I teach a course titled Virtual Avatars that I created for undergraduates at NYU’s Integrated Design & Media program to learn the fundamentals of avatar creation tools like Autodesk Maya, Unity, Daz Studio, Blender, and Unreal Engine. Students acquire the skills to understand and execute the basic pipeline of avatar tools from modeling, skinning, texturing, rigging, to animating in 3D and game engine softwares. From hyperrealistic to non-humanoid avatars, the course demonstrates the resources available for avatar creation, manipulation, and animation. Students build projects that examine the relationship between avatars and identity, designing what it means to have autonomy and control over our bodies and how they are represented in media.