Avatar Importing Guide

This guide is focused on importing pre-made avatar assets. This is often the first step of making a usable an avatar.

For setting up an already imported avatar see: Avatar creation. For more general information see: Avatar Hub

Avatars made for other platforms can sometimes have problems. If an Avatar moves incorrectly or Imports with an error, you may need to check: Humanoid rig requirements for IK

Getting an avatar fully imported set up normally requires three steps:

Importing the avatar. Getting the model and textures into the game. (This guide.)
Creating the avatar. Making it work as a wearable avatar with IK and other systems. (The next guide)
Toggles, systems and other stuff. All the extra accessories.

Depending on your level of experience, technical curiosity and way you got your avatar, there are three common ways that avatars are imported.

If your Avatar came as a .unitypackage AND you are already comfortable with or have used/installed Unity.
- You can try the Resonite UnitySDK. If this works you should get you usable in game avatar.

If your avatar comes with a .blend file, you have installed Blender AND wish to explore the process in more depth.
- Using Resonite's direct import process. This converts the original blender file and textures directly into Resonite for further setup.

If your avatar only comes in a .unitypackage or as a .fbx with some textures and you DON'T wish to use Unity.
- Extract the model files and import directly, or import the files directly. Much like the previous step, but with a pre-exported file.

After you have chosen your path, find the correct instruction bellow. If you have trouble, you could try asking In this channel on discord

Once you have the model imported in game, see the Avatar Creation page linked at the bottom for the next step.

Preparing Models

.blend

Most avatars should come with Blender files, for a number of reasons it's recommended you check that you can get these if you can. They are useful for both future edits and if there are problems with the model it makes it much easier to fix. These files can be imported directly if Blender is installed, with some minor caveats, for these see: 3D Model Import#Blender

Resonite uses meter scale. The import process has an option to try and Scale your Avatar to Average human height, but it is still ideal to export the model with the correct Unit scale. Some tools like Blender allow you to adjust this Unit scale for the project as well as on export.

.flb/.gltf - Recommended

Draco mesh compression

Draco mesh compression extension is not supported. You may have to re-export without Compression setting from Blender.

This is tracked: issue #155

.fbx

A lot of avatars have traditionally been imported using this format because if you have an already extracted and working copy of your avatar

By default an FBX exported by blender adds Leaf-Bones, also known as Terminal-Bones, these bones may affect the positioning and rotation of fingers.

Many variants of FBX exist. Two FBX files of the same model may import differently based on FBX versions and slight export option differences. FBX is not recommended for this reason. Use only if this is the only format your avatar comes in.

.unitypackage

If you only have a .unitypackage, there are two ways you can bring the Avatar and its assets into Resonite:

In Game

For this procedure you need to extract the assets and make sure they are in a format that Resonite can import directly.

If you already have the model imported within Unity, simply open the Unity project folder in your file browser and Navigate to Assets, within this folder you will find the textures and Model files of your Avatar.

Should you not have the Assets imported into a Unity project and wish to save some time or avoid installing Unity you can also use an Extractor:

(online): https://peraperavrc.github.io/package-extractor/
(offline): https://github.com/ticpu/rust-unityextractor

Once the files are extracted, follow: Avatar Importing Guide#Preparing Models

External SDK

While not recommended for inexperienced users, if you are already familiar with Unity, Resonite has a UnitySDK that allows for assert importing and initial setup. This often still requires some final in game tweaking, but can streamline the early stages of avatar importing, including converting some shaders to equivalent Resonite ones.

For more details see: UnitySDK

Preparing Textures

In general 2048x2048 is a good resolution for most textures. It is best to properly resize textures before import as storing a high-res version of a texture that is only ever displayed at a lower resolution still takes up more of your cloud storage than if you import it at the resolution you plan to use.

A Texture atlas is used for animated textures, see Panner2D. Also see AtlasInfo and AtlasAnimator.

.webp - Recommended

This loads faster and is smaller than PNG, while having the same color support.

Modifying a texture (such as resizing or stripping the alpha channel) inside of Resonite will re-save the texture as WEBP.

.png

Commonly provided with avatars.

Importing Models

Drag and drop the model from your desktop onto the Resonite window, or import the asset via the File Browser.

A dialog should appear, these options are important:

3D Model
Regular / Avatar
Auto Humanoid Height
Advanced Settings
1. Scale
2. Material and Prefer Specular - PBS with Prefer Specular is recommended, but XiexeToon is a close alternative. See #Texturing the Model and PBS_Metallic, PBS_Specular, and XiexeToon
3. Spawn Material Orbs - This can make Texturing the Model easier, as a inspector is not required to access the materials.

Do not grab the model after it is imported. By default many avatars import in a T or A pose, and the symmetry of the avatar can make Aligning Hands less error prone.
If grabbed, select Undo in the Context menu, or reimport the avatar if it still appears offset.

Avatar Setup

Once you have the files imported, the next step is how to turn the model into a wearable avatar see: Avatar creation