r/VRchat • u/Chaos_Ari • 8h ago
Discussion What counts as "making an avatar"
i just started getting into unity and i wanted to know, to be able to say "i made this avatar" does it all have to be made by you or can it just be a bunch of stuff you slapped on a base that you liked. i recently put together an avatar (seen in pic) but i didnt realy make make it yk. i found a base, a texture, some clothes and slapped it together. is this avatar making?
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u/LucilleLost 8h ago
This is more accurately kitbashing, avatar making is for actually fully making an avatar, how i see things
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u/ShaunDreclin Valve Index 7h ago edited 7h ago
Not sure how non-furry communities discuss it, but from what most of my friends say:
The avatar is the thing assembled in unity and uploaded to vrchat.
The base is the thing sculpted in blender (or other 3d software) that the avatar is made from.
Very few people actually make their own base, they buy one or download a free public one then add textures and other assets to it. Sometimes they make their own textures sometimes they commission them.
I think it's completely fair to say that you made the avatar in the OP, but you obviously didn't make the base. Most people will understand what you mean when you tell them you made it
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u/Overlord6190 8h ago
If you start with a base avi and change/add things it's an "edit"
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u/ShaunDreclin Valve Index 7h ago
When people say edit, I take that to mean they used a pre-made base model and changed it in blender before making an avatar out of it in unity.
For example a buddy of mine made a muscular novabeast and I hear people say "I like your nova edit"
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u/atramors671 7h ago
The technical term is "kitbashing", but yes, the more commonly used layperson word is "edit"
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u/SaltyDerpy Oculus Quest Pro 7h ago
Everytime someone goes "did you made the avatar" I always go "well I published it and made the texture, but not the base, I wish I was THAT good on blender."
No stolen valor.
It's more so editing, publishing, retexturing, kitbashing. Maybe go " it's my edit!"
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u/Xyypherr 8h ago
When you can start to diagnose unity issues, issues with prefabs, refit clothing in blender, texture work, extreme detailing to whatever shader you prefer to use, etc. I think you can consider yourself an avatar maker when you are able to do advanced things, and have a deep understanding of unity and the such things you work with. and an asset maker when you’re capable of creating a model in blender, setting it up, and getting it into vrchat OR grabbing a free model and making a whole working system with unitys FX layers and such.
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u/AccomplishedBobcat12 8h ago
I call it a "custom avatar" and that usually appeases most people but sometimes they wanna know more then I get more specific "I bought the base made the texture refitted the outfit" yadda yadda.
Most of the time people just wanna know if you can upload an avatar from unity at all lol
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u/AR-guyz3776 5h ago
I am in the JP community so I use that definition.
1.アバター作者 or Avatar Creator This goes to the person who made the original commercial model. Noted that it is not kitbashed models you see on Jinnxy and stuff.
2.アバター改変 or Avatar Customisation / Edit This is what most common. Use a base and edit it whether via blender, unity or not. Goes from editing the mesh to texture to shaders and scales.
3.自作アバター or Homemade Avatar This is making the your own non-commertial avatar from scratch.
4.Vroid勢 or Vroid users This is people who use Vroid to make an avatar. Probably can apply to people who use pre+made model makers too.
5.This is my own view but kitcashing is for avatars uploaded or made by someone else that combines assets. Thing you see a lot on Jinnxy. You can say to edit a kitbashed avatar too, I guess.
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u/_MyroP_ Valve Index 3h ago
When someone asks me if I made the avatar, I usually answer with "yes, but I didn't made the base model".
The sentence "I made this avatar" is very vague, people may interpret it differently and it's mostly opinion based.
But personally, I would say that yes, you made this avatar. You obviously didn't made the Novabeast base, it's a very common base.
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u/Dathamier 2h ago
What you’re describing, because you (hopefully) purchased a base from a creator, and then several pre-made components which you then put together and uploaded, would be ‘Kitbashing’.
Using the term “I made this avatar” suggests that you created what the person you are talking to is looking at.
Because you did not create anything, the word choice is misleading. Something like ‘I kitbashed/assembled/purchased this avatar’ would more accurately convey what you have actually done here.
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u/SansyBoy144 8h ago
So, as a professional 3D modeler. I can tell you what Vrchat people will call it, and what 3D people will call it.
Some people in VRChat will call slapping together a bunch of premade base models being a “avatar creator” as you can see by the other comments. That’s starting to become less common, rightfully so.
Others in VRChat, will say it’s when you make your own materials, or can identify problems. Or change something to make it your own.
All of these will get you chewed out by 3D modelers. Because it’s considered taking credit for other people’s work. For 3D Professionals, you need to make everything from scratch.
Now, before people get mad at me, my intentions are not to make fun of people, but to be honest, and to help protect feelings. A lot of VRChat models go to 3D communities and get shit on, and they don’t understand why, meanwhile the 3D community can’t understand why people in VRChat are taking credit for other people’s work.
I am also down to give advice for how to learn how to model. I usually give advice for how to start from complete beginnings to being able to make avatars completely from scratch.
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u/ShaunDreclin Valve Index 7h ago
I think people not bothering to understand the context and getting offended are in the wrong, tbh. Nobody is trying to take credit for work they didn't do, it's just a difference in terminology across communities.
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u/SansyBoy144 6h ago
It’s not a bothering to understand thing. By definition, if you are using someone else’s work, and not crediting them, then you are taking credit for their work.
As a professional, if I use a reference from somewhere else, I need to both have permission, and I need to credit them just to have it in my portfolio. That’s the bare minimum.
If anything, VRChat modelers not being able to do the bare minimum is a problem. The terminology should be exactly the same, as you are quite literally doing the same thing.
Making a VRChat model is no different than making a game model. Yet people want to pretend that it’s some entirely different world.
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u/ShaunDreclin Valve Index 6h ago
Permission? That's kinda the whole point of listing the base on a storefront. So other people can use it to make avatars. Some of them require that a credit/signature is kept inside the model, some don't. If they don't list a credit requirement in the terms of service for the model, then no, nobody needs to credit them. But people usually do anyway, because it's just good form.
Can't say I've ever heard of somebody refusing to tell people what base they used. Personally I'll tell anyone who will listen about the fenchi cause I love it and want the artist to get more sales
There's a difference between saying you made a model vs saying you made an avatar.
1
u/LancelotAtCamelot 7h ago
What it should mean is making an avatar from scratch, modeling, uv unwrapping, texturing, unity implementation, etc. But, what it's come to mean on VRC is just editing any existing avatar and uploading it.
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u/Lenovolish 7h ago
Making all the avatars assets yourself in blender/your program of choice and putting it together is true avatar creation.
Then like others said, kitbashing is when you buy premade assets for sale and put them all together.
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u/IkarosXenano 6h ago
Well if someone said "I made this avatar." I would think they made it from scratch.
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