Creating Characters


Tower Unite aims to make the character importing process as easy as possible. All of the SDK is embedded in-game and available directly from the main menu by selecting Workshop Editor on the top right.

We assume in this guide that you have prior knowledge with 3D modeling and rigging characters.

Step 1. Creating the Rig


Before you can begin importing your character into Tower Unite, you must first rig the character to our provided skeleton. We suggest using Blender when creating characters.

Blender

We recommend using the communty-made Tower Unite Blender Add-on (by Spoom) when creating characters.
The add-on streamlines the model creation process and comes pre-loaded with the Tower Unite character armature/rig.

While rigging to the skeleton you cannot rename, delete, translate, or scale any of the bones! Your model may not import or you will get unwanted results!

Once you have rigged your character to our rig, please make sure you have set up your materials and pointed the textures to the correct file paths.
As of workshop editor 1.0, you cannot edit these paths after importing. So make absolutely sure you are pointing to valid files or you will have missing textures when you go to import!

Advanced Users Only: Other Modeling Programs
  • Download the Tower Unite armature: Workshop Rig
  • Import the units.
  • Set the units to be metric at 0.01 scale.
  • Set armature to 1:1 scale.
  • Z is up!

Step 2. Exporting


When you are happy with your rig, export the rig into DAE format. DAE is the only format we support for characters. Your modeling program may have DAE support through a plugin, so you'll need to enable that.

Note:
  • If using Blender, make sure you have Export Materials selected when exporting to DAE.
  • Make sure you export both the model AND the skeleton!

Step 3. Importing into Tower Unite


Once you have rigged the model and exported that a DAE, it's finally time to open up Tower Unite and load the Workshop Editor!

Once in the editor:
  • Select the "My Imports" tab.
  • Select "Player Model" from the dropdown.
  • Click Import.
  • Select the .DAE file you wish to import.
  • That's it.

Your model will then be converted into our format (.model). If it fails for any reason, the editor will tell you why in the Compiler Info. You can also see the entire import process there and troubleshoot any issues that come up.

You can reimport over and over until you get the perfect player model.

Step 4. Metadata


You can also further edit your player model for Tower Unite specific features using the metadata editor.

The metadata editor allows you to adjust player scale and wearable offsets (hats, etc.) to make your player model compatible with all the features of Tower Unite.

When editing wearable offsets, keep in mind the preview models used will line up all the other wearable models in the game.

Once you are done editing the metadata, just hit Save Metadata and when you upload your model, it'll all be included for you!

Step 5. Testing


When viewing your imported player model, you can preview animations and the capsule collider with the tool bar at the bottom right in the editor.

Step 6. Publishing


To learn how to publish your model, check out our Publishing page.

Video Tutorials