| id |
microsoft-rocketbox |
| name |
Microsoft Rocketbox |
| url |
https://github.com/microsoft/Microsoft-Rocketbox |
| publisher |
Microsoft |
| category |
characters |
| subcategories |
|
| license |
MIT |
| license_spdx |
MIT |
| commercial |
true |
| attribution_required |
false |
| formats |
|
| tags |
rigged |
vr |
research-origin |
diverse |
|
| added |
2026-07-19 |
| verified |
2026-09-26 |
| status |
active |
| maintenance |
archived |
115+ fully rigged humanoid avatars (multi-LOD FBX) released by Microsoft Research. Useful crowd / NPC / VR embodiment starter set when you need variety beyond stylized CC0 kits.
- Maintenance: no push to the GitHub repository microsoft/Microsoft-Rocketbox since 2022-10-02, per the GitHub API on 2026-09-26.
- Maintenance: the repository is now archived (read-only), per the GitHub API on 2026-10-22; the API still reports the licence as MIT. Releases and downloads stay available.
- README still mentions the older “research/academic” blog framing; LICENSE.md is MIT (updated Dec 2020) — keep the copyright notice.
- Unity import helpers ship in-repo; Unreal batch importer contributed later. Retarget animations carefully (skeleton is library-specific).
- Paper citation requested for research use; MIT still requires copyright notice in distributions.
- What the repository ships beyond the meshes, per its README read 2026-09-23: four poly levels per avatar (
hipoly, midpoly, lowpoly, ultralowpoly), 417 animations (added 4/2022), and facial blendshapes (15 visemes, 48 FACS, 30 for the Vive facial tracker, plus ARKit-compatible sets from 6/2022). No other character source in this catalog has facial blendshapes or built-in LODs
- Tooling is Unity-first: the import script fixes 3ds Max materials and reorganises bones for Unity's humanoid rig. In Godot or Unreal, plan on doing that step yourself
- Keep the MIT copyright and permission notice (
LICENSE.md, "Copyright (c) 2020 Microsoft") with redistributed copies of the avatars; no on-screen credit is required. The README's citation request covers research use only
LICENSE.md (2026-08-24): MIT License, Copyright (c) 2020 Microsoft — rights include use, modify, sell.- README changelog: “12/2020: Updated license to MIT.”
- Live LICENSE.md (2026-09-26): "The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software."
- Live README (2026-09-26): "If you are using this library for research you should consider citing it." and "The library of avatars is now released under MIT License."