Creator Terminology
If you have any terms you believe should be added, comment or message Tricky#6071
This is a work in progress! Stuff isn't organized nicely :(
Blender - Blender is a free, open source, 3D modeling program. Many creators on VRChat use it to create models.
Shapekeys/Blendshapes - Shapekeys allow one to deform a model for animations. Shapekeys can be made in 3D programs such as Blender. Shapekeys in VRChat are most often used for facial expressions.
Visemes - Visemes are shapekeys made for lipsyncing, they are 15 different shapekeys made to give accurate lip syncing to avatars when a player speaks. You can view the 15 visemes VRChat uses here.
Texture - A texture is an image that is used on a model to give the model details. UV maps tell the model which parts of a texture should use. There are many different types of textures, but the most common is the "Diffuse" texture, also known as the base colors.
Material - Different from a texture, a material is an asset that changes the appearance of the surface, materials can use many textures to achieve many different effects. Below you can see an example of a material in Unity using Poiyomi's Toon Shader.
Shader - In Unity, a shader is a program that contain instructions on how render materials. These are used in conjunction with materials. An example of a shader is Poiyomi's Toon Shader.
Atlasing - Atlasing is the process of combining multiple textures into one texture. This is an optimization trick that helps reduce material count.
UV Maps - A UV Map, also just known as UVs, are a set of points that tells the model how to apply a texture. Below is comparison of a model and it's UV map, along with a sort of visualization that may help explain how UV mapping works.
Nothing better than christmas chocolates to explain #UVmapping to your kids #CGI #3D #material #texture pic.twitter.com/Z8SBrdO2SR
— xxivips (@xxivips) December 6, 2017