Names and Naming

Naming in IMVU: What’s Allowed and Where

When creating products in IMVU, it’s important to understand what kinds of names and characters are supported across different parts of the platforms. This guide will walk you through what characters are safe to use, where emojis are allowed, and what to avoid to ensure your content functions properly.

Generally, it’s best to use alphanumeric characters, which include:

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789

You can also use the following symbols:

_ (underscore)
- (dash)

File Names

File names cannot include the following characters:

< (less than)
> (greater than)
: (colon)
" (double quote)
/ (forward slash)
\ (backslash)
| (vertical bar or pipe)
? (question mark)
* (asterisk)

At this time many language characters are not supported across all IMVU platforms. Currently any characters with diacritical marks are not supported by IMVU. For example, these characters are not valid for names of files used in IMVU:

á ç ñ ü

Unfortunately, this also means non-alphabetic characters cannot be used, including Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic characters.

You also must not use emojis in file names! 😞

• Special File Names

IMVU also has a reserved file name, eyes.tga

This file name is specifically tied to the eyes material in avatar products and should not be used anywhere else. Furthermore, this file name must be used for the texture assigned to the eye material in an eye product otherwise the eye product may not show up when worn with certain head products.

Product Names

Product names support just about any character that you can type on a computer including non-alphabetic characters such as Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic, as well as emojis!

Keywords

Keywords can also include just about any character, including emojis! Keep in mind that emojis are less useful as keywords. It is best to use descriptive keywords that will help customers find your product.

Keywords do have their limitations, however:

• Each Keyword has a Maximum of 30 Characters
• No Spaces
• Maximum of 12 Keywords

Action names (triggers)

Action names, also known as triggers, have a few limitations, but can be just about any alphanumeric character, including those with diacritical marks. Here are the limitations:

• No Spaces
• Non-alphabetic Characters including Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic characters (Only supported on IMVU Classic)
• Emojis (Only supported on IMVU Classic)

Component names (IMVU Studio only)

Did you know you can give a unique name to each of the components of your product in IMVU Studio? These include names of materials, meshes, and particle systems. Component names have the following limitations:

• Must be Alphanumeric (includes characters with diacritical marks)
• No Spaces
• No Non-alphabetic Characters (including Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic characters)
• No Emojis