How to describe a character for AI 3D generation
What to put in a description for an AI 3D character generator, and what to leave out, so the rig and the animations come out right.
An AI 3D generator reads your description, draws a concept, builds a mesh from it, and then a rig and the moves. Each step depends on the one before. A description that makes a lovely picture can still make a character that can't be rigged. Here's what to write, and what to leave out, so the whole chain works. The advice comes from what Hatchery3D checks in every description and every concept, but it holds for most text-to-3D tools.
How a description becomes a character
- Concept. The description becomes a front view of the character, standing in a T-pose on a plain background.
- Check. Before any 3D work, a model looks at the concept: one character, the whole body, a head, two arms and two legs, a T-pose, nothing in the hands.
- Mesh and texture. The concept becomes a textured 3D model.
- Rig and moves. A humanoid skeleton goes inside the mesh, and nine clips go onto it: idle, walk, run, jump, punch, slash, hit, death and wave.
Most of what goes wrong starts in step 1. If the concept has a sword in the hand, a sky behind the character or a dramatic pose, the later steps have nothing good to work with. So the description's job is a clean concept.
What to put in
Describe how the character looks, standing still. These details carry the most:
- Who it is, in a few words: a forest ranger, a retired pirate, a bronze-age guard.
- Build: lean, broad, short, tall, heavy-set. The rig fits any of them.
- Clothes and armour, piece by piece: a hooded cloak, a leather jerkin, knee boots, one bronze shoulder plate.
- Colours and materials: earthy greens, scuffed brass, faded red linen.
- One or two features that read from far away: a huge hat, a long braid, a bright sash. Small details vanish at game scale.
Here's a good description, the example in Create's description field:
A moss-cloaked forest ranger, lean build, leather boots, earthy greens
It's short, and every word is something the camera can see. You have room for up to 1000 characters if you want more detail.
What to leave out
| Leave out | Why | Do this instead |
|---|---|---|
| A sword, staff or shield in the hand | A rigged weapon swings through the body, so characters come empty-handed | Make the item as a prop and attach it in your engine |
| A setting: "in a dark forest" | You get the character alone, with no background | Describe the character only |
| A pose: "leaping", "casting a spell" | Every character stands in a T-pose and moves with its own clips | Leave the pose out; the clips do the action |
| Several characters: "a knight and his squire" | Each character is its own model | Describe one, then the other in a new run |
| Four legs, wings or no legs | The rig needs a head, two arms and two legs | Choose a humanoid, or make a static prop |
If you write a held item anyway, Create names it under the description: "The ancient staff comes separately as a prop". Tick the box under that note, and Create makes the item too, at the cost of a prop.
Pick the look
By default, Hatchery3D gives every character the low-poly look: flat-shaded facets and clean blocks of colour, which hold up well in a game. Untick Low poly under the description, and the look comes from your words instead: "painterly", "realistic leather and steel", "toy-like vinyl".
Use reference images
You can add up to 4 reference images with the description: a style frame, a costume sketch, a colour palette. They guide the concept, so the character matches your game's art. They don't replace the description. Say in words which parts of the picture matter: "the palette and the carved look of the reference, not its pose".
Or skip the description
If you already have concept art, upload it instead. It needs the same things the drawn concept needs: one character, the whole body from head to feet, facing the front, in a T-pose, on a plain background.
Hatchery3D skips the drawing step and builds the 3D model from your art.
Props are simpler
Describe one object and its materials: "A weathered oak storage crate with iron corner brackets". Set the size in metres, and the prop comes at that size, standing on the floor. Two things don't come out well yet: several objects in one description, and flat things like shields and signs, which come out thick and rough.
If a run fails
The concept check stops a run before the expensive 3D work if the drawing has a problem it can't fix, such as an item in the hand on both tries. You get your credits back, and the asset page says what to change. A character costs 100 credits and a prop 50, and a failed run costs nothing.