When making a model from scratch, knowing what to name your bones is one of the most important parts. That’s what makes it so frustrating when the only references you can find are hidden in the comments of a submission on deviantArt . . . or worse, hidden in a file on someone’s stash where you can’t favorite it.

MMD Bone Reference Charts
make MMD Model-making that much easier!

To remedy this, I’m plopping down the bones right here.

List of All Required Bones

Japanese Name	English Name
全ての親	mother
グルーブ	groove
センター	center
上半身	upper body
首	neck
頭	head
左目	eye L
下半身	lower body
左肩	shoulder L
左腕	arm L
左ひじ	elbow L
左手首	wrist L
左親指１	thumb1L
左親指２	thumb2L
左人指１	fore1L
左人指２	fore2L
左人指３	fore3L
左中指１	middle1L
左中指２	middle2L
左中指３	middle3L
左薬指１	third1L
左薬指２	third2L
左薬指３	third3L
左小指１	little1L
左小指２	little2L
左小指３	little3L
左足	legL
左ひざ	kneeL
左足首	ankleL
両目	eyes

After creating those bones, you are able to mirror them . . . given your model is symmetrical. If your model is not symmetrical, you will also need to add the bones from the right side of the body.

Japanese Name	English Name
右目	eye R
右肩	shoulderR
右腕	armR
右ひじ	elbowR
右手首	wristR
右親指１	thumb1R
右親指２	thumb2R
右人指１	fore1R
右人指２	fore2R
右人指３	fore3R
右中指１	middle1R
右中指２	middle2R
右中指３	middle3R
右薬指１	third1R
右薬指２	third2R
右薬指３	third3R
右小指１	little1R
右小指２	little2R
右小指３	little3R
右足	legR
右ひざ	kneeR
右足首	ankleR

IK Bones are rather important, but there are only four you absolutely need.

Japanese Name	English Name
左足ＩＫ	leg IK L
左つま先ＩＫ	toe IK L
右足ＩＫ	leg IK R
右つま先ＩＫ	toe IK R

To figure out the best placement of the bones, it is a good idea to study a model. Be warned that the older a model is, the less likely that the bones are perfect. The Groove Bone is a relatively recent invention.

This list only truly works with PMX Editor. With PMD models, you were required to have hidden bones. Not so with PMX models.

It’s extremely important to sanitize your display panel. That is only possible with a correct list of the bone groups. The only list I could find was hidden in someone’s Stash. That meant that I was unable to favorite it to track it down easily . . . so I had to bookmark it. While that list has all of the bones that are contained in that specific group, I’m sure most people can figure out what bones go in the arm group. For that reason, I’m keeping it simple and only posting the names and notes for the groups that make less sense.

List of Bone Groups

Japanese Name	English Name	Notes
Root	Root	Only “全ての親” is included
表情	Exp	All Facial Morphs
ＩＫ	IK	All IK Bones
センター	Center	Waist is also included
体(上)	Upper Body	Head and Neck are also included
腕	Arms
指	Fingers
体(下)	Lower Body	Only Lower Body is included
足	Legs	Leg IK are in IK
その他	Others	Eyes, teeth, and tongue are included
髪	Hair	All Hair Bones
ｽｶｰﾄ	Skirt	All Skirt Bones