A MikuMikuDance Beginner’s Easy First Dance
Is there an easy first dance? How do I move Miku in MikuMikuDance? How do I make a smooth motion in Miku Miku Dance? LearnMMD MikuMikuDance Tutorials. What do I do first? What can I do first? Easy dance.
A Little Beginner’s “Jump Dance” to get you started …
When you open MikuMikuDance for the
first time, you want to “do something” right away … and this simple jump dance is an easy first dance!
Select “New” from the File drop down. Then, from the small brown Model Manipulation Panel, choose LOAD … and pick a character … Miku Hatsune ? “:o). Click OK on the pop-up and see Miku standing there simply aglow with red and blue bones! See that the one bone that is RED is already selected for you. That is the Center bone … a key bone in controlling most characters. See on the Bone Chart … on the far left upper area of the screen … that CENTER is highlighted. At any time you can select any bone you wish by clicking its name on that chart.
With the Center bone selected on the chart, go to the blue Bone Manipulation screen, click the MOVE button. Note that 
all the bones disappear and you have direction arrows on Miku. At this time we are only going to use the Green arrowhead. Click and drag that arrowhead and see how your character automatically bends at the knees or seems ready to fly as you move her up and down.
Use THIS Register
CLICK for large image
Set up the starting position with Miku standing at ease. See that the frame counter is at Zero. See that the Center bone is still highlighted and click Register to finish that frame. You will see the white Diamond by Center turn RED when it registered. Advance the frame counter to about frame 20. Move the green arrow down to make Miku crouch 
until her knees are just above her ankles. Click Register. Advance the frame counter to 30 and move the center bone up until Miku is a foot, or two, above the floor and click Register. Advance the frame counter to 40 and lower Miku into a half-crouch and click Register. Move the frame counter to 45 and raise Miku to stand on her tip-toes and click Register. Advance the frame counter to 50 and place Miku in about the same position as frame zero. Click Register.
On the lower right of the main screen is the Play button. Try it out. Check the Repeat check box next to that Play button and watch the nice motion. SAVE the file with a name you choose … FirstDance ?
Below Play is a range window. This determines how many frames are in your animation. We only animated out to Frame 50 … but we can enter a bigger number to add a pause after that last Registered movement. Set the range to 75 and play … and play with repeat to see the effect of those extra frames. Set the range to 50 and the animation will look as it did. Click SAVE. Practice … practice … to learn how to do everything!
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05 June 2012, 4:57 am
[…] See the LearnMMD article about thelittle “Jump Dance”. It’s a great way to learn about adjusting your model, moving through the frames, registering your motions data, and getting to push PLAY for your own first animation. …There’s another article about “Miku Jumping Jacks”, too. Simple fun! […]
22 June 2012, 3:11 am
i’m just start to learn MMD ~
so happy~
22 June 2012, 2:04 pm
Thank you … Have fun with MMD! If we can help you, please ask!
18 August 2012, 5:27 pm
whenever I do it she stays still and her hair just shakes about?
18 August 2012, 5:44 pm
Try adjusting the gravity settings under the “Physical Operations(P)” tab … Click No Calculation. Search LearnMMD for gravity to see our articles about using gravity settings.
19 August 2012, 12:38 pm
it worked thanx! x
18 September 2012, 6:45 pm
how can i get luka or any other characters? O.o
19 September 2012, 5:25 am
Thank you for your question! Before you start collecting, make sure you have Winrar or 7zip. Getting models has gotten a little easier than even a year ago. Vocamix2684 wrote an article about mikudance.info; that would be my starting point. The site is organized by character and association. So look under Megurine Luka and you’ll see how many different models of there are. They are listed by the model maker (MMoDler- my term). It’s important to document and credit their work.
Another site I’ve used is MikuMikuDance Resource. What I like about these two sites is that you can preview the model before you download.
I hope I have given you a good basic starting point. If you have any more questions please look through the LMMD site there’s probably an article about it. If not, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Have fun with this.
19 September 2012, 7:12 am
thank you!!! i think i will be able to figure this out :) this is my first time and im only 12!!! :D im excited ^.^ thank you so much!
19 September 2012, 7:12 am
^_^
10 January 2013, 6:49 pm
thanks alot now i how to load a model but don”t know why it does not show up on the scrren.
02 February 2013, 5:39 am
thx for the tutorial now i will send it on youtube
02 February 2013, 7:40 pm
Thanks! Send it to YouTube? Be sure to give us the link! I subscribed to your channel today … looking forward to seeing what you do with MMD!
28 February 2013, 2:47 am
It still not working…:(
21 March 2013, 2:43 am
how do all the lines disappear exactly?Doesn’t work!
21 March 2013, 4:51 am
Make the lines disappear … Under the VIEW menu is Display Coordinate Axis(G) … turn that off.
29 March 2013, 2:54 pm
Its very choppy when she jumps!
02 April 2013, 1:03 pm
After you save your MMD Project how can you put it on YouTube or a website, etc.?
02 April 2013, 6:23 pm
Under FILE is RENDER TO AVI. See this page for a quick intro: http://learnmmd.com/StartHere/Steps2.html
You will want to get a user account on YouTube … Easy and Free. Then … Upload your video. It can take hours, depending upon your connection speed and the size of your file. (MMD Video files are HUGE!) Be ready to write a description of your video and be ready to list your sources. Before you do it the first time, it’s scary! … but it’s easy and you will enjoy the experience! — Reggie
28 May 2013, 3:21 am
I start opening the program after I downloaded it and the function buttons were there but there was no grid, its just plain black no matter what I do, I tried loading a model and I saw there are the model’s info of the head, face and whatever but the black screen is still there……someone plz help!!!
28 May 2013, 6:12 am
That’s just not right “:o). I’d say do a new download. Did you download the one we offer on the LearnMMD Downloads page … or from VPVP? If VPVP, you will be wanting the Version 1.3 … the DirectX version. Are you running MAC or Windows? — Reggie D
31 May 2013, 11:36 pm
Thanks so much for the download and the help! ^_^
15 June 2013, 9:03 am
How do u move Rin from one place to another?? @_@
15 June 2013, 6:24 pm
Select 3 bones at once … Center, Leg_IK L and Leg_IK R … by holding down the shift-key as you select the bones. Then you can use the X-Y-Z rollers to move the entire model.
— Reggie D
23 June 2013, 8:55 pm
When I tried it nothing happened.o.O
23 June 2013, 10:41 pm
What does that mean … “tried it, nothing happened.”? Tried what? What happened? Email me and let’s sort it out. — reggiedentmore@aol.com
30 June 2013, 6:32 pm
how do i get characters??????
30 June 2013, 9:44 pm
If you click LOAD in the brown panel on the left, bottom … and navigate to your MODELS folder, you will see the list of models to load. There’s most of a dozen included with the program. MIKUDANCE.info is a great source for models. Search DeviantArt.com for MMD models. Search YouTube for the term “MMD Newcomers” … an “MMD Newcomer” is usually a new model. Have fun! Ask questions! — Reggie D
02 July 2013, 2:41 pm
i downloaded motions but they wont open when i try to open them , they are vmd files instead of pmm and im not sure what to do and how to open them
02 July 2013, 6:38 pm
That’s an easy one … A motion file is applied to your PMD model … Open MMD. LOAD a Model. Go to File-Load Motion Data … and select your VMD file. The Bone Chart should light-up with the red diamonds of your motion file. POSES … .VPD files work the same way. File-Load Pose Data.
22 July 2013, 6:28 am
Hi there, this is really basic but really cool! I wanted to make an animation where I have 3 dancers jumping. But when I add another dancer, they are in the same space as Miku and I can’t move them. Can someone help me?
23 July 2013, 6:10 pm
They DO load in the same spot … and you can move them off of the center spot when you copy/paste their motion data using Center Position Bias in the EDIT menu … see the LearnMMD articles on the subject: http://learnmmd.com/http:/learnmmd.com/category/af5-use-center-position-bias/
AND see the Start Here “Step-by-Step page for a Tutorial about dancing two dancers side-by-side. It is linked to from that Bright Orange button, above.
20 August 2013, 11:28 am
How do you change the view? I don’t know how to rotate the view.
20 August 2013, 5:45 pm
Pick a spot near the model … and right-click and drag to quickly change your view … same trick also positions the camera when in Camera mode. Click and drag using the center mouse button to make view adjustments, too. Thanks for reading LearnMMD!
20 September 2013, 7:35 pm
[…] animated a little bounce into Rin’s landing. LearnMMD shows that little bounce idea in their “Little Jump Dance” […]
14 October 2013, 8:22 pm
When I try to move my character, there is another image on top of what I’m moving and the whole thing isn’t moving. Eg. I try to make her crouch, but another image of her is in the way. Help me please!
16 October 2013, 5:43 pm
Did you LOAD the model twice? If you DO load her twice, it will look like a single model until you try to move one of them. Delete one of them … yes?
28 October 2013, 1:45 pm
I hope i can become good in mmd soon
29 October 2013, 4:36 pm
Just keep playing with it. There’s a lot to learn … and much of it just comes from practice. Keep trying new things!
15 November 2013, 5:01 pm
I have just downloaded MMD yesterday and it’s working just fine! ^-^ But when I try to make other models that I downloaded (i.e.IA, Luka Megurine) crouch, jump, etc. their feet just go through the ground and you can’t see her crouch. Any idea why this is happening? (Got my models from Deveinart or something)
16 November 2013, 12:10 pm
It’s probably because you are grabbing the Mother Bone rather than the center bone. The mother bone is often the top bone on the bone list on Japanese models.See it on the floor, between the model’s feet … the Center Bone is centered between the thighs of the model. I have an article about “Can’t feel the floor …”: http://learnmmd.com/http:/learnmmd.com/select-the-center-bone-if-your-mmd-7-39-model-doesnt-feel-the-floor/
16 November 2013, 3:30 pm
Ohhhhhhhhhhh!!!! I get it now! Thank you!!! *bows* Your article really helped!!!! :D
03 December 2013, 10:48 pm
whenever im using a model their eyes are all white
is there something wrong or am i forgetting something?
07 December 2013, 9:52 pm
Only the eyes? … Hmmm. Did you see our articles about broken models? or the basic FIX for a broken model.
I hope those links help! — Reggie D
10 December 2013, 7:13 am
The model i got seems to have NO center bone, how do i add one? Oh and when i pull the model down, the legs wont bend, even if i select it and pull the thing wont obey me what do i do?
11 December 2013, 9:55 pm
We DO have an article about adding a Center Bone (Mother Bone). USUALLY the “Legs won’t bend” is because you have a Japanese model, and you acnnotread the bone names … and you have selected the top bone, thinking it’s the Center Bone … and it is not! Often that top one is the Mother Bone. Some models SHOW a Mother Bone … but don’t actually have one.
here’s my article about not feeling the floor … Hope this helps!
— Reggie D
12 January 2014, 12:45 pm
How to you make the AVI file move more smoothly? Or will it play smoothly when it’s on Youtube?
30 January 2014, 2:20 pm
I tried it with a model I downloaded online. It works, but when I save the motion and load it onto another character, it doesn’t work anymore.
13 February 2014, 6:04 pm
When I try playing my PMM, It goes to fast to see, Please help :3…
13 February 2014, 10:10 pm
The0: you probably placed your diamonds too close to each other so they play too fast. A second basically takes 30 frames. You can dilute them by selecting an “Insert frame” command between diamonds in Frame Manipulation Panel. “I” key inserts a frame for motion bones, “U” does the same for facial expressions, “K” and “J” remove the current frame respectively. (With latter, be careful not to erase an important diamond!)
15 February 2014, 1:57 am
as soon as I moved the center I just did the rest myself I am quite a quick learner and now I have a jumping animation but could you perhaps give me a link to arm moving tutorial?
15 February 2014, 7:58 am
Not really … but I do have this one … about adjusting an arm to toss a ball: http://learnmmd.com/MikuBall/BallToss2.html
18 February 2014, 8:10 am
See the HOW TO page tab (above) for links to some motion tutorials.
19 February 2014, 11:25 pm
I could do this exercise just fine, but I can’t seem to be able to accomplish anything else! I can’t move any other body parts except the center, some clothes, and the legs. I noticed all of the parts I can move have square-shaped markers and all the immovable parts are circles. A little help? :’)
20 February 2014, 2:00 am
Square-shaped bones can move freely, circle-shaped only can rotate. That is, if you want to move a leg, you drag it, but if you want to move an arm, you bend the shoulder, then the elbow, and then the wrist. Upper set of XYZ is for rotating.
20 February 2014, 12:13 pm
Thanks, KB! Man, I feel like I should’ve been able to figure that out myself.
23 March 2014, 6:47 pm
Just leaning and saved my first jump/dance. When I try to open the file, I get an error message saying it cannot open model file. I’m given 3 options: specify the place of model file and load; skip this model and continue; cancel to load this project. Not sure what I missed!
23 March 2014, 9:27 pm
Oh totally answered my own question…got it! Thanks!
24 March 2014, 4:59 pm
That’s all right … keep asking questions … we can all learn. Thanks for reading our pages! Send me an email when you post your first video … I will subscribe to your channel!
29 March 2014, 1:54 am
I don’t see any frame counter.
29 March 2014, 8:35 am
I just sent you an email with a picture indicating the Frame Counter. Let me know if I can be of more help!
09 April 2014, 12:54 am
Hi! Just downloaded MMD and having some trouble. Every time i click register it registers under facial instead of center, like the little diamond goes red under facial and not center. Then when I move up frames, the model jumps up to where it started. Help?!
09 April 2014, 3:14 am
There are several “register” buttons (confusing, yeah) – model, bone, and facial panels each have their own (and that’s not counting those in screen mode). Are you sure you pressed the correct one?
09 April 2014, 5:44 pm
Ahh thank you very much KillerBeer! Ah, being the dumb blonde I am, I’ve been pressing the facial register this whole time. Thank you!
18 June 2014, 9:50 pm
Hi I’m trying to load my model in the 910 version and it says it has to be a pmm file to open it. Is there anyway to fix that? None of my models are pmm files!
11 July 2014, 1:49 pm
well i saved it but it wont play the vid.what should i do
15 August 2014, 7:16 am
Hi, in all the pictures you have on the step by step and here, the layout seems different from mine, because when I open up MMD Miku is already there but none of her bones show up and even when I open a new file the layout screen and Miku stay the same. Do you know how to fix this?
15 August 2014, 8:45 am
I have no idea … never seen that, never heard of that. Maybe download MikuMikuDance again and start with a fresh copy. The stage should be empty when you start MMD. … Let me know if your problem continues: reggiedentmore@aol.com
14 September 2014, 9:55 am
I really like the idea of this site. But I have a question, Whenever I try to move of see my models in the program, the mouse moves the camera all around. I can’t right click at all for some reason. It’s quite confusing.
14 September 2014, 12:35 pm
Have you seen our “Start Here” page?
29 September 2014, 9:46 am
I followed all the instructions 3 times over and it never plays what I’ve done… It just makes her hair blow around a bit, am I doing something wrong?
29 September 2014, 7:20 pm
Did you push the Play button? … If you have followed the instructions … then your Center bone will have registered diamonds on frames zero, 20, 30, 40, 45, and 50. If you push play … it should “play”. … Yes? There are MANY “register” buttons … Be sure to be using the REGISTER button in the dark-blue Bone Manipulation panel.
26 October 2014, 8:05 am
Hi! I would want to start collecting models for my MMD…sadly mine has a version 5.24 because my 9.24 can’t start (too much problem in PC :( ). I have a couple of pmx files here that I want to use. Is there a way to convert these into pmd? Thanks! :)))
26 October 2014, 11:37 am
IAengineer: you may *try* to open a model in the latest PMDE (see the Downloads section for the link) and then select Information->PMDE/PMXE switch and save the model as .pmd. There’s a possibility, though, that the conversion won’t run smoothly – PMX is a more advanced format, after all, and some features may not be transferred properly.
21 November 2014, 5:57 pm
Thanks much for this, I can’t wait to make more complex MMDs that I can eventually upload to Youtube! You hit the nail on the head when you said we probably saw a pretty MMD and wanted to make one too. Lol. Thank you so much!
29 November 2014, 3:44 am
Hi there :)
I got MMD on my new laptop and I can load models and make them jump and stuff like that, I can also load stages.
However, I would like some advice on some stuff:
Is there a website or webpage where I can download models (I can hardly find any on Deviantart) like, I need a Kaito Cantarella and a Rin maid and some other random stuff X3
Also, how do I animate? That question may seem a little strange :D
When I try to animate, it only moves one or two limbs instead of all of them?
~Holls889
29 November 2014, 8:34 pm
You have to animate bone-by-bone, like you said. That’s how it’s done … unless you want to download motion data. Try MMD memes (rhymes with seems) … LearnMMD’s Downloads page has the Happy Hands Meme to get you started. … For models, Search YouTube for your model’s name and include LINKS in your search; you may find a video with links to your model. I am surprised you didn’t find what you want at Deviant Art.