions that Roblox understands in order to do facial animation and emotes.

The FACS bones are included in the Template. These cannot be renamed.