👽Avatar Upload

Upload your avatar(s) on the Kinetix Developer Portal to ensure optimal retargeting of User-Generated Emotes within your game, and generate emote icons that fit your avatar(s)'s body shape.

Uploading an avatar into the Developer Portal allows Kinetix to precisely learn how your avatar is built, and automatically ensure that the retargeting that you will benefit in your game is optimal. Retargeting is a mandatory step to transfer 3D animations into your game.

If you want to learn more about Kinetix's proprietary retargeting algorithm and bone mapping, head to Retargeting.

Which avatars you should upload

You must uploading onto the Developer Portal every avatar from your game that has a unique rig/skeleton.

If you have a rig for female avatars, one for male avatars, and another one for non-binary avatars, then you should upload the three of them.

If you use the same rig for all your avatars, then please upload the most iconic one (for instance the one that you use for your marketing communication).

Avatar specifications & pre-requisites

Please ensure your avatar meets the following guidelines before uploading:

1. File Format

• Your file must be in .fbx format.

Should your file be in another format (glb, usd, etc…), you can convert it by importing your file in your preferred 3D software (Maya, Blender, C4D,..) and then exporting it again as a .fbx, or by referring to these tutorials or use an online converter:

1. glb/gltf to fbx

2. usd/usdz to fbx

3. dae to fbx

• Please make sure that the extension is in lowercase (.fbx instead of .FBX).

• Files in the following formats are not animation files, these are not suitable for our platform: .mp4, .svg, .png, .ply, .stl, .x3d, .abc...

• If you have an .obj file, please refer to this section 2. Optimal Rig Structure:

• The version of the .fbx should be one of the following:

  • FBX 2018

  • FBX 2020

• Your .fbx should preferably be written in binary rather than ASCII. If your .fbx doesn’t have the right version or is in ASCII, import it in your preferred 3D software and export it again with the suitable parameters.

• We accept files up to a maximum of 200 MB, including texture images that are embedded in the file.

Should your file weigh more than 200 MB, it might be due to either a dense mesh or heavy texture images.

1. In case of a dense mesh, you can follow this tutorial in Blender or do it in another 3D software, and then rebind your mesh to your skeleton and copy the skinning from your high poly mesh to your low poly mesh.

2. For heavy texture images, the best way is to reduce and compress the size of your images (you should avoid having images higher than 2K at most) and remove texture images such as ambient occlusion, specular, roughness, metalness, ... and keep the base color and the normal map.

   1. To access textures that are embedded in the .fbx, importing it in a 3D software should create you a .fbm folder containing the textures.

   2. Remap the textures then export your avatar as a .fbx file.

Avoid exporting textures that are too heavy (image size in 4K, 8K, …), and avoid exporting too many texture images (between 2-5 image files on average).

The focus of our platform is animation, anything related to textures, lighting or other visuals should be managed in game engines or 3D softwares and renderers.

2. Optimal Rig Structure:

• Your avatar file must include both a skeleton and a mesh.

If your avatar doesn’t contain a mesh (ex: coming from a .bvh), you need to import or create a 3D mesh then bind and skin your skeleton to that 3D mesh. Make sure that your skeleton is in T-pose or A-pose when doing so.

If your avatar doesn’t have a skeleton (ex: coming from an .obj), you can use an autorig to create and skin your avatar automatically. We recommend using one of the following as they are compatible with our technology:

• Mixamo

• Accurig

• Auto Rig Pro (Blender)

• Ensure your avatar's skeleton contains unique joint names. Otherwise, rename the problematic joints with suitable names in your preferred 3D software. You can base the naming of your joints on Mixamo’s skeleton or Unreal’s mannequin.

• Your file must not contain multiple skeletons (rigs). Otherwise, import your avatar in your preferred 3D software, locate the skeleton that is bound to the mesh by trying to move them, then delete any skeleton that doesn’t affect the mesh.

• Avoid specific joint chains such as skirts or hairs as those joints cannot be taken into account when retargeting your animation. Otherwise, make sure to provide a version of your rig that doesn’t have any of these joints. For quick results, you can delete the skeleton of your avatar and export it as a mesh only, and use an autorig such as Mixamo or Accurig in order to get a suitable skeleton. (see above hint)

3. File Content:

• Your file can contain texture images as long as they are embedded in your file (make sure that the textures don’t weigh more than 50 MB).

When exporting your .fbx from your 3D software (Maya, Blender, C4D, etc…), make sure to toggle “Embed Media”. Otherwise your shaders will appear wrong in our 3D viewport. Avoid exporting textures that are too heavy (image size in 4K, 8K, …), and avoid exporting too many texture images (between 2-5 image files on average).

• Your file must not include any animation nor contain any kind of keyframe. If it does, open it in a 3D software, select every joints and every meshes, then remove any keyframes that appear in the timeline. Export it back as a .fbx file.

• Avoid including unrelated entities in your file such as curves, controllers, light sources, or any 3D software-specific solvers. If you file includes some, import your .fbx in a 3D software and make sure to only keep 3D meshes and joints. Delete the rest then export back as an .fbx file.

• If your character has any, make sure to remove any props or accessories. If your character does have props, import it in your preferred 3D software, then delete any mesh and joints that correspond to any props or accessory. Make sure to only keep the character’s meshes and skeleton. Export it back as a .fbx file.

If you have followed our guidelines and your avatar is still facing an error on the Developer Portal, please reach out to our technical support.

How to upload an avatar and adjust its bone mapping

To learn how to upload your avatar from A to Z, you can follow the steps from the video below:

-> Upload your avatar on the Developer Portal

1. First, log into your Developer Portal Account and head to the "Avatar Management" section.

2. There you will be able to click on "Upload an avatar".

3. Type the name you want to give to your avatar.

4. Select a .FBX file that contains your 3D character, in Y-up position and with skeleton (bones) and mesh, smaller than 10Mb.

5. Click on "done".

-> Adjust your character's Bone Mapping

Once you have uploaded your avatar (in a good format - a Y-up character in an FBX file), you will be redirected to the Bone Mapping pages, where you can check that your character has been correctly mapped by our retargeting algorithm, and adjust the bones if needed.

This step is necessary to be performed, in order to ensure a good quality of retargeting of animations on your avatar. We retarget animations from the Kinetix Avatar to your avatar using this mapping. Therefore, we encourage you to fully understand the Kinetix Avatar’s skeleton.

The Kinetix bones are as the following:

a. Mandatory bones:

Kinetix's skeleton main bones.

b. Additional Bones

Kinetix's skeleton "additional bones".

c. Hand bones

Kinetix's hand bones. Bone 0 is the closest to the palm, while bone 2 is always at the extremity of the finger.

You only need to map one hand: the other will be mapped accordingly.

Once you've understood how Kinetix's Avatar is built, and know what your custom character looks like, you are ready to proceed to the Bone Mapping.

STEP 1: Check that your avatar's Key Bones are correctly mapped.

On your screen, you will see your avatar, and around it several text boxes:

• The label of a text box is a Kinetix bone that needs to be mapped.

• The content of the text box is the name of your avatar’s bones.

Upon first landing on the bone mapping page, you’ll notice that we have automatically mapped some (if not all) of your avatar’s bones. We encourage you to double-check these to ensure the quality of the final result.

You can click on a bone and drag to connect to a text box, or you can click on a text box and drag to connect to a bone. You can also click on a text box to manually select a bone by its name, instead of dragging and searching for it.

When a text box is selected, you’ll see a small modal showing where it is ideally supposed to be mapped, according to the Kinetix Standard Avatar.

Be careful! It is not because all your bones are automatically mapped that it has been done without mistake. You need to check all of the bones and make sure that the bones mapped by the algorithm actually match. Mis-mapping a mandatory bone will severely damage the animation outputs.

STEP 2: Check that your avatar's Additional Bones are correctly mapped.

Simply drag the little dot next to Kinetix's bone names (on the left and right columns) and drop it on the corresponding bone on your character. When holding a dot, you can see where you have to plug it if you look at the picture that appears on the left/right-top corner of your screen.

In this example, this character does not include a "Spine2" bone. Since it's an optional bone, we can skip it without damaging the emote outputs.

Optional bones can be skipped, but it's always better to map them if your character's skeleton has them!

STEP 3: Check that your avatar's Hand Bones are correctly mapped.

Hand bones may or may not be mapped. However, they must be mapped if you would like to ensure your avatar’s fingers also follow the animations. For each finger, we have named the bones as 0, 1, 2 starting from the bone closest to the main hand bone. (For example, Index_0, Index_1, Index_2).

Here, my character's finger bones are named from 1 to 3, while Kinetix Standard Avatar's fingers are named from 0 to 2. Don't get confused by the names, and follow the hand picture!

STEP 4: Check the bone mapping by previewing an Emote on your character.

Before validating your bone mapping, you can preview it as your avatar plays 3 Emotes. It's a great occasion for you to check that bones are correctly mapped. If your character is acting weirdly, it means that something went wrong with the bone mapping! If needed, you are able to go back to the previous steps and adjust mid-mapped bones.

Avatar Processing time

Once you have validated your bone mapping, your avatar will be processing. In general, you can expect to wait from 2 to 5 minutes for your avatar to be processed and completely usable.

Please, do not hesitate to contact Ben if you need any help to map your avatar.

Contact-Aware Retargeting

Contact-Aware Retargeting is a special retargeting method that suits characters with a complex / uncommon morphology, resulting in meshes that expand far from the skeleton.

You can learn more about Contact-Aware Retargeting

Conditions to benefit from Contact-Aware Retargeting

If your game / apps follows the conditions below, you are eligible to Contact-Aware Retargeting:

• The avatars featured in your game do not have too many different skeletons & shapes. Contact-Aware Retargeting suits particularly games that have 1 or just a few different avatars. Note that 2 avatars with the same skeleton & shape, but different textures are counted as 1 single avatar.

• The avatars featured in your game cannot be customized though sliders that would affect the character's mesh.

• The avatar featured in the game are quite "unsual". In case your avatars are quite similar to Kinetix's "Sam" avatar (Male, thin/atheletic, 1.70 meters, ...), using Contact-Aware Retargeting would be irrelevant.

Note that if your game features a few different avatars, you do not specifically have to opt for the Contact-Aware Retargeting for all of them. You can keep the Standard one for all your avatars, except a few "unsual" ones that would require a dedicated approach.

How to get Contact-Aware Retargeting for your avatars

1. Request the Contact-Aware Retargeting

As of today, the Contact-Aware Retargeting is not directly accessible to games. Game have to contact Ben to access the feature.

If your game / app is eligible to Contact-Aware Retargeting, you may contact Ben from Kinetix's technical team, to compute your characters with the appropriate retargeting method.

As you contact Ben, do not forget to specify the ID of the avatars you want to have the Contact-Aware Retargeting enabled on. (Log into your Developer Portal -> go to "Avatar Upload" -> click on "Display Avatar ID").

Once they are ready, your avatars that benefit from the Contact-Aware Retargeting will appear on the Developer Portal, in the Avatar Upload section, with the "Premium" banner visible on their avatar card.

2. Integrate the avatars that benefit from Contact-Aware Retargeting into your game

For now, the Contact-Aware Retargeting is only available for games that integrated the Unity SDK. The feature will come soon on the Unreal Engine SDK.

To let your eligible avatars benefit from the Contact-Aware Retargeting, head to the corresponding section:

• Unity SDK: Using your custom uploaded avatar for Contact-Aware Retargeting