Why are UMA Characters So Ugly?

It looks like UMA is the premier solution for customizable characters in Unity...
yet, they look soooo ugly.

Even the custom packs that are supposed to improve the graphics are still so ugly.

How could this be recommended for anyone with such ugliness.

Is there something I'm missing that will turn these characters into comely gods?

 

Learn how to create UMA compatible characters and create your own.
Then your new (pretty) characters can take advantage of all the UMA features.

 

Future readers: "UMA" is an acronym for "Unity Multipurpose Avatar".
For additional information, see http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/uma-unity-multipurpose-avatar-on-the-asset-store.219175/

 

The way the default UMAs look is the way the kit's default art looks. You are supposed to supply your own character art, which can look very realistic or very cartoonish.

UMA is the framework that allows you to efficiently combine separate character meshes and textures, and change the dimensions of physical features (like to have a big head and big eyes), creating custom characters in either the editor or at runtime.

 

Hey there! I'm curious. Have you found or made your own character art yet? I can't find any alternatives anywhere (that are free). I know I can always open the textures in Photoshop and try to fix them, or start from scratch, but that's really difficult to do.
I TOTALLY agree with you about how ugly the default avatar textures are! If these textures were meant to be replaced by us, then they could have at LEAST given us something to start with that isn't SCARY!

 

UMA is a free product being made by people working for free. If you want your beautiful "Unscary" avatars, get out your wallet and buy some or hire someone to make some for you.

I like the looks of UMA, especially with JustB's skins and bodies. Fernando's Athena is beautiful. I guess I am a little less scared of an Avatar on my screen than you are.

Of course not! The free ones are too scary for you! Good luck.

 

Honestly they looked pretty great back in 2013 when the asset was published. I don't think they're scary by any means, certainly not Triple-A but what do you expect for free? Unfortunately the most difficult part is rigging a new model to operate as a base mesh for UMA so you don't see a lot of solo developers doing it. I do know that there are other companies that do - simply make their own base mesh and textures then go nuts.

Fernando did a pretty great job on the base model product anyway, certainly nothing to complain about for free. If you took the time to customize things you can get some really great results from it. Almost everybody uses the default mecanim animations too which is a kinda frumpy pose anyway.

 

Yeah, what is with the high pitched whine over free things?

 

Not ugly; symmetric.

Symmetry feels weird in 3d models because it doesn't exist in nature due to the unpredictable behaviour state of subatomic particles and waves.
That's why your brain says to you there's something wrong to the 'human anatomy' of the 3d model whilst you're not sure what it is.

 

If you want your UMAs to be asymmetric, you can do that ... using UMA. JustB and I were chatting the other day in Skype about it, and within a few minutes he was able to get asymmetrical models, and he's not a coder.

 

You know....when you consider the size of the avatar on the screen, image effects, lighting, shadows...do you really need an ultra realistic avatar that looks like Kiera Knightly? I look at some of the stuff, Daz models and the like, and they seem way to perfect to be medieval villagers, or science officers on a starship. lol

I don't get the obsession with putting "beautiful people" in our games. I remember playing Lineage once upon a time and I found the looks and stances of the characters to be way too much...and I guess one might have called them beautiful back then. I much preferred the ones from SWG, which were far from perfect.

Unless made to be otherwise, almost all game characters with changeable features are symmetrical because it is easier that way. Love JustB's idea for UMA although I am afraid some really crazy person would end up with a really deformed UMA running around in our game. lol

 

I think game devs just want their own character art, and I totally agree with that impulse. Depending on your skills and available cash, you can get whatever look you want with UMA, making clothes, making new body textures, adding bones, changing the shaders, etc.

 

Agree.

 

A bit offtopic, but most people I know are asymmetric on a larger scale than subatomic particles. (And if humans were able to detect differences in subatomic particles, the detectors at the Large Hadron Collider would have been a lot cheaper.)

But besides that, yes, symmetry does not occur much in nature. In faces it's even a characteristic that makes people look more attractive. Probably because it's uncommon.

 

Misinterpretation of what I said; but as you said: offtopic. So I wont extend discussion on that subject...
I was just saying why asymmetry does exist, typing as little text as possible.

 

But she doesn't look realistic. Also her teeth are low poly.

 

That was my point. They want ultra realistic, but then they want them to be extraordinarily beautiful.

 

Yeah its insane. But they don't realise that COD is authored deliberately unrealistic. It's not in fact very realistic. This is to avoid uncanny valley among other issues, pretty much every game stylises things slightly else it just looks weird and spooky.

 

OK - edited the model - she now looks realistic - (unlike daz models) there is asymmetry added via textures and morphs, and her teeth are totally high poly along with realistically modeled interior mouth and tongue, her eyes have actual working modeled pupils and lenses to add an additional layer of shading when the lighting is properly setup - and she runs at buttery smooth - 7fps.

Now put her in the scene - the scene where the camera is a pulled back third person - quasi-rts perspective.
Nice!

 

Pictures, please!!! She sounds amazing.

 

Yep likewise - pics!