How do I make smooth motions in MikuMikuDance? What can I learn if I study MMD motion files, VMD’s? How do I create life-like MMD animations. How can I make my models DANCE?
Study MMD Motion Files…
SEE the art…
… and LEARN about creating animations!
We MMDers have all download motion files, .VMD files, to play with and to use in our MMD videos. We download them and expect them to “work”. We say things like, “Wow… that looks great!” or “Hmmm… that doesn’t seem to work with my model… something’s wrong with it.” … But have you taken the time to look into your favorite .VMD file to see how it is put together? … Have you studied the motion in detail to see HOW the MMD artist created those motions?
Mahlazer’s “Feel the Sound” motion file helped me to create my “Trick Bag” animation. I saw that Mahlazer had registered stacks of diamonds every FIVE frames in many places. … I created MY model’s motion at that same frantic pace… resulting in a motion that I would NOT have created without that hint. … Another thought: our UndeadLucile wrote a tutorial describing how NOT to stack all of your diamonds in the same frame with the idea that motions will be less robotic and more “life-like” if the various parts of the body didn’t move at the very same moment… better to turn the head before the upper-body before swiveling the lower-body… and so on. Great idea!
The old “Bo Peep Bo Peep” VMD file…
Back in 2016 I wrote about the “Bo Beep Bo Beep”… “Beep?” or “Peep?… ANYWAY… and I included the download link for this animation in that article. … And I used those motions while thinking how clever it was… but I never stopped to study the actual DIAMONDS in that animation.
I learned to see many things…
… and I saw many beautiful poses along the way…
So nice…
I wish MY models could move as smoothly and look so “cool!” when I make my OWN animations!
This “Bo Beep Bo Beep” is an older animation… from 2012.
The model I used is the beautiful “Hidaka Love Casual”… one of the models in Yagakoro’s “Cookiefun Channel Camera Crew”. She, too, is a bit older… a PMD model. She seems perfect for this VMD file.
Loading that “Bo Beep” VMD onto Hidaka and scrolling through the frames, I saw very few “conflicts”… hand through the head, that kind of thing… she works well with this motion file.
See how complicated this animation is!
Not just a FEW bones are registered in any one place… there are MANY diamonds on that frame-chart!
A SILENT video…
I did not want any music to distract you from “seeing” this nice animation file. I chopped it off at less than a minute in length…
Download the Bo Peep Motion file. (It’s small: less than 200k)… That zip contains ONLY the VMD file. For the WAV and the Camera VMD, you will need to see the original YouTube video with the download links.
Open MMD, load a model… load that motion file onto her… push play and enjoy!
A few things I saw…
The opening few seconds of the animation have the model “waiting” to begin. She gently sways while standing still.
The hands are often going through a variety of poses… they are changing constantly. You can get Reggie’s Hand Pose Collection for MMD models (…they work great!)
The Lip-Sync uses only the “Ah”… not really concerned about an accurate mouthing of the sounds.
Great use of the eyes and facials… she really looks “alive”.
So, there you go!
Take the time to study MMD motion files. Those nice motions have a lot to show us!
Have fun with MikuMikuDance!
– SEE BELOW for MORE MMD TUTORIALS…
