How to get the most out of your VTuber model - A VTube Studio Tutorial | VTuber 101

[00:00] How to take your VTuber model from

[00:01] looking like this

[00:04] to looking like this without even

[00:06] changing any of the rigging. Hey, hey,

[00:08] I'm Ray. I'm an award-winning VTuber

[00:10] artist and I'm going to teach you how to

[00:11] get the most out of your model using V

[00:14] Studio. Let's get started.

[00:19] All right, so I went ahead and opened up

[00:21] V Studio and went to the model tab,

[00:24] which is a little person. We're starting

[00:26] with the original Accari model which

[00:28] comes free with Vip Studio. I'm just

[00:30] going ahead and testing out the model

[00:31] here. I'm tracking using my phone. So,

[00:34] obviously tracking will look a little

[00:35] bit different depending on what you're

[00:36] using. I go ahead and make an item

[00:39] version of Aari. The reason that I'm

[00:41] doing this is because that way the item

[00:43] doesn't actually take our updated

[00:45] rigging, so we can see the updates as we

[00:47] go. So, I thought that that'd be useful

[00:50] for seeing the differences as we're

[00:52] making them. I'm going to go ahead and

[00:54] also quickly scroll through all of the

[00:55] settings tabs in YouTube Studio so you

[00:57] can get a feel for what's in there. I

[00:59] have a few plugins. I have the Live 2D

[01:02] plugin, the Twitch stuff, um, and things

[01:04] like that set up. Most of that is just

[01:07] pretty basic. We have the camera

[01:09] settings. So, if you're using webcam,

[01:10] this is where you will adjust all your

[01:12] settings for that. There's also blink

[01:14] sensitivity,

[01:15] filters, and the screen effect, which is

[01:18] how some YouTubers will do their like

[01:20] model lighting up based on what's on

[01:22] your screen. But the thing that we're

[01:24] going to be mostly messing with today is

[01:25] actually our model settings, which is

[01:27] the little person gear. There's physics

[01:29] settings, which you can adjust to adjust

[01:32] how reactive your physics are. 50 is the

[01:35] default. That's going to be what your

[01:37] model is actually rigged for, and 100 is

[01:39] going to be very crazy. But if you don't

[01:41] like your physics, you can always, you

[01:43] know, tone them down or turn them up.

[01:45] Uh, generally, I'd suggest, you know,

[01:47] maybe talking to your rigger about this

[01:49] before the model's finalized because

[01:51] those are also easy to change in the rig

[01:53] itself. Um, I also am not really a fan

[01:56] of the models moving around, um, kind of

[01:59] sliding on the screen. So, I go ahead

[02:00] and set those to zero as well as

[02:01] deactivate. The reason I do this is cuz

[02:03] if you're using something like Vbrger,

[02:05] it might still use those movement

[02:07] settings. So, I go ahead and turn those

[02:08] off.

[02:10] And now we're actually into the settings

[02:12] for the model itself. Really quick

[02:14] before we get into actually messing with

[02:16] our tracking, I want to explain every

[02:18] aspect of this tracking setting square.

[02:23] At the top is just a name. You can

[02:25] change it to whatever you want, whatever

[02:26] makes it the most obvious to you. This

[02:28] is the default name of like face left,

[02:30] right, rotation. Basically, that's

[02:32] determining your face looking to the

[02:34] left or to the right like shaking your

[02:36] head. No. The input is the value that V

[02:40] studio is looking for. This will be face

[02:43] angle X will be that left to right

[02:45] motion. Think of it as like on a graph.

[02:48] The Xaxis is the left to the right. And

[02:51] the param angle X is actually the value

[02:54] the model is using. This is the default

[02:57] name for the parameter in Live 2D. If

[03:00] your rigger changed it, it may look like

[03:02] a different name. or if it's a value

[03:03] that wasn't originally on the model, it

[03:06] may even be something just like param

[03:07] 27, just know that that's going to be

[03:10] what the live 2D model associates with

[03:14] that movement. Next, we have the

[03:16] smoothing setting, which will determine

[03:19] how much V Studio basically buffers your

[03:23] movement from your face to the model.

[03:26] The higher that this value is, the more

[03:29] it's going to

[03:31] kind of flatten out that movement and

[03:33] make it a lot softer. So, if you're

[03:36] shaking your head left to right

[03:38] violently, it might just barely even

[03:41] move because it's just kind of taking

[03:42] that as noise in a sense. Whereas, the

[03:45] smaller it is, the more it'll just take

[03:47] your raw movement and into the output. I

[03:52] like to have at least a little bit of

[03:53] smoothing on most things because there

[03:55] does tend to be a bit of noise,

[03:57] especially if you're in low light. But

[03:59] the greater it is, the more it will be

[04:02] hard to move that particular parameter.

[04:05] So, just keep in mind that the more you

[04:07] smooth it, the kind of more slow and

[04:10] almost like jelloy, for lack of a better

[04:14] phrase, it'll feel. Just a thing to keep

[04:16] in mind. Auto blinking is going to

[04:18] basically periodically have this value

[04:22] go. So like the name says, it's very

[04:25] commonly used for a blinking for maybe

[04:28] like a pet character or something like

[04:31] that. You can also have it if you don't

[04:32] blink a lot and you want to make it look

[04:34] like you blink a lot. Please blink. It's

[04:37] good for your eyes. Auto breathing is

[04:39] going to just slowly pan up and down

[04:42] this value. It is good for a breathing

[04:45] parameter. It can also just be good for

[04:47] again things you want to move

[04:49] periodically and slowly, but generally

[04:52] that's going to be on a breathing

[04:53] parameter. And finally, we have the

[04:56] actual tracking values.

[05:00] The left side, I will say this a lot in

[05:02] the video, is your face. This is the

[05:05] movement that you are making with your

[05:07] body. This is what the camera or your

[05:09] phone is seeing. And so you'll see the

[05:12] value go up and down depending on how

[05:15] you move with the associated input

[05:17] parameter.

[05:19] And the right side is the output that is

[05:23] being sent to your model. This is the

[05:25] value of the parameter of what's

[05:28] actually moving the model itself. So if

[05:32] you have

[05:34] the left side moving, it will translate

[05:36] to the right side moving. But the right

[05:39] side is the actual movement of the model

[05:41] and the left side is the actual movement

[05:43] of your face. We'll go into a bit more

[05:45] detail on what that means and how to

[05:47] work that. But that's what all of these

[05:49] numbers mean. Um the kind of very faint

[05:54] 30 max 30 min on this example is the

[05:57] values of the model itself. So if you

[06:01] need for reference what your model's rig

[06:04] can actually do, that's where you can

[06:06] look. Okay, let's actually go into

[06:09] fine-tuning our rigging.

[06:11] So, the first one is face left right

[06:14] here. Um, and the way that I go ahead

[06:17] and set up any of my model settings is

[06:20] on the left is actually what my face is

[06:23] doing and on the right is the output

[06:26] that's being sent to the model. So, I

[06:28] usually only adjust the left side and

[06:30] keep the right side to what the model is

[06:32] rigged for, you know, within reason. I

[06:34] also go ahead and really quickly change

[06:36] the emote settings on this model because

[06:39] they're all just plain numbers and so

[06:42] that gets a little annoying when I'm

[06:44] trying to type in like, okay, do 20 and

[06:47] it sets off an emote for the model. So,

[06:50] I'm going to go ahead and do that really

[06:51] quickly and we'll be right back. I will

[06:52] also say in case you're wondering, the

[06:54] way that you can set up emotes like this

[06:56] in V Studio is pretty simple. you just

[06:59] add a hotkey and add either an

[07:01] expression file, which is where you can

[07:03] set specific values to your model as

[07:05] positive or negative, and also play

[07:08] animations. And that's how Aari is set

[07:10] up. But we're going to go ahead and get

[07:11] back to customizing the model's

[07:13] tracking. Um, and I'm doing my up and

[07:16] down motion with my head, as well as the

[07:18] head tilt, which was uh severely limited

[07:22] on the original model. Um, so I kind of

[07:25] really exaggerate that movement because

[07:27] I think that that's fun. As well as I

[07:29] invert the movement of the body because

[07:31] that's really popular right now is that

[07:33] when you lean to the side, your body

[07:35] actually leans the opposite direction.

[07:37] And the way that I do that is that's

[07:39] where I go ahead and I change the output

[07:41] where I have the output be inverted.

[07:43] Instead of going from positive 10 to 10,

[07:45] I go from - 10 to 10. If that makes

[07:49] sense, up to down. And that's going to

[07:52] inverse that movement because basically

[07:54] you're sending the opposite value to the

[07:56] model that then what its default is. So

[08:00] that's how you can pretty much invert

[08:02] anything on your model. If you're like,

[08:03] oh, I want to look the body to look the

[08:06] opposite way of my head, which is also

[08:08] very popular right now, you can do the

[08:09] same thing. And I go ahead and do the

[08:10] same thing here. I keep the side based

[08:14] off of my actual body the same because I

[08:16] want to keep what my body is doing the

[08:20] same as and just change what the model

[08:22] is being told when it comes to edits

[08:24] like that. Otherwise, I want to keep my

[08:27] face expressions the same. So, I guess

[08:30] as a rule of thumb, when do you change

[08:32] the left side of the tracking versus the

[08:35] right side? For me, the rule of thumb is

[08:38] this. If you want to make your face more

[08:41] sensitive and more nuanced,

[08:44] that's when you change the left side.

[08:46] The left side is going to take what

[08:48] you're doing with your face and

[08:52] translate that into model movement. So

[08:55] the left side, for example, when you

[08:57] make that range smaller, it's going to

[09:00] mean that smaller movements will have a

[09:02] bigger effect. So if you go from like 0

[09:04] to one from from 0 to one to 0 2 to 08

[09:09] it's going to be a greater

[09:12] movement from smaller motions because

[09:14] basically you're changing the minimum

[09:15] that'll be counted as zero to 2 and the

[09:18] maximum that'll be counted as the

[09:19] absolute max. Anything bigger than that

[09:21] is just set to the maximum value. Um

[09:24] instead of one it's8. So you're making

[09:26] that range smaller so it's more

[09:28] sensitive. When you change the right

[09:30] side, you're making it more reactive.

[09:33] So, you're taking the same motion from

[09:35] your face, but blowing the movements of

[09:38] the model is going to do up more. So,

[09:42] when you change the maximum or minimum

[09:44] values, you're saying, okay, it's always

[09:47] going to be at least this value or at

[09:50] most this value. And if the model isn't

[09:52] rigged for that much, it'll just stay at

[09:55] the maximum value that it can be. So, a

[09:58] lot of times when you do the auto setup

[09:59] in V Studio for a Vtuber model, you will

[10:02] end up with a mouth that's always open

[10:05] because it sets the mouth's maximum to

[10:08] 2.1

[10:10] generally from what I've seen. And that

[10:12] makes your mouth open really wide even

[10:14] for little movements. So, you lose a lot

[10:16] of nuance in the movements when that

[10:19] happens. If you're curious what your

[10:21] model is riked for, you can actually see

[10:23] the numbers on the right side. you'll

[10:26] see that it says like one max and

[10:28] negative 1 min or you know one max zero

[10:31] min or something else if your rigger

[10:33] rigs it a different way and so that's

[10:35] how you can go ahead and edit um to your

[10:38] model you'll be able to see oh okay the

[10:40] rigger rigged this so that it's you know

[10:43] has a maximum of one so I can work

[10:45] within that I generally wouldn't

[10:47] recommend going too much higher above

[10:49] what the rigger rigged because it can

[10:52] kind of make things look really weird It

[10:56] makes things look really, really

[10:57] exaggerated to the point where it looks

[10:59] off-putting. At least in my opinion. And

[11:02] so, if you ever seen people whose VTuber

[11:04] models mouth is either completely closed

[11:06] or completely open, that's probably

[11:08] what's happening, is that their mouth is

[11:10] set to 2.1. And so, their mouth is

[11:12] pretty much either at the minimum or at

[11:14] the maximum. And there's not a lot of in

[11:17] between. So, like I said, even if they

[11:19] messed with the left side, because the

[11:21] right side is still so large, it's still

[11:24] going to exaggerate whatever they end up

[11:27] having it set to. So, that's my general

[11:30] recommendation when it comes to setting

[11:32] up a VTuber model in Vup Studio is

[11:35] three-fold. Go onto the left side and

[11:38] make an expression that feels

[11:40] comfortable. Don't necessarily

[11:41] overexaggerate when setting up your

[11:43] model. do things that you would

[11:44] comfortably and set your maximum

[11:47] minimums that way. So like close your

[11:49] mouth, see how it goes, open and close a

[11:51] bunch of times. Set that to the minimum

[11:52] for mouth open. Open your mouth wide

[11:55] without it hurting or really stretching

[11:57] it and set that to your maximum. And

[12:00] that'll help your mouth move when you're

[12:02] just kind of talking naturally. And then

[12:04] look at what the model is rigged for and

[12:07] generally work close to that for the

[12:09] right side, if not exactly that. I keep

[12:11] it exactly that 90% of the time. So, I'd

[12:15] generally recommend just keeping that

[12:17] side to the model unless you really want

[12:20] something to be very exaggerated.

[12:22] [Music]

[12:23] Then once you've done that, if there's

[12:26] anything that you want to invert the

[12:28] movement of, that's when you go ahead

[12:29] and you change the right side to be the

[12:31] inverted values that you set before to

[12:33] like negative one on the maximum and one

[12:37] on the minimum, things like that.

[12:40] then you should have your model being a

[12:42] lot more expressive than it used to be

[12:44] and feeling a little bit more you. Even

[12:47] if your rigger sets up your model for

[12:49] you, I generally think it's important to

[12:51] go in and feel it out with your own face

[12:54] because everyone's settings won't be the

[12:57] same because everyone's faces aren't the

[12:59] same and everyone's setup isn't the

[13:01] same. When I smile, it looks different

[13:04] than when you smile. So, you want to

[13:06] make sure that you're paying attention

[13:07] to your own numbers and how they might

[13:10] differ from what your rig are set up for

[13:12] you. Now, they might be great. They

[13:13] might be perfect and they you don't have

[13:15] to do anything, but at least knowing how

[13:17] you can can put a lot more control in

[13:19] your hands to making your VTuber model

[13:21] feel like yours and feel connected to

[13:24] your movements and to your face. Now,

[13:27] that said, you do still need to puppet

[13:29] your model. your model is still, you

[13:33] know, a representation of you. It is not

[13:36] just your face. And also, they're

[13:40] animated. So, you have to move a little

[13:42] bit more animated to get the absolute

[13:44] most out of them. If you just talk

[13:47] really stoically and you don't move a

[13:51] whole lot, there's not going to be

[13:52] anything for the model to pick up on, no

[13:55] matter how sensitive and fine-tuned

[13:57] you've gotten your tracking to be. that

[14:00] can't make movement out of nothing. And

[14:02] if it did, it would look really weird.

[14:05] You can have some stuff like an idle

[14:07] animation for like breathing, but it's

[14:10] still not going to look interesting if

[14:13] you aren't moving. So, you know, I tend

[14:16] to lean my head to the sides a lot. I

[14:18] tend to bounce up and down because all

[14:20] of the movements are going to be

[14:22] primarily, if not exclusively, based on

[14:24] how you move your head. So, just an

[14:27] important thing to keep in mind is your

[14:29] head is your model. So, if you nod or

[14:33] shake your head or tilt your head,

[14:35] that's going to determine the way your

[14:37] model moves. And so, you want to be sure

[14:40] that your head isn't just still. You

[14:43] want to move around. You want to bounce.

[14:45] The the Vtuber dance is tilting your

[14:49] head side to side and nodding to the

[14:51] rhythm. There's a reason for that. It's

[14:53] because that's how you get your model to

[14:56] move. And I find myself now doing that

[14:58] dance all the time, even when I'm in a

[15:00] car and people can visibly see me. It's

[15:03] a curse. Being a VTuber is a curse for

[15:06] yourself now. No, I'm kidding. Um, but

[15:09] yeah, that's the essence of how V Studio

[15:14] functions when it pertains to actually

[15:16] tracking your model. It's translating

[15:19] the movements of your face to numbers

[15:22] that the model is rigged for which are

[15:25] basically like you know zero to one from

[15:28] the minimum of that motion which might

[15:30] be you know either zero of nothing like

[15:33] mouth closed and one mouth open or

[15:35] negative one which would be like all the

[15:37] way to the left and positive one all the

[15:39] way to the right. So, knowing how to set

[15:41] that up for you and for your face and

[15:43] for your setup can really make the model

[15:46] shine in a way that you can't do without

[15:49] it. You can have the nicest rigging in

[15:51] the world, but if you don't set up your

[15:54] model for you and you don't react well

[15:56] with your face, it's not going to look

[16:00] good. So, just remember your setup, your

[16:02] face is going to mean different things

[16:04] than your rigger setup and your rigger's

[16:06] face. And you want to be sure that your

[16:09] model is reacting in a way that's

[16:12] appealing by reacting in a way that's

[16:15] appealing with your own face. The reason

[16:17] you want to tweak the your model from

[16:19] there is to just make that puppeting

[16:20] more comfortable. The less you have to

[16:23] exaggerate the face, the less you have a

[16:24] chance of hurting yourself or making

[16:27] your face sore from how big you have to

[16:30] smile, etc. I hope this helped. Uh, if

[16:33] you have any questions or anything else

[16:34] you'd like to know about V Studio or

[16:35] Live DD, feel free to ask it in the

[16:37] comments below. I've been Ray. Have a

[16:39] great day. Bye-bye.

[16:41] [Music]

[16:50] How to make your VTuber