Download VRChat Creator Companion (VCC)
VRChat Creator Companion is an offical tool that can help you set up everything you need to upload avatars and worlds to VRChat.
The above page also includes a guide for installing and setting up VCC for the first time.
Once VCC setup is complete and you have installed the latest supported Unity version with it, you can move on to the next step.
Open the Unity Package with VCC
Create a new Avatar (2022) project with VCC. Name this anything you like, then click Open Project. This will open the new project in Unity.
In Unity, go to Assets > Import Package > Custom Package... and select the .unitypackage file included in the avatar files. Import everything.
Now, in your Assets, there should be a folder that contains all the necessary avatar files.
In the Scenes folder of the newly imported files, open the scene relevant to you (there may be both a PC/VR scene and a Quest scene).
You should now see the avatar in the Scene view. Make any changes you'd like, but otherwise everything should be set up and ready to go.
To upload the avatar, go to VRChat SDK > Show Control Panel. Log in with the VRChat account you want to use the avatar with.
Now switch to the Builder tab in the VRChat SDK panel. Fill in the avatar's details, such as a name and thumbnail, and choose if the avatar will be Private or Public.
If you're uploading for Quest, make sure you switch the build type to Android.
You can now either choose to "Build and Test" the avatar (allowing you to try it in game but others can't see it) or "Build & Publish" to upload the avatar in a way where it is visible to others.
That should be everything! You should now be able to select your uploaded avatar from your Uploaded Avatars menu in game.
Editing Textures
If the avatar files include textures, they will be Photoshop files.
Some avatars I make will not include textures, and will instead use vertex colors.
In this case, the model may not be UV mapped and will need to have UVs applied before custom textures can be added.
While not initially visible, they will include layers you can toggle on to show UV guides that are designed to help you create your own custom textures.
PNG versions of these layers will be available in case you cannot open Photoshop files (but many programs can, such as Procreate and GIMP)
When adding your custom textures to the Unity project, be sure to re-write over the original texture files, or apply your new textures to the appropriate original materials.
The original materials are often used in animations - new materials applied directly to the model will be ignored by these and may cause visual errors where the original materials are still being used.
