Generate your Customized Characters

Once you save a character in Character Generator, you can generate and download it to use in Autodesk 3D software such as 3ds Max, Maya, Maya LT, MotionBuilder, Mudbox, or in a game engine such as Unity.

Important: Access to Character Generator is limited to subscribers of Autodesk Maya, Maya LT, 3ds Max, MotionBuilder, and Mudbox, as well as the Autodesk Media & Entertainment Collection. Standalone subscriptions of Autodesk Character Generator are no longer available for purchase. For more information, see Changes to Character Generator.

Before you generate your customized character, review the generate options to select the appropriate settings and options for your project.

See Generating Character window options for descriptions of the settings.

Note: Character Generator lets you create a maximum of 200 character designs and 200 generated characters.

1. Go to the Character Designs page.

   The Character Designs page displays a thumbnail for each of your saved customized characters.

   Since Show Face ( ) is selected by default ( ), the thumbnail displays your character's face. Choose Show Body ( ) to display your character's body.

   

2. Click the Generate icon ( ) at the bottom of your character's thumbnail.

   The Generate Character options display.

   
3. If you haven't done so yet, name your character.
4. (Optional) Define the Character Height.

   You can define your character's height in centimeters or inches.

5. (Optional) Select the Poly Resolutions.

   If you have a Student account or if you are on a valid Subscription, you can select all four options.

6. (Optional) Select the Textures option(s). You can choose all three options.
7. (Optional) Select the Geometry.
8. (Optional) Select a Facial Expression option.
9. Generate your customized character for use in your 3D software or Unity game engine by choosing the required options:

   • If you want to generate a .fbx file to use your character model in Maya, Maya LT, MotionBuilder, or Mudbox for example, select Generic .fbx and choose a skeleton resolution and character orientation.

     
     Note: If you select Z-up Character Orientation, when you import your generic .fbx file in Maya or open your generic .fbx file in MotionBuilder for example, your character is automatically rotated -90 degrees in the x-axis at import. This automatic conversion ensures the imported data matches the host application's up-axis.

   • If you want to use your character model in Maya and generate a Maya native file, select Maya (.mb) and choose a skeleton resolution and character orientation.

     

   • If you want to use your character model in 3ds Max, select 3ds Max (.fbx).

     

   • If you want to use your character model in Unity, select Unity (.fbx).

     

   • If you want to generate a .fbx file to use your character model in Maya, Maya LT, MotionBuilder, or Mudbox, as well as in 3ds Max and Unity, and if you want to generate a .mb file to use in Maya, select all four generate options: Generic .fbx, Maya (.mb), 3ds Max (.fbx), and Unity (.fbx), and make sure to choose a skeleton resolution and character orientation for the Generic .fbx and Maya (.mb) generate options.

     
10. Click Generate.

    When your customized character is generated, a green box () with a number appears next to Generated Characters. The number (for example, ) indicates the number of characters that are yet to be downloaded.

    On the Generated Characters page, the thumbnail of the character you generated but have not yet downloaded is highlighted in green.

    

    The thumbnail displays your character's name and the date and time you generated the character. It also displays the selected generate options, such as your character's height (in centimeters), the Poly Resolution(s), the Geometry, Facial Expressions (if applicable), and the file format(s).

    You can preview (), or download () your generated character. You can also delete () your generated character.

    Important: If you delete your generated character, the character is deleted from the database. You cannot retrieve it.

To go to the next task, see Edit your Generated Character.