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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Roblox Studio can turn an imported character into a dynamic head through Avatar Setup, which can generate facial rigging, FACS poses, skinning, animation data, and the head cage required for facial animation. For a custom head that already has its own facial rig, you can also prepare the required mappings in Blender and import the FBX into Studio.
The quickest workflow is to import the model, run Avatar Setup, choose the correct avatar preset, and test it with Check Face. Manual setup is mainly useful when automatic generation does not produce the expressions or deformation quality you need.
What a Roblox dynamic head needs
A dynamic head is more than a textured head mesh. It requires:
- A head mesh
- Facial bones or another facial rig
- Mapped facial poses
- An outer head cage
The cage supports accessories and layered clothing and provides the eye and mouth landmarks used by validation. It must contain separate landmarks for the left eye, right eye, and mouth. The mouth landmark is placed on the second vertex loop from the mouth opening.
The Tool Desk
Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Roblox does not require every available FACS pose for Marketplace or Avatar Chat support. The current minimum is these 17 exact pose names:
LeftEyeClosed
RightEyeClosed
EyesLookDown
JawDrop
Pucker
LeftLipCornerPuller
RightLipCornerPuller
ChinRaiser
ChinRaiserUpperLip
LeftCheekRaiser
RightCheekRaiser
LeftInnerBrowRaiser
RightInnerBrowRaiser
LeftLipCornerDown
RightLipCornerDown
LeftLowerLipDepressor
RightLowerLipDepressorRoblox supports more than 50 base poses. Adding more poses generally produces better facial expressions, but the 17 above are the minimum specified set rather than a requirement to create all 50-plus poses.
Method 1: Add a dynamic head with Avatar Setup
Avatar Setup is the recommended starting point for most imported heads. It can automatically generate FACS poses, facial rigging, skinning, animation data, and the required cage.
- Open your place in Roblox Studio.
- On the Home tab, click Import.
- Select the model file. Studio supports
.fbx,.obj, and.gltfimports. - In Import Preview, expand File General and turn off Upload To Roblox if you only want to work locally.
- Click Import. The imported asset appears as a
Modelin Explorer. - Select the imported model, or select the meshes you want to process.
- Open the Avatar tab and click Avatar Setup.
Studio opens the configuration window. Under Configure Models, set the model’s type and preset:
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| Setting | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Platform Avatar | Marketplace assets. This applies the more restrictive setup needed for validation and moderation. |
| Development Avatar | NPCs, prototypes, and starter player characters used only inside an experience. |
| Body | A body or character component. |
| Layered | A layered asset. |
| Rigid | A rigid accessory or rigid character component. |
| Eye Layered | An eye-related layered asset. |
- Choose the appropriate Preset and Type for each listed asset.
- Click Set Up in the bottom-right corner.
When the process finishes, use the preview tools before moving the character into your game. Avatar Setup can also generate a .gltf output for further editing in a digital content creation application.
Useful Avatar Setup specialty settings
Click the gear icon near the bottom-left of Avatar Setup to open specialty settings. The available options include:
- Create R15 with optional joints — adds the R15 character structure when appropriate.
- Manually Align Front — aligns the character’s front with the negative Z-axis in world space. Use it when automatic front-direction detection fails.
- Improve facial caging — helps align the cage with the head mesh and facial features, particularly when makeup or face details are involved.
- Reduce triangle count — reduces mesh complexity. For a Development Avatar, you can disable this when the source mesh exceeds Marketplace triangle budgets and you need to preserve detail.
Converting a face decal into a dynamic head
Avatar Setup can infer facial regions from a 2D face texture or decal. This option has several conditions that are easy to miss.
- Run Avatar Setup with the character’s body and head, not only the head.
- Open the specialty settings with the gear icon.
- Enable Handle face as 2D decal.
- Make sure the face is front-facing in the preview.
- Enable Manually Align Front if the face is positioned manually or Studio detects the wrong front direction.
- Delete any existing
FaceControlsobject under the character’sHead. Avatar Setup preserves an existing facial setup when it detects one, which can prevent the decal workflow from replacing it.
Use a SurfaceAppearance rather than only TextureID when possible for better rendering quality in this workflow.
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Preview and test the facial animation
In Avatar Setup, click Check Face. The Animations tab tests facial movement and range of motion for the eyes, eyebrows, and mouth.
- Use the animation controls to inspect blinks, eye movement, brow movement, and mouth poses.
- Click Test in Experience to start playtesting with the active Studio playtest mode.
You can also test the head manually after importing a character with an animatable head:
- Find the head mesh in Explorer.
- Expand it and select its
FaceControlsinstance. - Change the available
FaceControlsproperties in the Properties window to pose the face.
Facial bones are not exposed in Studio in the same way as ordinary rigged-model bones. Use FaceControls for direct Studio testing rather than expecting to manipulate the facial bone hierarchy like a normal character rig.
Method 2: Prepare a custom facial rig in Blender
Use this method when you need control over the facial deformations, corrective poses, or bone hierarchy. Roblox’s basic-head documentation uses Blender 3.0; other Blender versions may place these options elsewhere.
Build the facial hierarchy and neutral pose
The facial root joint must be parented under the standard R15 Head bone and must parent the other facial bones. The root is commonly called DynamicHead, but that name is not mandatory. A differently named root works when it is mapped through RootFaceJoint.
Use animation frame 0 for the neutral face. Put facial poses on frames starting at 1. Each frame can contain only one unique FACS pose.
Add the Blender custom properties
- Select the
Head_Geomesh. - Open Object Properties.
- Expand Custom Properties and click New.
- Click the gear icon and set the property Type to String.
- Set the property name to a frame identifier such as
Frame0,Frame1, and so on. - Leave Default Value and Description empty.
- Set the property value to the exact FACS pose name.
For the facial root, create a string custom property named RootFaceJoint and set its value to the actual face-root bone name, such as DynamicHead.
A corrective or combination pose joins its base pose names with underscores. For example:
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Funneler_JawDrop_PuckerDo not map the same FACS pose or corrective to more than one frame.
Export the FBX from Blender
- Choose File → Export → FBX (.fbx).
- Under Include, enable Custom Properties.
- Under Armature, disable Add Leaf Bones.
- Enable Bake Animation.
- Under Bake Animation, disable NLA Strips, All Actions, and Force Start/End Keyframes.
- Click Export FBX.
Import the resulting FBX through Home → Import, then test the generated model in Studio. Roblox’s facial animation tracks are created in Studio; facial animations cannot be imported. Use the Animation Editor, including the Face Animation Editor, to create facial animations manually.
Adding face accessories
Face accessories imported into Studio initially appear as MeshPart objects. Convert one with the Accessory Fitting Tool:
- Import the accessory through Studio’s importer.
- Select the imported
MeshPart. - Open the Avatar tab and click Accessory.
- Click Next.
- Under Clothing, select Face.
- Click Next and adjust the position in Edit if necessary.
- Preview the result and click Next to finish.
The tool converts the mesh into an Accessory. Separate eyelash and eyebrow assets intended for Marketplace heads must also be Accessory objects.
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsIf an accessory has a WrapLayer, its AutoSkin setting controls skinning transfer:
| Value | Behavior |
|---|---|
Disabled |
Disables automatic skinning transfer. This is the default. |
EnabledOverride |
Transfers skinning and overrides existing accessory skinning. |
EnabledPreserve |
Transfers skinning while preserving existing skinning, and creates skinning if none exists. |
Fix common dynamic-head errors
| Error or symptom | Likely cause and fix |
|---|---|
Landmarks cannot be projected |
The cage extends beyond or intersects the head mesh, or the mesh contains holes, gaps, or difficult surfaces. Repair the cage and head topology. |
| Landmarks project, but animation is not detected | The landmarks may be on parts that do not move, or may project onto separate eyeball or mouth-bag meshes rather than the animated head mesh. |
FACS animation not detected |
The FBX has no FACS poses, or the pose mappings are invalid. |
Missing required FACS poses |
One or more of the 17 minimum poses is missing or incorrectly named. |
Failed importing head with facial animation. |
The FBX is corrupted. Re-export it, preferably after checking the armature and animation settings. |
Found more than one joint named X |
Joint names are duplicated. Rename the joints so every imported joint has a unique name. |
Correctives can be for at most 3 control names. |
A corrective combines more than three poses. Reduce it to three or fewer control names. |
Unrecognized FACS control name X. |
The mapping uses a name Roblox does not recognize. Check spelling and use the documented FACS names. |
Couldn't parse the frame number in Extra Attribute named X. |
Rename the property to the format Frame0, Frame1, and so on. |
Empty value found for Extra Attribute named X. |
The custom property has no pose or corrective value. Add the value or delete the property. |
Duplicate control name found. |
The same pose or corrective is mapped to multiple frames. Keep one frame per control. |
Head_Geo has no Extra Attributes that map FACS controls to animation frames. |
The Head_Geo mesh is missing the required Blender custom-property mappings. |
No frame was set to "Neutral" in animation. |
The neutral face is missing. Put the neutral face on frame 0 and export again. |
Missing key frame X for Y. |
A FrameX property exists, but the animation has no matching timeline frame. |
No joints were found under DynamicHead. |
The mapped RootFaceJoint has no child facial joints in the imported hierarchy. |
A warning such as Found only N base poses may not stop the import, but the head can have limited expressiveness. A warning about a missing corrective means the corrective hierarchy is incomplete and may produce unusual deformations.
Non-humanoid or blocky heads do not need visibly human eyes and mouths. They can still validate if the eye and mouth landmarks project onto regions that facial animation actually moves.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Revalidate an existing catalog head
If you are repairing an existing catalog asset, revalidate it before rebuilding anything. Roblox has updated dynamic-head validation parameters so more existing catalog heads can pass while catalog heads are still required to be dynamic.
- Enable glTF Export through File → Beta Features → glTF Export.
- Restart Studio if it does not recognize the feature immediately.
- Open the Command Bar through Script → Command Bar, or Window → Script. The shortcut is
Ctrl+9on Windows or⌘9on Mac. - Run the documented command-bar script with the head export call enabled:
createExportFromHeadAssetId(your_asset_id)For a body bundle, use:
createExportFromBodyBundleId(your_bundle_id)These calls are initially commented out in Roblox’s documented script. Replace the placeholder ID and remove the leading -- before running it. The script creates a Workspace model named ExportThisAsGLTF.
Right-click that model in Explorer and choose Save/Export → Save as glTF. For validation-only testing, choose Save To Roblox, set Content type to Avatar Item, and choose Head or Body as the asset category. Cancel after validation if you do not want to publish the asset or incur publishing fees.
FAQ
Can I make a dynamic head without Blender?
Yes. Import the model into Studio and use Avatar → Avatar Setup. The tool can generate the facial rig, poses, skinning, animation data, and cage automatically. Blender is useful when you need custom deformation or manual FACS mappings.
Does a dynamic head have to use a bone named DynamicHead?
No. DynamicHead is a common root-bone name, not a mandatory literal name. A differently named facial root works when the RootFaceJoint mapping points to it.
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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallDo I need all 50 FACS poses?
No. Roblox currently specifies 17 minimum FACS poses for avatar-character and Avatar Chat support. More poses are recommended for richer expressions, but all 50-plus poses are not required.
Why does my head pass setup but not animate?
Check that the head has valid FACS pose mappings, that the required 17 pose names are spelled exactly, and that the cage landmarks project onto moving regions of the main head mesh rather than separate eyeball or mouth-bag meshes.
Can I import a facial animation into Roblox Studio?
Roblox documents Studio workflows for creating facial animations, including the Animation Editor and Face Animation Editor. Facial animations cannot be imported.
Can a stylized or blocky head use facial animation?
Yes. Visible human-like eyes and a mouth are not mandatory. The cage still needs eye and mouth landmarks positioned on regions that the facial animation moves.
The Bottom Line
For most projects, use Home → Import, disable Upload To Roblox during preview, and process the model with Avatar → Avatar Setup. Choose Platform Avatar for Marketplace work and Development Avatar for in-experience characters. Use Check Face before playtesting, and switch to the Blender workflow only when automatic setup cannot deliver the rig, poses, or cage quality your head needs.
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