Create 450-Frame MMD animation from scratch!

How do I create a 450-Frame MMD animation from scratch? How do I start making motions with MMD? Can I make my own MMD video from scratch?

Create 450-Frame MMD animation from scratch!

Inspiration will come… just get started!

Actually “getting started” is the hard part. I have found that “inspiration” will come when you open MMD, load the characters, and move them around a little.

Download fun props from Zero-to-450.com!

I started Zero-to-450.com a few years ago. The goal, there, is to coax you into creating your own 450-frame MMD animation. That is only 15-seconds of finished work… you can knock one out in a single afternoon!

The Zero-to-450 Downloads Page has a few great props to give you inspiration and get you started. There’s a plastic bat, a Pokeball, a guitar, and more!

Try the “Bonk!” challenge…

Load a model: Neru. Put that dumb plastic bat in her hand. “Work it” to make the fingers fit the bat. … spend a couple of minutes to wrap the hand around the handle of the bat… “feel” the bat. Imagine the nice “Bonk!” you’ll get when you hit someone with that bat. … … Kaito ALWAYS deserves to be smacked… so

Load Kaito within easy striking distance. …

What happens next?

Obviously… naturally… it will come to you. Soon you will have Neru bonking Kaito with the bat… it’s just what happens!

Keep it going!

As I imagine the scene, I envision Neru’s stance as she puts her whole body behind that bonk… not just a flex of the elbow, but a whole full-body twist with her momentum behind it. Lucky for Kaito it’s only a hollow plastic bat, or he’d be dead!

As you imagine that “Bonk!”, you will decide you need a little plot to go with it… maybe have Kaito walk up and say something. … maybe we don’t need to hear it… we just need to see him open his big mouth. THAT will be enough to deserve the smack! … so we make the decision to make our soundtrack be just music, no dialog… and a sound-effect “Bonk!”.

450 Frames… 15-Seconds…

450 frames go by so quickly… to make Kaito walk up and say something… and have Neru be offended… and have her wind-up and smack Kaito… and have Kaito suffer from the follow-through after the hit… and, maybe, have Neru look into the camera for a final wink… all in only 15-seconds… … it will be a tight fit! … I almost feel the need for a storyboard.

Mental Storyboard…

At first, I thought I’d just wing-it on the fly… but I DID make a “mental storyboard” as I performed a little pantomime while I watched the second-hand on the clock. I imagined the little pause when the camera is on the move as the video opens… we see Neru standing there and we see Kaito walk up, speaking as he approaches. We see Neru turn to him, we see him speak some more. We see the burn on Neru’s face as she turns. Kaito mouths a couple of more words, and Neru smacks him. He stumbles… and Neru smiles to the camera. A comfortable fit within the 15 seconds.

There’s more…

You will want to supply a stage for the scene… and make a soundtrack. We’ve decided we need just some music… and some way to make that sound-effect Bonk! … Open Audacity, convert your music to a WAV file… and record you Bonk! sound… maybe whacking a plastic bottle near the microphone?

The rest will be History!

So… “DO it!”… “just get started!” and inspiration will come… the project will take shape in your brain and, like a stack of domino’s: the rest of the project will fall into place.

I got so excited writing this that I made one, myself!

Everyone likes to smack Kaito… and Neru gets angry easily! You’d think Kaito would have stayed away when he saw that bat!

This little animation took me all of FIVE hours to make! I had the basic start on it well under way at about an hour and forty minutes… but then came the fine tuning. I worked on the motions, the camera work, the bat movements while Kaito does all of his talking… and I worked on Kaito while he does all his talking. THAT section went for so long that I barely got the Bonk! and the final “smile” in there before my 450 frames was up! … Neru’s big swing of that bat is really nice… too bad it goes by so quickly! Kaito crashes to the floor pretty well, too. I left that mid-part with Kaito talking as a long segment because I really like Neru’s gently waving that bat as she gets madder and madder! … The “Bonk!” sound kind of let me down. I recorded several “Bonks” using plastic jugs and bottles… and, in the end, had to go with the one I have, there. One of the bright spots is that personal POV shot as Kaito walks to Neru… that worked well and I didn’t have to animate “walking” motions.

A 450-frame MMD animation is fun to make!

Knowing that you only need 450 frames puts a target in sight. Give it a try! Comment me a link to show me your finished videos. The Comment section is below this article…