Avatars in The Metaverse
By
Alexandra Trego

Virtual reality is becoming more popularized outside of the gaming and entertainment usages. The virtual event industry has grown tremendously ever since the pandemic when the world was forced to depend on technology for virtual gatherings. Digital channels allowed companies, businesses, associations, and corporations to stay connected and nurture business relationships and networks. Zoom and WebEx are 2d platforms that allowed the world to continue to stay connected and gave this digital platform for connection and social gatherings during the hard challenges of the pandemic.

What is an avatar in the Metaverse?

Avatars are a key part of a user’s experience when using virtual reality in the metaverse. An avatar can give a sense of identity, creativity, and a sense of individuality to a user’s experience. Many different platforms can be utilized to create an avatar. With all the different options available, each avatar creation platform can provide different things. So, the question is, how do you know which one would be best for you? Each avatar has pros and cons, and it is all based on the user’s wants and needs. VR avatars are one of the most important aspects of virtual reality for some people. The avatar gives individuals a sense of expression and freedom to be who they want to be. Either that is designing an alter-ego to be their virtual doppelganger, having features they wish they had in real life or maybe their alter-ego is a dragon. Whatever the alter-ego may be, the details behind avatars are an incredibly important part of how VR users express themselves. Why I am doing this to help guide the reader to fit their wants and needs when creating their avatar. Because Each avatar creation tool is unique and provides different benefits.

The fun part about avatar creation tools is that no matter how close you try to create an avatar to look the same as an avatar on a different creation tool, it will most likely have a different look. Avatars can be a form of self-identity, and expression and allow a user to have complete freedom of customizing their looks, compared to the real world. Avatars have a lot of possibilities, and it is fun to experience a different personality with looks through the virtual world.

Why should you care about avatars and how will this be relevant? Avatars are what will represent you in the immersive space and environment for meetings, virtual concerts, gaming, social interactions, connecting with new people, school, etc. Whatever this social event may be, you get the choice of how you want to be seen in the virtual

world of the metaverse. Now, this can carry a lot of pressure and stress on the creation of the avatar. There are many different types of avatars and many different situations why you may want to use a different avatar. For example, if it is for fun, maybe you want to be represented as a penguin, compared to work or more serious situations such as work conference meetings, or school gatherings. Within these situations, the avatar may have to represent the features you have in the real world so you can be distinguished. I will be diving into the different types of avatars to help you find what fit would make the most sense for you. With using avatar creator tools to see what makes the most realistic version of me, to fun avatar creators that I can use to turn me into my realistic fiction dream of being a penguin. Let’s dive into it and let me help you find what makes the most sense for your wants and needs.

Different types of avatars:

The option of what avatar is best for you is unique on what the avatar will be used for, how much the user is willing to pay, and what the personal preferences of avatar style are. There are 3 main types of avatars:

  1. A realistic avatar
  2. A realistic cartoon avatar
  3. A pixel avatar

The realistic avatar:

ReadyPlayer.Me avatar
ReadyPlayer.Me Avatars

Creating a realistic avatar allows an individual to experience oneself in virtual form. Technologies such as facial recognition technology and artificial intelligence algorithms help support individuals to duplicate their looks in the making of their realistic avatars. The typical process of an individual developing their realistic avatar starts with uploading a photo of themselves. This photo is processed with technology that quickly analyzes features in the photo and gives the individual a base model of their realistic avatar. Next, the user has the freedom to adjust skin, hair, facial features, and clothing. It is a very fascinating experience for the individual as they get to experience their virtual world through the virtual duplicate of their looks. Some may argue that using these technologies to create a realistic avatar may be limited to the freedom there is in creating virtual avatars. Some may be fond of creating a realistic avatar whereas others may be more comfortable making an avatar such as a penguin or a more block-type figure with different features. A realistic cartoon avatar allows the individual to have their lifelike avatar while also having the creative freedom to customize and alter features.

Realistic avatar creator tools:

  1. Ready Player Me: ReadyPlayer.Me “Ready Player Me is a service for creating full-body, 3D avatars that can then be exported into a range of different metaverse environments, including VRChat and Somnium Space.” (FORBES).
  2. Union: Union Avatars | 3D Avatar Maker Tool For The Metaverse UnionAvatars.com
  3. Character Creator: The Character Creator – Build visually stunning avatars CharacterCreator.org
  4. IMVU: secure.imvu.com/welcome/ftux/gender/

Realistic cartoon avatar:

A realistic cartoon avatar can choose to personalize their avatar to their virtual twin or if one wanted to, they could change their height, eye color, hair color, nose shape, etc. This could turn into a confidence booster for those who may be insecure about one of their physical looks and traits. The virtual world of avatar creations is endless and staying within one’s looks in real life may be limited to the freedom of avatar designing. Another concern that may make a realistic cartoon avatar a better choice is the security and privacy behind having a virtual copy of oneself.

Realistic cartoon avatar creator tools:

  1. Carhartt Bitmoji
    Carharrt Workwear Bitmoji

    Bitmoji, a social networking tool, allows the user to create a cartoon version of themselves to publish on their smartphone’s keyboard and is highly associated with the social media app Snapchat. Bitmoji is very popular due to its collaboration with Snapchat and how accessible it is. Bitmoji can also be applied to iMessage, Gmail, Gboard, and even Google Chrome. The best part about Bitmoji is how accessible it is and how it is free for the user to create their cartoon version of themselves. Bitmoji also has a sticker feature that gives the user a variety of sticker options of poses for different situations, themes, events, and emotions that a user could relate to and send to their friends.

  2. SuperMii is an avatar creator that the user creates from scratch with full creativity in physical appearance. The tool is free and can be saved to your profile images as well as sent to your contacts on an Android phone. The cartoon avatar can also have a background designed to their liking with text added as well. *Full body *Anime style
  3. The next avatar-creation tool is Avatoon. Similar to the Cutour.pro steps, Avatoon uses an image of yourself to create their style of an avatar. The cartoon styles are in vector style and are free of cost. The best part about Avatoon is that it creates an avatar that uses your image yet still allows privacy for your identity as the avatar styles are all very similar looking. *Full body avatar *Very life like
  4. Cutout.Pro cartoon selfie
    cutout.pro cartoon selfie

    The Cutout.pro Cartoon Selfie application is an avatar software that takes an image of oneself to turn into a cartoon avatar by the usage of artificial intelligence. It is a very simple and easy process for the user with few steps. To get your avatar, all you have to do is send an image of yourself either that is a selfie or a clear image taken of you, and the software will create the cartoon avatar. The avatar is free but there is a watermark unless you pay. There are six different effects to choose from with options such as cartoon style, colored sketch style, and Manga style. The account is free to set up but there are additional costs for the version without the watermark.

A pixel avatar:

A whole type of avatar was created to protect an individual with the pixel avatar. With privacy being one of the largest concerns of many, a pixel avatar is an avatar that is very abstract with few details and most of the pixel avatars look the same with limited customization. This can be a negative thing as the freedom of self-expression and identity is hidden and limited. A main reason why people choose pixel avatars is for security and privacy behind having a virtual copy of oneself.

Pixel avatar creator tools:

  1. Portrait Illustration Maker: Free Cartoon Avatar Generator! illustmaker.abi-station.com
  2. PicCrew.Me: picrew.me
  3. Avataaars Generator – A free online avatar generator GetAvataaars.com
  4. Pixelator: PixelatorApp.com

Next Steps: The next steps would be to implement research and actually test out avatars’ for in-game settings. My research process only consisted of the avatar creation process. Using the avatar for a social setting either that is in the metaverse, through sms texting, social media or however you choose, the avatar will represent you. As I previously mentioned, the avatar creator tools will benefit others for different reasons. There are no right or wrong decisions, but this was my personal opinion on the avatar creator tools.

 

Works Cited:

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