Character Creator 2D - Editor & runtime character customization

I have a question: Can you introduce a skirt as clothes for characters? I wanted to design some characters with your product and to my surprise...the skirt isn't there

 

Hi everyone, terribly sorry for the delay

Hi @Gary-D-Crowley
We have no plan for skirt at the moment, we'll see what we can do, but I can't promise anything

Hi @dragonballzeg
You can add new animations, but it's not officially supported.

To add new animations, follow the following steps:
1. save any character as prefab
2. select or edit your prefab
3. in the inspector, uncheck "Auto Hide Children"
4. click the "Show Child" button (this will allow you to comb through all the children in your character's hierarchy)
5. open animation window (window > animation)
6. start animating (make sure you only animate objects with "bone_" prefix in their name)
PS. You need to be familiar with Unity animation, for more info please refer to Unity documentation and manual.

To add new weapons and outfits, follow our step by step in the Online documentation under the "Creating custom parts" title.

 

Hi,
I installed the free glasses pack add-on, but I could not find the glasses in the UI - also not in the helmet section. Do I need to do something else?
Thanks for this great asset!

 

Hi @CCM ,
It seems like the part list isn't updated
Did you play the UI through the menu (Window/Character Creator 2D/Create Character)?
If not, could you give it a try? That menu should update your part list before playing the UI scene.

 

Wanted to ask a few things.
Could I resize the sword to fit the 2 handed animations?
Could I also size a 2 handed hammer down to fit the one handed animations?

I think this pack would fit what I'm looking for pretty well, but I'd need one handed weapons to fit 2 handed animations and 2 handed weapons to fit one handed animations, through resizing.

EDIT: Testing making a hobbit rogue, found a little issue on the web demo, not that capes are a necessity

 

Hi @guyman2
Currently, there is no way to do that in the included UI.
However, you could achieve it in other ways:
1. You could save your character as prefab, then edit the prefab and scale the weapon object manually.
2. You could copy the original image of a weapon, scale it down in image editing software, then add it as new part (for more info on adding your own part, please refer to the online documentation).

As for the cape,
yeah, it's not possible to resize them only on one axis, unfortunately.

 

Thanks a lot! That solved the problem!

Great asset! I plan also in the next days to buy both theme add-ons. Although I do not need orient or space I have seen the packages extend with new haircuts and some clothes can also be used for other themes.

I hope for further extensions - what I would urgently need is:
- Uniforms - specially Police
- Modern Business People - with suits, shirts with tie, skirts/blouses and dresses
- Modern Leisure clothes (for adults / teens) and also some feminine evening dresses

I hope for an extension in this area. Thanks a lot! Really great asset!

 

Hi @CCM
Thanks for your continuous support!
Casual and modern themes are in the plan, unfortunately I can't promise any specific date/time
That said, skirt and dresses might have to wait a bit longer, since we don't have system in place for that kind of attires
we're still experimenting on that front

 

Hi,
Support is really deserved for your assets, I just bought all your existing 2d character creator themes.

Maybe an input to make it easier for you ... I use the asset for an adventure/narrative game. I only need the idle/talk/walk/give/get animations and emotions. I assume those are not different for skirts/dresses. I assume there are several clients, that do not need all the fighting animations, that might be more difficult.
Hope this helps .... to get faster some modern themes
In any case, thanks a lot for your assets!

 

Hi everyone
Character Creator 2D version 1.53 is now live in the Asset Store
Here's the changelog:

- Added randomize button
Added a randomize button in the UI
This button will randomize a character for you. It won't be perfect, but it's good for a starting point.
There's also randomize color button, it will recolor your character but won't change the parts.

- Fix: double cape
This is a small bug that actually took a bit of time to solve
Previously the capes are kinda doubled, it's only noticeable in specific capes and animations.
While trying to fix this I found other bugs in the cape mesh, and I had to recreate the cape and the animations.

previously, double cape:


fixed:


- Fix: character won't reset when going back from Export PNG menu
When you change settings in the export png menu, such as position offset, scale, etc. Then you go back to the creator menu, the character will still retain the transform from the export menu. This now has been fixed.
Let me know if we miss anything.

- Updated minimum Unity version to 2017.4
as advised/required by the unity asset store, the asset should still work with Unity 5.6 tho.
Let me know if it doesn't work for you

And now here are some random characters created using the randomize button, with all add ons installed:

 

Can we export animation as png sprites

 

Hi @Taunsvi
yes, we do have Export to PNG feature
for more information please refer to the online documentation

 

Heya, thank you for this awesome asset! I would like to use it with LWRP / URP but Unity can't auto-upgrade the custom shaders to sprite-lit shaders. Do you plan to upgrade to sprite-lit shaders in the future?

Cheers!

 

Hi @Arahain
My understanding is that 2D light renderer is still in experimental stage? Is that not the case anymore?
I'll look into it, but we'd rather wait until the feature is out of experimental stage before supporting it.

 

Hello, It's amazon asset, I like it. But Have a question. I need a portrait editor of character in my commercial Unity game. Player can change eyes, nose, skin color, hair, add helmets and other. Can I buy this asset, create own portrait editor with sprites in my Unity game ?? Many thanks for your asset)

 

Hi @Svoerd
you can use it for character creation in your game, but it won't be as Sprite, you can't save the character to sprite at runtime, unless you create the function yourself.
To use the character as portrait, you can save it to JSON, render the character to a RenderTexture then use that in your UI.
I hope this answers your question.
I'd recommend you to check the Online Documentation for a more detailed explanation and see if this asset will fit your needs before making a purchase.

 

Many thanks for your help. I planned to create own UI to change eyes, brows and other. And store indexes of all elements with character. When I need to show character portrait, I will show every part of face with need index. Face is set of Images. No save to sprite. It was a plan, can it works?
And, of course, I need to read documentation) Sorry my English)

 

Hi @Svoerd
In that case, yes, I believe it'd work.
No need to store indexes manually, we've already had functions for that. You'd want to use our 'SaveToJSON' and 'LoadFromJSON' function. For a more detailed description on that please refer to the documentation under the "Runtime Customization" title.
I hope this answers your question.

 

Many thanks, your help is very useful. Good luck with your work))

 

Hi, just brought your Character Creator 2D, excellent work. just
wondering , if its possible to create your own character,clothing of middle eastern man? I have tried creating clothing from the template, and all come out with with very tight. Iam looking for to create loose clothing. Hope you can help, thank you......

 

Hi, thanks for your purchase!

Yes I believe it's possible to create loose clothings, in the guide/templates, you don't have to draw it tight to the body. You can draw clothing as long as it stays in the bounding box.
Here's an example from the Oriental Pack



Is this what you're looking for?

 

Hi, yes perfect, how can i create something like this pic clothing please...thank you

 

Hi there,

If you want to create your own part, you can do so by following the steps in the Online Documentation under the Creating Custom Part section.

If you want that precise outfit in my previous post, then it's available as part of the Oriental Pack add-on on the Unity Asset Store. If you want to see what each add-on includes, make sure to check out the Web Demo. You can try all the available add-ons/packs there.

 

Good afternoon,

I'm making a game and I can create the characters perfectly, but I need show a shop with the items the user can buy. I'm triying to export to PNG only the weapon or shield, but I don't know how to export only a weapon choice without the character.

My objective is add later to the character profile picture using layers the new weapon or item they buyed.

How I can export the sprites for the items?

Anyone can help me .

Thank you.

 

Hi @dmorenoar
You are correct. Unfortunately, there is no built-in or easy way to do that.

However, there is a workaround to achieve that, by creating a character with transparent skin color.
Then you can equip the parts and export them as PNG. Here's what it looks like:



It requires a bit of modification to the shader, shoot us an email with your invoice number, and we will send you the files to achieve this!

I hope this helps,
Cheers!

 

Hi @mochakingup, great asset!!

Is it possible to purchase the assets just to use the images outside of Unity?

 

Hi @Dillybob
Yes, as long as it is for game.
Please keep in mind, to actually create characters and color the armors, you will need to use Unity. The resulting characters can be exported as PNG afterward.

 

Hi,
I have some small issues with animations. I am using adventure creator with character creator. I have saved the character as prefab. In some situations I do not see the hands in the animations. The same animation works in other situations (in both e.g. I use Talk 1). Any idea what might be the problem?
So I use "talk" and see the whole information/animation, afterwards I restart the animation and I see no hands - the rest of the animation is fine (arms, legs, feet etc.), but there are no hands.
Thanks for your help!

 

Uauuuuuuu amazing solution !!! I will share my idea, because your assets are making possibly create my project.

Really I'm very happy with your answer and resolution, beacuse I was sad thinking these was impossible.

 

Hi @CCM
That sounds really weird!
I'm not sure how that could happen.
Have you tried manually play the animation by script (without adventure creator)?
I haven't tried adventure creator yet, I'm curious if it's maybe does something different when playing animation. Probably not, though.

 

is it supports 2d top down character.
where i have sprite sheet animation and can't find a way to change perticular sprite when user selected . i mean for the same animation i need different hair styles. wold it possible here.

 

Hi @goutham12
If by top-down character you mean 'does it have 4 directional sprites', then unfortunately, no.
Character Creator 2D can only create 2D side-viewed characters (like the ones in the screenshots and web demo).
As for your other question, yes, you can swap different parts of the character at runtime and play the same animations!

I might have misunderstood your questions, so if that's not what you're asking please let me know!
For more detailed info on what the asset can do, you can check out the documentation.

 

Hi everyone!

A little bit of update,
Truth is, our game is near to the finish line, and we've been working hard on that for the past couple of months. But now things have slowed down a bit, so we've started working on CC2D again! yay!

I've been trying to convert CC2D shaders to diffuse, so that it can be affected by light.
Here's what it looks like:



In that gif, the character is affected by 3 point lights.
I think it looks okay, right?
So I've decided to try converting the shaders to the experimental 2D renderer in the latest version of Unity.
It works on a single sprite, but when applied on the character, this is what we get:



Missing limbs and armors! lol
Maybe I should just keep it and rename the asset to Rayman Character Creator.

Sooo... that might take some time to get right.

Work has started on Daily/Modern theme pack, although there is one feature that I'd like to add that I think will greatly complement this pack. We'll keep you updated on it!

And lastly, due to popular request, we've released the Character Creator 2D as a standalone app!
Which, I might guess, won't affect you guys at all, since CC2D still works the best within Unity.

Cheers!

 

The lighting looks great!

About the experimental renderers, they are in general very buggy, perhaps you shouldnt focus on those too much, until its stable?

 

Hi, i'm interested in doing something that isn't really covered in the tutorial, that being creating custom body types outside of the male and female models. Things like Centaurs and such. Ideally id change the system to let players build custom body types out of a library of body parts. Animation isn't much of a concern in the game.

Ill be programming this change, but i'm not sure where to start with making new or runtime body types. Could i have a little bit of guidance please?

Also would it be possible to get those lighting shaders?

 

Thanks @BiteMeStudios
Yeah, I was just curious. And I think I've managed to get it right!

Hi @Hakazaba

Yes, it's possible to add new body types. But unfortunately, there is no automated way to do that.
And I don't think it's possible right now to mix and match body types at runtime.
But if you are still interested in creating new body type to choose from, shoot us an email, and we'll show you some starting points on how to do that!
But then again, if animation is not a concern, there's probably an easier way to do that.

About the shaders, for sure!
It's not ready yet, but once it's done it'll be included with the next update!

 

Hey guys, I've been playing around with a custom character creator and am getting the hang of the data structures, one thing that I haven't had to deal with yet but will need to figure out eventually, is how easy would it be to divorce the head from BodyType?

The case right now is that the difference between a Human and an Orc is Ear 02 and a green skin color. Would it be possible to have a separate head with pronounced brow ridges or the good old Star Trek style lumpy forehead without getting too hacky or confusing the animation system in a way I (probably) won't be able to fix?

 

Hi @Gennadios

Interesting question! I guess it also depends on how you are planning to use them.
If you are not planning to customize the character at runtime, then it should be as simple as saving it to a prefab, then change the head sprite into a new one (make sure to uncheck the 'initialize on awake' on the prefab, so it doesn't refresh the bodytype).

If you want it at runtime, then you'd probably want to create a new part category (similar to helmet, eyes, etc) and disable the original head from the bodytype prefab. The only reason why we didn't do this is, different head shapes would require different variants of helmet, beard, etc to fit the head shape. Another solution would be to create a new bodytype for each head shape.

As for the animation, as long as you parent the object on a correct bone, it should work just fine.

 

really cool! excited to see what u did with the 2d renderer!

any idea when there will be an update with the lighting in it and support for 2d renderer?

 

Great, I am really looking forward to the Daily/Modern theme pack!
Can you already give a date for finalization/publication? Would be very helpful for my current game!

As update, my animation problem with adventure creator in certain situations seams to have gone since the last Unity and adventure creator update - not finally sure if it now works in all cases, but seams solved.

 

I purchased this asset a few days ago. Wow! You guys have something really special here. The theme packs are amazing and the tool is so easy to use. I would love to see a survival theme pack with torn clothing and such. A female skirt, dress, blouses would be great as well. I will be releasing my game using this wonderful asset! Thanks again!

 

Do you have an idea when this will be added to the asset? I was just working on lighting in my game today and noticed the materials did not work.
Thanks!

 

May I request to add some punching and kicking animation for the characters? I think if you take a look at this pixel character(Animated Pixel Adventurer) it may help for the common move-set for platformers or alike. Thanks in advance.

Also for making custom characters and using the animations with them, I checked the reference images. To create custom characters do I need to know any image resolution for it? Or I just trace the lineart that is provided?

 

Hey everyone,
Thanks for your continuous supports!

we'll most likely submit the update with the new shader sometime this week. Then it's probably another week till it gets approved by Unity Store.

It's still early to tell.
I will post some update later on the new feature that I said before. The daily theme will benefit a lot from it, and I think you guys will really like it!
Also, glad to hear that the animation problem is solved!

Survival theme is actually a great idea! Thanks! We'll add that to our list of theme ideas.

Simple kick and punch is also a great idea!

I'm guessing you meant creating custom parts?
If so, then yes. You need the resolution to be the same as the template guides. In general, just copy the guide image and draw on top of it, and don't crop or resize the image.

For more information and step by step on how to create new parts, please refer to the online documentation (http://bit.ly/CC2Ddoc) under the 'Creating Custom Part' section.

 

I hope you took a look at the pixel adventure character for reference. A free sprite sheet having so many wonderful animations. I am sure if you add more animations to suit different needs for 2D games this tool will be perfect and gain more popularity. Thanks for the awesome customer support and replies to our needs.

 

Hi,
Thanks!
When you evaluate adding animations, I would also highly appreciate a "sit" animation (when Character sits "idle" on a chair) and beside the exiting Talk animations, one talk animation with fewer hand movements (so primary only mouth and head movement on an "idle" body). Also a sitting character with talk animation, would be great.
Only as idea.
I will add them on my own, if nobody else is interested. But I assume for adventure games and visual novels this is interesting also for others.
Thanks for the outstanding asset and support!

 

If you add the animations and etc. Can you make a video tutorial on it to show the process? Then maybe I can add my own animations as needed.

 

Hi,

I have noticed that you write "Oriental Pack" on the picture of "Sci-Fi Pack"

https://images.app.goo.gl/umnvRoLTAbr9672q8

Small mistake not very important ...

 

Hi,
talk animation without hand gesture does make sense.
But I have submitted the update to the asset store, so any new animations will have to wait for the next update after this one.

As for creating new animations, CC2D uses Unity native animation system.
Basically, you'd want to save any character as a prefab, then drag it into a scene, then open the animation window.
And you can start animating! Make sure you only animate objects with 'bone_' prefix tho.

If you are not familiar with Unity animation, I'd recommend checking out the documentation first: https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/AnimationSection.html

Ohh whoops
Thanks for the heads up! wouldn't catch it otherwise
Was updating all the cover images for the store, and that one slips right through!

 

Hey everyone!
So the newest update has been approved by the Unity Asset Store!

The approval time is actually faster than I expected, and I haven't updated the documentation yet

Version 1.55 is now available on Asset Store
Changelog:

• New Shaders: Diffuse (Affected by 3D light)
• New Shaders: Sprite Lit Preview (Affected by 2D light)
• New Animations:
  - Sprint
  - Climb Up
  - Climb Down
  - Attack Punch
  - Attack Kick

UPDATE WARNING:
Reorganized some assets and folders. It's highly recommended to remove the old version before updating. And make sure to back up first!

Sprite Lit Shader Preview


Why is it preview?
Well because the 2D render pipeline itself is still in preview/experimental.
It was tested and should works with:
- Unity 2019.3.0
- Lightweight RP 7.1.6
- Shadergraph 7.1.6

As it is still in preview, expect some bugs. And we won't be focusing our efforts on it until the 2D render pipeline is out of experimental stage.

How to use the new shaders
You can either change your saved prefab's materials. Or you can change the default materials used by CC2D (I wouldn't recommend this, as it'd be harder to see the actual color when creating characters). You can find the default materials in "Assets/CharacterCreator2D/Data/Materials".



Use the 'Character Skin' shader on Face and Skin materials. And use the 'Armor Recolor' shader on the rest of the materials.

PS.
Don't flip characters by rotating Y axis by 180 when using the Diffuse shaders.
As it will show the wrong normals and the lighting will looks wrong. Flip by scaling the x to negative instead.

So that is all for now!
Let us know what you think!

I will soon begin to update the online documentation to the newest version.