March 18, 2024, 9:00 AM PT – Today at GDC in San Francisco, Roblox announced Avatar Auto Setup and Texture Generator — two new technologies created to streamline and accelerate 3D content creation, built on Roblox artificial intelligence (AI). The new tools help creators iterate and scale faster by eliminating time-consuming avatar setup and texturing steps respectively — reducing time spent by hours or even days and removing the need to master these steps.
- Avatar Auto Setup simplifies the avatar creation process by automatically converting a 3D body mesh into a live, animated avatar ready for users to adopt. With just a click, Auto Setup will automatically rig, cage, segment, and skin 3D models. Completing a process that used to take people days in just a few minutes. The initial alpha release is intended to provide this workflow for creators in Roblox Studio and eliminate hours of manual work.
- Texture Generator enables creators to use text prompts to quickly change the look of 3D objects. With Texture Generator, creators can rapidly prototype new looks for their experience, easily bring new textures to life, and optimize workflows. For example, if a creator asks to create a texture for a 3D wooden treasure chest, Texture Generator will create a texture that accentuates the chest’s sharp corners and takes into consideration features like the wooden planks and the lock. Alternatively, a creator can easily generate multiple versions of an asset in various colors and textures, such as building gold, silver, and bronze trophies.
“At GDC, we are showcasing new technologies and opportunities to create, scale, and monetize on the platform in support of our vision to empower the creation of anything, anywhere, by anyone,” said Nick Tornow, Vice President of Creator Engineering at Roblox. “Our new AI technologies help anyone from an indie developer to a professional game studio quickly create rich, compelling content on the Roblox platform – getting them from idea to shared reality, faster than ever. With these tools, creators can focus on creative ideation and less on implementation, enhancing their experiences to grow engagement—and ultimately, their businesses.”
“Gen AI is already streamlining creation in unprecedented ways, and the biggest opportunity we see for AI is in our art workflows,” said Guy de Beer, Chief Operating Officer at award-winning Roblox studio Toya Play. “We create dozens of custom characters each month, and Avatar Auto Setup has the potential to increase productivity dramatically. For the kind of branded experiences we build — with hundreds of bespoke avatars — AI changes the creation economy, providing boundless opportunities for creators to bring their creative visions to life. With the innovations happening within Roblox and across the industry, the creation process will be transformed entirely in the next decade.”
Avatar Auto-Setup is available in alpha and Texture Generator is available in a public beta and can be accessed in Roblox’s advanced development environment, Roblox Studio.
Roblox’s Continued Commitment to AI Innovation
The new AI announcements come on the heels of several other recent AI innovations from Roblox, including the full release of Code Assist and automatic chat translations in February 2024:
- Throughout the 11-month beta of Code Assist, a tool that suggests lines or functions of code as creators type, creators adopted about 300M characters of code suggested by the tool. According to Toya Play, their software development team has already seen a 5% increase in efficiency using Code Assist, representing “months of work across the company.”
- In the 30 days since the launch of automatic chat translations, which gives users worldwide the ability to easily communicate with each other regardless of what language they speak, usage of Roblox’s proprietary TextChatService in creators’ experiences has more than doubled. The outpouring of engagement from users resulted in 19.7 billion translated messages so far— about one third of the messages sent on Roblox — including valuable user feedback from international markets for creators.
“AI has the power to help us create things beyond our imagination and connect people across the globe,” said Juniper Hovey, Lead Engineer at Neura Studios. “This week at GDC, we’ll be releasing a first-of-its-kind Roblox experience that turns users into creators. Connecting users across the world — something core to our experience functionality — is made easier with features like chat translations. On Roblox, the line between creator and user is blurred. We hope to make them one and the same with AI and our upcoming release.”
Roblox at GDC
Both Hovey and de Beer will be joining Head of Roblox Studio Stef Corazza and Roblox Head of Discovery Chen Zheng on stage at GDC this Thursday, March 21st, 10:00 – 11:00 to discuss How Generative AI is Transforming Game Development, Discovery and UGC.
About Roblox
Roblox is an immersive platform for connection and communication. Every day, millions of people come to Roblox to create, play, work, learn, and connect with each other in experiences built by our global community of creators. Our vision is to reimagine the way people come together – in a world that’s safe, civil, and optimistic. To achieve this vision, we are building an innovative company that, together with the Roblox community, has the ability to strengthen our social fabric and support economic growth for people around the world. For more about Roblox, please visit CORP.ROBLOX.COM. For press inquiries, please contact press@roblox.com.