How do you make VR characters engaging?

1 Define your character's role and personality

Before you start modeling or rigging your character, you need to have a clear idea of who they are, what they want, and how they behave. This will help you create a consistent and coherent character that fits your story and your genre. Think about their background, their motivation, their strengths and weaknesses, their quirks and flaws, their voice and tone. Write a brief bio or a character sheet to guide your design decisions and keep track of their traits.

2 Choose a suitable style and level of detail

The visual style and the level of detail of your character will depend on several factors, such as the platform, the performance, the audience, and the mood of your experience. You can opt for a realistic, stylized, or abstract style, depending on the effect you want to achieve and the resources you have. However, whatever style you choose, you need to maintain a balance between realism and expressiveness, avoiding the uncanny valley effect that can make your character creepy or unnatural. You also need to consider the scale, the proportion, and the texture of your character, as well as the lighting and the environment they will inhabit.

3 Use motion capture and facial animation

One of the most important aspects of creating engaging VR characters is to make them move and speak naturally and convincingly. Motion capture and facial animation are powerful tools that can help you achieve this goal, as they can capture the subtle nuances and emotions of human actors and translate them into your virtual character. However, motion capture and facial animation are not enough by themselves. You also need to polish and edit the data, add transitions and variations, and blend different animations to create a smooth and dynamic performance.

4 Implement eye contact and gaze behavior

Eye contact and gaze behavior are essential for creating a sense of presence and intimacy with your VR character. They can convey attention, interest, emotion, and intention, as well as establish a social and spatial relationship with the viewer. To implement eye contact and gaze behavior, you need to use a combination of techniques, such as head tracking, eye tracking, ray casting, and animation blending. You also need to follow some basic principles, such as avoiding excessive or prolonged eye contact, matching the gaze direction with the head orientation, and using gaze cues to guide the viewer's attention.

5 Add voice and sound effects

Voice and sound effects are another key element of creating engaging VR characters. They can enhance the personality, the mood, and the realism of your character, as well as provide feedback, information, and interaction. To add voice and sound effects, you need to use a quality microphone, a professional voice actor, and a suitable software to record, edit, and mix the audio. You also need to sync the voice with the facial animation, adjust the volume and the pitch, and use spatial audio to create a realistic and immersive sound environment.

6 Test and iterate your character

The final step of creating engaging VR characters is to test and iterate your character. Testing and iterating your character will help you identify and fix any issues, such as glitches, errors, or inconsistencies, that might affect the quality and the believability of your character. It will also help you gather feedback, opinions, and suggestions from your target audience, as well as measure their engagement, immersion, and satisfaction. You can use various methods and tools to test and iterate your character, such as VR headsets, controllers, sensors, analytics, and surveys.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?