Best 3d character Avatar creator (even for video games)?

[Oryan77]

I've looked for free 3d avatar creators online but I can never find any that can be used to create full body fantasy characters (and actually look cool).

I thought something like that would be a good and easy way to create a handout of what a PC or NPC looks like.

For some reason, one of my favorite things in RPG video games is the ability to completely customize how my character looks (as long as the artwork looks cool). The more customizable options the better.

So I was wondering, what video games do you think have the best character 3D fantasy avatar builder that could be used to create a D&D character? Do you know of any free ones online that I just didn't find?

 

[Aus_Snow]

This is one of the reasons I've got so heavily into modding for Morrowind and Oblivion. Whole lotta Bethesda, basically.

But yeah, you can really go to whatever extent you like. Practically unlimited clothing, armour, weapons, stances, expressions, features, colouring, hairstyles, and so on. Oh, and tons of races and variants available, or of course, you can make/modify your own. And then, there are many places and situations to put them in, with various lighting, FX, etc. And again, with that, you can make or modify your own (e.g., buildings, environments, NPCs...)

Or is that not the kind of thing you mean?


edit: Free? Er... not sure there. There are a few comic book style ones - would they be useful?

 

[Redcrow]

I don't know if its still available online, but before Dragon Age Origins was released Bioware released a free character builder that included some customization options for the character's appearance. After Dragon Age Origins was released you could import any character you created into the full game.

It would be nice to have a 3D Avatar builder program with fully customizeable characters that you could pose in different positions and add different types of weapons and armor too. Unfortunately I don't really know of anything like that. Even if it cost a few bucks, I would be willing to pay for something like that and I could even imagine all sorts of add-ons that could be created adding new weapons, armor, races, or even customizeable creatures.

Not only would it be nice for creating character portraits, but if it included the ability to rotate and pose the character and perhaps shrink the pic size, you could create your own paper-minis and tokens that you could either print off and use on the table-top or import directly into a VTT for online gaming.

If there are any 3D Artists/Programmers reading this, I'm sure you could find a market for something like that.

 

[Neonchameleon]

City of Heroes has one good enough they could probably release it as a separate package.

 

[Nagol]

City of Heroes has one good enough they could probably release it as a separate package.

As does Champions Online.

I believe borth of those games offer a free unlimited duration triial package that lets you build at least one avatar at a time as well.

 

[Riposte]

The action MMO All-Points Bulletin (APB), despite being a disastrous financial failure, has an extremely detailed character creator. Unfortunately it won't be available again for quite a while.

 

[Stegyre]

I too would be quite interested in something like this.

I wonder, would it be too much trouble, for those with access to some of the above options, to post pictures of some samples of what's possible?

 

[Dausuul]

Here's a download link for the Dragon Age avatar builder: Dragon Age: Origins Character Creator - Download

(I haven't actually downloaded it and tried it, but may do so tonight. Windows-only, I'm afraid.)

 

[Aeolius]

Daz Studio

Granted, while there are many free models, most of them are for purchase.

 

[Asmor]

Daz Studio

Granted, while there are many free models, most of them are for purchase.

I love that, if one were to judge by the "popular gallery images" on the main page, one might infer that DAZ Studio is only capable of rendering buxom women and Superman.