Styling avatars in digital drip.
At a Glance
Aquent Studios manages creative operations on Meta's behalf for multiple vendors creating virtual reality clothing for the Meta Avatars Store.
Capabilities Engaged
- 3D Design
- Agile Practices
- Art and Creative Direction
- Creative Operations
- Quality Assurance
- XR Development
Project Overview
Challenge
As an engineering-driven organization, Meta typically outsources most creative functions. So when they needed clothing pieces for their virtual reality Meta Avatars Store, they turned to outside vendors to design them. The project required designers to create clothing at four levels of detail that would look natural, run smoothly, and wouldn’t break, tear, or go under the avatar skin. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before Meta Art Directors were inundated with a stream of broken and unusable assets coming from multiple vendors. At first, Meta tried fixing the issue with more management controls, but it was becoming far too time consuming. Soon, they realized they needed a different solution.
Approach
When Aquent Studios got the call, we sprang into action. Within six weeks, our team was embedded and managing the workstream. We earned the trust of Meta and the vendors, and today we are contributing to the design of the assets in addition to quality assurance and product management.
What We Did
Creative Operations
Consulting based on creative operations best practices
Once onboarded, we sprang into action setting up creative operations with project management processes, art direction, client approvals, and quality assurance to inspect every asset for approval or return it to the workstream for changes.
Quality Assurance
Embedding quality assurance artists with fashion designer credentials
By placing 3D Artist Fashion Designers in the role, Meta avatar clothing is held to the highest standards and isn’t greenlit for placement in the Meta Avatars Store until it’s runway ready.
3D Design
Designing virtual clothing that looks like the real thing
Our team designs the clothing in CLO where every virtual clothing item begins as a pattern. With the design complete, they are brought into Maya and constructed in 3D at four detail levels. A Texture Artist designs real-time shaders and materials to make them as believable as possible.
