How to make VRM file

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Conversion from existing 3D model

The VRM file can be made by Unity and UniVRM. The workflow is as follow:

1. Import the 3D model data and UniVRM into the current unity project. Adjust/set the model’s size, material, etc.
2. Export the 3D model data as VRM in Unity (normalization processing)
3. Import the VRM file into the current unity project and customize the settings (license, spring bone, expression, eyelook, etc.)
   • In some cases, make sure the model is working (e.g. facial expression change) in play mode first
4. Export the 3D model data as VRM again after the adjustment is finished. The new customized settings are now saved in the VRM file.

Briefly speaking, A humanoid 3D model can be adjusted and exported as a VRM file in Unity. Once the VRM file is made, it can be imported again to adjust items such as VRM Meta, BlendShape, etc..

1. Create an empty project in Unity

Create a new project at the start page (New -> Create project).

2. Import UniVRM package into the created project

Download the latest unitypackage (UniVRM-0.XX) from UniVRM/releases and import it into the current project (Assets -> Import Package -> Custom Package). The imported files will be in ../Assets/VRM. To update UniVRM to a newer version, deleting the previously created VRM folder before package import is recommended.

3. Prepare a 3D model that can be handled as “Humanoid” in Unity

Prepare a 3D model that can be imported into Unity such as FBX format. The model’s bones must be set. Also, be sure to use your own model or the model data that is processed and licensed for use as a VR avatar.. As we will describe later, there are items that describe license information in the VRM file, authors need to fill up those information for their own VRM models.

First, drag the imported humanoid 3D model from the Project window to the Hierarchy window. Click the 3D model in the Hierarchy window then you will see the menu as shown in the Figure above. Click Select and then click Materials. Set Location as Use External Materials (Legacy).

Next, click Rig and set Animation Type as Humanoid, and then click Configure button. A message box will pop up asking whether you want to save the current scene. Click Save to save it.

Now you will see the bone mapping details for this model. Unity will perform auto-mapping for each bone initially. You can check the model’s Body, Head, etc. if an assigned component fits, the leftmost icon will show as green, otherwise it will show as red. In this situation, click rightmost icon for a bone that has the failure bone mapping and select a component you think it fits this bone. To re-map the bones automatically, simply click Mapping in the lowerleft of the interface, click clear and then click Automap.

However, in some cases the bone mapping results are not reasonable even all of them appear as green as shown in the figure below:

We can see the Jaw and Eyes are assigned by the wrong components. As mentioned above, we can fix them by assigning the right corresponding components manually (e.g. eye_light_L will be replaced with eye_L). If the bone mappings are all right, click Done button to proceed to the next step.

4. Adjust the model data and export it as VRM from menu（normalization processing）

Now clcik the model in the Hierarchy window, you shall see sub-components attached to this model. Please click any of them. We are going to check and adjust the items listed below:

• Model Position
  • The model should be placed at the origin
• Model Scale
  • 1.0 = 1m
• Model Pose
  • The model should face towards +Z(axis) direction
• Texture（material / shader）
  • The shaders listed below are highly recommended:
    • PBR
      • Standard shader (Unity standard)
    • Unlit type shader
      • VRM/UnlitTexture (same as Unit/Texture)
      • VRM/UnlitCutout (same as Unit/Coutout)
      • VRM/UnlitTransparent (same as Unit/Transparent)
      • VRM/UnlitTransparentZWrite (Alpha blending and ZWrite are available. It is assumed to be applied to semi-transparent objects)
    • Toon shader
      • VRM/MToon (lighting supported toon shader）

Note that if the materials are not assigned or you want to change them, click the rightmost icon of Element X to select available materials in your computer. There are several parameters that you can adjust rendering effects based on what shader you select. Here we select VRM/MToon as an example as shown below. Please refer to MToon for more information.

After adjustments are completed, select the model in Hierarchy window and export it fromVRM -> UniVRM-0.53.0 -> Export humanoid.

Enter your name in the Author field and click the Export button. The VRM file can then be created. To easily track this file, it is recommended to name the file like this: “Model_Name_Normalized.vrm”. The file will be saved in the Assets folder by default.

• Force T Pose
  • Force the model pose to become T-Pose before removing rotation / scaling.
• Pose Freeze
  • Whether the rotation / scaling removal processing should be performed. This is the process of normalizing model for conforming to the VRM rules. Please make sure to check the boxes at the first time of use. After this process is done, all the components can work correctly.

Details about model’s T-Pose normalization can be found here.

5. Import the VRM file

Drag and drop the VRM file (~.vrm) from step 4 into Assets folder. The prefab file of the imported VRM model data can be automatically generated.

Now remove the model data (step 4), and drag and drop the prefab file to the Hierarchy window. Normalized model data such as mesh, etc. can then be shown.

6. Custom setting in VRM

The VRM model’s information will be shown in the Inspector window once the root of the model data (step 5) in Hierarchy is selected. In addition, the spring bone (object swaying) settings are available in “secondary”. Please at least fill in title, author, license information. Specially, license information is crucial!

• Information

  • Title
    • Avatar model name (any input)
  • Version
    • Avatar model version (any input)
  • Author
    • Author name
  • Contact Information
    • Author contact information
  • Reference
    • Original / Related works of this avatar, if any

• License

  • Personation / Characterization Permission

    • A person who can perform with this avatar
      • Only Author
      • Explicitly Licensed Person
      • Everyone
    • Violent acts using this avatar
      • Disallow
      • Allow
    • Sexuality acts using this avatar
      • Disallow
      • Allow
    • For commercial use
      • Disallow
      • Allow
    • Other License Url
      • If there are any conditions not mentioned above, put the URL link of the license document here

  • Redistribution / Modifications License

    • License Type

      • Redistribution Prohibited
      • Copyright wavier (CC0)
      • Creative Commons CC BY License(CC_BY)
      • Creative Commons CC BY NC License(CC_BY_NC)
      • Creative Commons CC BY SA License(CC_BY_SA)
      • Creative Commons CC BY NC SA License(CC_BY_NC_SA)
      • Creative Commons CC BY ND License(CC_BY_ND)
      • Creative Commons CC BY NC ND License(CC_BY_NC_ND)
      • Other

    • Other License Url

      • If “Other” is selected, put the URL link of the license document here

Note that starting from Unity version 2018.3, the interface has slightly changes:

Now the basic model conversion is finished. To complete the whole setup, please set up the items listed below:

• Expression and lip-sync (BlendShape)
• First-person point of view (Get rid of model’s head for VR applications)
• Movable range for eye gaze/eyeball controlled by bone or BlendShape
• Spring bone (SpringBone/SpringBoneCollider)

7. Check model expressions/movements in play mode（If necessary）

Set AnimationClip/AnimationController and set viewing target inVRMLookAtHead -> Target(the head orientation towards the target). For example, you can create a cube as a target from GameObject -> 3D Object -> Cube. Next, serach head component inVRMLookAtHead -> Head. After the corresponding components are assigned, check the model’s motion in the scene. The model will track the target position in Play Mode. You can drag the object position to test whether the model’s eyes are tracking the object in (near) real-time. The model’s close-up face can be viewed in Inspector window.

To test the model’s expressions, fairly simple test scripts “AIUEO” and “Blinker” are provided. After setting up BlendShape, click Add Component at the bottom of model’s Inspector window to add “AIUEO” script or drag the script directly to Inspector. After “AIUEO” is set, lip synchronization animation that “aa”, “ih”, “ou”, “E”, “oh” switches in turn can be created in the scene. Similarly, if “Blinker” is set, eye blink animation that plays periodically can be created. See runtime VRM loader sample (download UniVRM-RuntimeLoaderSample-0.XX) for more details on how to use these scripts.

Double click theBlendShapeAvatar field to set up expressions for the 3D model

8. Export the adjusted VRM model

After the adjustment is completed, select the model data in Hierarchy and again export the model fromVRM -> UniVRM-0.53.0 -> Export humanoid.

This time please do not check “Force T Pose” and “Pose Freeze”. They are only used for the first time (normalization processing). Name the file and export the adjusted VRM model.

Done！

Your VRM file is good to go. Let’s try to import the VRM file into applications that support VRM!