This content is for creators who intend to create character heads designated for the Marketplace, or any character heads that support assets from the Marketplace.
Roblox runs a rigorous validation to ensure the asset being uploaded to the Marketplace is compatible with all other assets on the Marketplace. For heads, validation primarily ensures that the head asset includes:
- A correctly configured cage — to wear clothing and accessories.
- Correctly configured facial animation poses — to perform basic universal expressions, such as blinking and smiling.
The primary validation check for heads uses the cage to detect facial animation. See below for a reference of how validation processes, as well as common issues.
Validation also checks for other issues, such as poor caging or missing required FACS poses. For more information, see common issues.
Avatar Setup is an automated tool that automatically generates components for your avatar character, including the head cage and facial animation required for Marketplace character models. You can save time by submitting character models without avatar components into the Avatar Setup tool and modifying the output.
You can test and refine your Avatar Setup output by using the Avatar setup tool previews. You can even download your output as a .gltf and adjust the FACS or cage data in your DCC tools.
You can alternatively manually modify your own cages and FACS animations within your DCC tools, which may require more time or additional iteration in your workflow, such as weight-painting adjustments, to ensure it meets Marketplace policies.
To submit issues or feedback regarding the avatar auto setup tool, submit a bug report.
Facial animation detection
One of the primary dynamic head validation checks verifies if your head asset has visually discernable animations. To achieve this, the validation tool uses the head cage to "project" landmarks onto your base mesh.
After these landmarks created, validation tests various face animation poses to ensure that these landmarks move and deform appropriately. Validation succeeds when it detects appropriate movement of the landmarks for eyes closed, mouth open, and basic happy/sad expressions.
Failure to either assign landmarks onto the base mesh, or failure to deform landmarks appropriately can occur for several reasons. For more information, see common issues.
Landmark projection
Validation uses the head cage to project landmarks onto the head mesh. This helps Roblox establish where the eyes and mouth are and helps guide the facial animation test.
Once validation verifies that projection is successful and all landmarks established onto the head mesh, it can move onto testing facial animations.
Test face animations
Now that the validation system knows where to check for the eyes and mouth, the validation checks for facial animations to ensure that the following basic actions are possible:
- Left and right eyes can close
- Mouth can open
- Basic happy and sad expressions
- For a full list of basic action units and poses, see FACS animations.
The validation looks for the relative change in the landmarks. For example, when testing for right eye closing (FACS pose: RightEyeClosed), validation checks if the landmarks move from their original neutral state accordingly.
Face mesh with all projected landmarks applied from cage.
Validation verifies that the right eye can close based off of displacement of landmarks.
Common issues
Validation checks for several aspects of your head asset. If you are receiving an error related to dynamic head animation, use the following table for potential culprits:
| Issue | Potential fixes |
|---|---|
| The validation tool is unable to successfully apply landmarks. See Unable to project landmarks. | - Verify that the cage landmark vertices are positioned directly over the corresponding areas of the face. - Verify that the cage is not intersecting with the head mesh. Landmark projection expects the cage to be over the head mesh. - Check for any gaps, holes, or difficult surfaces of the face where landmarks can fail to project. |
| The validation tool is able to apply landmarks, but can not detect animation. See Animations not displacing landmarks. | - Verify that landmarks are on the areas of the eyes and mouth that move during animation. - Verify that the cage is not intersecting with the head mesh. Landmark projection expects the cage to be over the head mesh. - If using separate meshes for eyeballs and mouthbags, ensure that your landmarks are applied to the head mesh, not the eyeballs or mouthbag. This can be achieved by slightly widening the area where your cages project landmarks. |
| The validation tool doesn't detect FACS animations. | - Your head doesn't include FACS animation. Verify that your head includes FACS poses and mapping. |
Unable to project landmarks
If validation is unable to apply the projection correctly onto the surface of the head, the validation fails. This often occurs if your cage extends beyond your head mesh, or if your head mesh has a hole or gap that prevents the application of the landmark. See the following examples:
Base mesh has a hollow gap in the design, preventing validation from applying 3 landmarks to denote the eye area.
In both cases, adjusting the cage to allow the proper projection of landmarks to the base mesh would resolve this issue.
Animations not displacing landmarks
In the case where landmarks are correctly applied to the base mesh and the base mesh includes FACS data, it's possible that the facial animations do not displace the landmarks enough to pass validation. See the following example:
Landmarks successfully established on base mesh, but are not near the expected regions.
When testing animations, validation doesn't detect the expected change to the landmark regions.
In the example case, adjusting the cage to allow the proper projection of landmarks at the appropriate areas would resolve this issue.
There may also be cases where the landmarks are correct, but the animation itself does not alter the projected landscapes enough to pass validation. In these cases, fixing the animation and/or optimizing the cage could help the validation properly identify the facial animation.
Animation data missing
Heads require 17 specific FACS poses that are used to test the 5 basic actions. Regardless of landmarks or other FACS animations, validation immediately fails if the minimum 17 poses were not detected.
For information on how to pose and map dynamic heads, see Creating basic heads.
Working with non-humanoids
Some character models, typically non-humanoids, have unnatural or missing eyes and mouths. The most common case of this is the classic blocky features.
In this case, the cage still applies the expected landscapes to the head surface, and Roblox validates if facial animations correctly displace the facial animations.
Make sure that your FACS animations properly affect the region where landmarks are applied.
In cases where eyes and mouths might be missing, the validation still projects landmarks and expects facial animation in those areas.
Make sure that your FACS animations properly affect the regions where the landmarks are applied.