#Vrchat custom avatars code

#Vrchat custom avatars code

The VR Chat code of conduct is a great manifesto, but even Socrates (it’s under ‘so-crates) and Glaucon were talking about digital anonymity in their ancient Greek debate on the web-ring of Gyges. In regards to web anonymity and bullying, the issues are extremely difficult to tackle. Special thanks to Poplopo on VR Chat for snapping some amazing pictures of me at the Majora’s Mask Milk Bar. I set the character height to around 3.5 feet, which forced me to look up at other users (probably good for my back after spending all day on the computer) and had the unintended side effect of making lots of other characters chase me around, attempting to pick me up. Within a few hours I was ready to paint the virtual town red! Most other users found me repulsive and definitively ‘not sonic,’ but it was super fun to run around the environments and chat with others about the importance of going fast. After that I put a VRC_AvatarDescriptor component on the model from the VR Chat Developer SDK., and uploaded it from within Unity (props to the VR Chat devs for making this so easy!) I used that rig hierarchy so that everything would be compatible with the Unity Mecanim Humanoid Rig, which you need to ensure is referencing the right bones in your rig. You get used to it.After using C4D’s UV Wizard and body paint to slap color on the model, I grabbed a rig from one of the Unity Adam models and started deforming the joints to fit the cancerous blob that is my Sanic. I think most of us feel sympathy for Sonic: he is Ozymandias fallen, the mighty brought to ruin simply by the ravages of time (well, a few terrible games and the Internet). The character has really transformed over the years from a cool dude with a ‘tude, to a dude with a ‘tude who liked chilly dogs, to a cartoon dude who likes human women, to a meme dude who likes Shrek. Well, not really, but I grew up with Sonic. I dug deep into my childhood, and realized my spirit animal is Sonic. In setting out to make my own avatar, I decided I wanted something approachable, funny, and physically impossible for me to otherwise be. Right now it feels like hyper-Comicon, and users can share their love of a character even if they could never cosplay as a 30 foot tall Stay Puft Marshmallow Man (actually, someone might have already tried that: cosplay is crazy).

This may very well be, but I feel digital personas and avatars can also be very beneficial in allowing us to express and reinvent different aspects of ourselves, as well find common ground with other users. There are those who would blame digital anonymity and online handles as a major enabler of cyber bullying and harassment.