Reggie Replies Q&A


Reggie Replies to interesting comments and emails. Send Reggie your question or tell him what you are doing to learn how to use MMD. What have you discovered?

KayLeek wrote: i need help on motion data
how do i use it

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
reply back please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Here’s the Long Answer about how to use Motion Data:

Wanna save motion data from your dance?

Let’s pretend you have the Sample Dance open and you want to have Rin doing the dance instead of Miku. You want to copy the motion data from Miku and paste it into Rin.

Use the Range-Select windows under the Frame Counter area.
Set the range for this dance as 0 – 800. See that All Frame is selected.

See that you have Miku Selected (not Camera/Light/Accessory)
Click the Range-Sel button. See that All the diamonds are red. Click COPY.
Now delete Miku. Load Rin. Click PASTE.
All of Miku’s diamonds now drop into place for Rin. Click PLAY and watch Rin do Miku’s dance.
—

Want to Save a Motion Data file?

To save that dance motion as a file that you can use later:
After you have the Range selected … and the diamonds are Red … click COPY. That puts all of those diamonds into memory.
Now got to FILE and choose SAVE MOTION DATA. You will be asked to give it a name. Name it and click SAVE.
—

Want to use a Motion Data File?

To use a motion file, FIRST go to the frame where you want to paste that file data. If you are aligned with Frame Zero … the data will start at Zero. If you are aligned with Frame 57 … that data will start at Frame 57.
Go to FILE and LOAD MOTION DATA. Pick the file you want. That’s it!
—
You can download motion data files online … YouTube … Drop them into your USER folder inside the MOTION folder so that MMD can find it easily.
—
Motion files have a .VMD extension.   Pose Files have a .VPD extension. Pose Files work the same … except they are only a Single Frame. You make a pose file by highlighting the diamonds in a single frame … go to FILE and click SAVE POSE DATA. To use a pose file, go the frame you want, be sure the right character is selected … and click LOAD POSE FILE.
—

Now you know everything!   Have fun … keep asking questions!

 

Rim wrote: When I try to load stages and new models, they either don’t load, or do but no color, it’s all white, except for the shading and some random bits of colour… my new models don’t work?

I DO HAVE a fix for that …

What happens is that you are downloading models from Japanese sources … and their file names use Japanese characters. Your computer is substituting English gibberish for those Japanese characters.

The fix is to download some free software that lets you open a ZIP file, keeping those original file names intact.

Here’s my article about that problem: https://learnmmd.com/http:/learnmmd.com/opening-japanese-models-in-mikumikudance-7-39-sometimes-they-don%E2%80%99t-work/

Read my notes … click that orange link, there, to mikudance.info‘s HELP page … do everything, just right … and you will be in business. (You will like MikuDance.info! … plenty of models and accessories to download … updated often!)

Lemme know if you need more help with it.

SarahP wrote: How can I change the clothes on my models?

Using MMD, alone, you cannot change the clothes on your model. The models are designed as single units. They seem to have fabrics, belts, and chains that could be exchanged for other elements … but the models are actually only one piece. There is now software, just recently available in English, PMD Editor, that let’s you modify your models or even create a new one! Also called PMDE … PMD Editor is getting written-up in the pages of LearnMMD.com. Check it out!

BigS Writes:

Hey, I’m kind of new to MikuMiku Dance and I just have a few questions that I could not find on your (totally awesome) site. Btw, thanks for making your site, it helped alot.

1. How do you submit a frame? Everybody says you have to click “Register” and there’s more than one register button. I tried clicking all of them but it didn’t work.
2. How do you move a character w/o bending there legs? Like I wanted to move my Rin model to the side (so she was len) but her legs bent left and I couldn’t fix them.
3. Where can I download another stage or something? I saw a couple places like a beach and a bedroom on YouTube.
4. How to add music? I know you gotta use an VSQ or something file to lip synch but I don’t want to.
5. Oh and last one: You know your walking thing? I downloaded it but I want to make Rin walk, not Neru. How can I change that?
Yeah I’m sorry I bothered you with so many questions! But I’ve looked all over and I cant find any answers.
Thnx in advanced!! Bye!!

Thanks for asking! Yup … that’s a lot of questions … Here are my answers.

Please let me know if anything is unclear … or if you have more questions!
I am going to paste your questions and my answers into my Reggie Replies page, too, because I bet more people have the same questions.

#1 Submit a frame? … I guess that’d be Register the pose in that frame … Every time you move a bone you want to click the Register button in the dark blue Bone Manipulation area under the lower left of the Stage Screen. What I do, that also works well, is just hold your left hand over the Enter key on the keyboard. Every time you move a bone, click Enter … that’s another way to Register the bone. If you move a bunch of bones and THEN decide to Register, you can click on one of the diamonds in that frame and then click V-Sel … Vertical Select … to highlight all of the bones in that frame … and then click that Register button in the blue Bone Manipulation area to catch ’em all.

ALSO … as you move bones in a frame and you want to “undo” … just advance the frame counter a click and every not-registered bone snaps back into its old position.

#2 Move a character without bending their legs … You will find that the two Leg IK bones and the Center bone are the main bones that you will use to move your models around the stage. In the Brown bone chart on the far left of the Frames area, Click the +IK to show all of the IK bones. Click on Leg-IK R and Leg-IK L … hold down the Shift key while you do it so that BOTH are selected at the same time. Still holding Shift, click on Center at the top of the list … so now you have the two Leg IK and the Center bone all selected. NOW you can use the Red/Green/Blue rollers in the bottom right of the stage screen to move your character anywhere you want to.

Another way to select the right bones for moving the entire character is to use the BOX-SEL button in that blue Bone Manipulation area. Now you can drag a box around the character to select every bone in the entire model. Be sure to include everything so that no part is outside the box. You know you have done it correctly when you see the Red/Green/Blue rollers light up. Now roll those rollers to scoot your model wherever you want it.

#3 Download another stage or something … Easy! What you are looking for are called MMD Accessories. Search the web for MMD Accessory Download and you will find a bunch of them that people have made available for you to use. You are looking for files that have a “.x” file extension. Look inside the MMD program folder and see the USER folder … inside that is the Accessory folder … put your new items into that folder … note that all of the accessories have that .x file extension.

You can also make your own new accessories … stages … props … using Google SketchUp … Read the articles on my LearnMMD.com site to learn about that.

When you use an accessory, you can attach it to the Ground, to some part of your character, or to a dummy bone, which lets you manipulate the part as if it was another character. Again … Read about dummy bones on LearnMMD.com .

#4 Adding music. There are 2 ways to add music: 1.) “After the fact” by using a movie editing software that lets you blend your video with your separate soundtrack … or 2.) Adding music directly into your MikuMikuDance by going to the FILE menu and clicking Load WAV File. To do that, your music has to be saved in a WAV format … has the file extension “.wav”.  You can’t use an mp3 file … it has to be wav. Again … if you don’t have software to convert your music files into a wav format … search the web for some freeware to do it for you. I went through this, myself in October, 2011, and I found a FREE program called AUDACITY 1.3 that I like. ALSO … like with the accessories, people on the web have WAV files that you can download … search LeekSpin Polkka wav or MMD wav music and see what you find. In my DOWNLOAD page on LearnMMD.com I have a link to a page that has the Ieaven Polkka (the LeekSpin Polkka) WAV for free download.

Once you have a wav file, drop that file into your MMD program file … inside the WAVE folder in your USERS folder … so that you and MMD can both find it. Then you have those WAV options in the file menu. Go to LearnMMD.com … to my File Menu write-up and you can read about how to use those options.

#5 Make Ren Walk, not Neru … Easy!  You want to use the Range Select windows under the Frame area. Take a look at the walking motion and determine how many frames are used … what’s the last frame with any data in it? Enter that number into the Range-Sel window. Let’s call it 0 – 450 .  See that “All Frame” is showing, there, so that when you click Range-Sel all of the frame data will be selected. (Take a look at the other options and see that you can select a range for any one bone or for all of only the facial movements and etc.) Click Range-Sel and see that all of the Diamonds have turned red … they are selected. Now click COPY to put those diamonds into memory. Now you can DELETE Neru and LOAD Ren. Be sure that the frame counter is at Zero because we are going to PASTE the data into the current frame. See Ren snap into the new Frame Zero position. Click PLAY and watch Ren do the walk.

Range Select is a powerful tool that lets you copy all kinds of motions. Following these same steps is how you can save motion data on your own. You use Range-Sel, Click COPY and then go to FILE and click SAVE MOTION DATA … and MMD lets you save that data as a file that you can reload into another character whenever you want. Easy and fun!

 

There you go! — Reggie

Josh wrote: I found your page while searching the web for help

with MikuMikuDance. Thank you for your page. I just downloaded MikuMikuDance 7.39 and I did not have the missing file error that you write about. My MMD opened and seems to run just fine. Is that a problem??

HI Josh! That is good news that your MMD is running fine. I think the Missing File Error will happen to people, like me, who are running older computers. Have fun with it! Let me know when you Post a Video to YouTube!

KikiKiki wrote: I can’t get my model to talk in time to the music.

Practice … practice!

I am working to make a model “speak” in sync with the Ievan Polkka. No luck yet! One trick to creating a good lip-flapping motion might be to use only one “Mouse” move at a time. I played back the Sample dance frame-by-frame while keeping an eye on the Mouse panel. I advance the frame to a Diamond in the Facial row and then I click through the various Mouse selections to see which ones are activated and by how much. Doing so, I find that only one attribute is activated at a time in that Sample dance.

If you can load your music as a WAV file, you will be able to see the music on the oscilloscope. I find that the view is too complicated to see much more than the beat of the song. Trying to time mouse moves to the music by matching the mouth action to the visual waves on the screen doesn’t look to be possible. You can click “Play WAV with Frame” in the FILE Menu and then you can here the sound made in each frame. Play a short section with PLAY and then click through those frames one at a time and here the tune almost note by note. That may help you to sync the mouth to the music.

One trick I am trying to exploit is the idea of narrowing the PLAY frame range to only the part of the song I am trying to “mouth”. On my Polkka, the Voice starts at frame 500. I set the Play Range as 500 – 550. Then I repeatedly PLAY the animation for just that 50 frames and adjust the mouth settings until I am happy with the result. Then … set the Play range as 550 – 600, and work on just that next little section.

ALSO … I find that when I click PLAY … the animation skips some of the fast movements that I built into it. Almost like a blur, the mouth averages the tight shapes that I registered. I output a test to AVI and played it as a video and it looks like all of my movements ARE in the video. SOOO … what you see on your screen in MMD during PLAY is not as sharp as what you will see after your animation is rendered to AVI. That makes it tough! You just have to register the frames and know they are there, even when you can’t really see them during Play on MMD.

Good luck! … It is all just experience gained through practice.

Crystal wrote: What’s the best way to Render TO AVI? There are so many choices.

Hi Crystal! Thank you for writing! I use the Cinepak Codec by Radius option as my AVI file. If you are planning to edit your video in another program, you should save the AVI as RAW AVI. That creates a huge file that gives your editing program the cleanest images and the best chance for success. I will write more about the video aspect of MMD as I get deeper into it. I have saved your email and I will reply to you when I have a better answer.

SarahP wrote: How can I change the clothes on my models?

Using MMD, alone, you cannot change the clothes on your model. The models are designed as single units. They seem to have fabrics, belts, and chains that could be exchanged for other elements … but the models are actually only one piece. There is now software, just recently available in English, PMD Editor, that let’s you modify your models or even create a new one! Also called PMDE … PMD Editor is getting written-up in the pages of LearnMMD.com. Check it out!

Send Reggie an email to get your questions answered:

[email protected]

Comments (1,397) on “Reggie Replies Q&A”

  1. So – I’ve been using MMD for quite a while now. Its been working fine and I’ve been able to do everything. But something has happened. My MMD Crashed while I was working on something once, and since then it hasn’t opened properly. It only opens and works when the MME files are not in the folder. Whenever they are there, MMD Will load up the window but none of the controls or anything will appear and after a few seconds, it will crash. I don’t get an error or anything. Can Someone please help?? Or at least direct me to somewhere I might be able to get help? Thank you in advance!!

    Reply

    1. First, just to be on the safe side, compare the state of your Windows with screenshots in this article, to verify whether your DirectX and C++ libraries are still in order. I don’t expect it to net anything, since you say you’ve been using MMD successfully, but it’s better to be sure.

      Second, try to turn off your antivirus/firewall software for a while, and see if MMD works fine without them. If so, you’ll have to create a rule in those programs to make MMD “trusted”.

      If that’s not the case either, here comes the hard part. See if you have System Restore feature turned on in your Windows. If so, create a System Restore point for your current state, then look for one made prior to MMD problems starting and revert to it. See if MMD works; if not, try an even earlier one. If you *do* manage to make MMD work, then start to install Windows updates one by one, restarting after each one and checking MMD each time. Please report back your experience, and whether or not you manage to find any particular Windows update that makes MMD unplayable. We’ve had several similar complaints lately, but no one of those I recommended this procedure never wrote back. The Windows update being a reason is still a hypothesis, and it’s important to find out whether it’s correct or not.

      If you haven’t made MMD work, just revert to the current System Restore Point you created.

      Reply

      1. Thank you so much for Responding – I tried all the methods. Here are the results!

        Option 1: Despite trying to find the files the way the article shows with no success using the manage programs, I know for a fact that my computer is up to date with the software needed. This is not only due to the fact that MMD and MME have run together before and worked fine, but also as I checked for that when the issue first started

        Option 2: Despite the past experience with MMD and MME Running fine before, I tried turning off my Anti-Virus. (I also moved the MMD away from my downloads folder, despite it working there before just in case) No luck. Crashed the exact same way.

        And final option 3: This was honestly the most complicated and most worrying method I have ever Done XD I followed the website linked to the T, however despite seeing that the “Program Restore” Or whatever the name is has been on without me ever realising that there was such a thing, there has been no backups at all (Aside from the manual backup I did myself) So I was unable to go back.

        Thanks Again for the help!

        Reply

        1. “Up to date” is a very slippery issue in MMD case, as it specifically requires *old* files that aren’t provided by default when you try to “just update” your Windows, and it *won’t* agree to use their newer versions. So, just in case, try to reinstall those old DirectX 9.0c and Visual C++ redistributables (it won’t overwrite your newer ones and won’t make anything you use now unplayable, don’t worry), using links from our Downloads page. Maybe you’ll just get lucky.

          Other than that, you may also try to uninstall Windows updates manually through Control Panel->Installed Updates feature (at least that’s what it’s called in Windows 7, but I suppose 10 *does* have something similar) on the same principle – wipe one, reboot, check MMD, rinse, repeat. If you dig deeply enough without any results, well, you have a manual restore point now, so you’ll just be able to rollback it all to the current state.

          Reply

          1. Hi again!

            I installed the files, 2 to of them allowed me to install, the other (C++ 2010) Did not allow me to reinstall. Said there was already a newer version on my Computer. Should I install my Current version and install the one I need for MMD?

            Reply

            1. So, MMD still won’t run? What versions of C++ *are* listed if you call Control Panel->Programs&Features?

              Have you tried uninstalling Windows updates?

              Reply

  2. How can I open a model made in 3d-Coat in mmd? Do I have to export it to blender then to .pmx? Or is it a quicker way to do it?

    Reply

  3. Hello, I have a problem with my MMD, not open, and install it and all I had to do, but I get the same message every time I try to open it, before I had Windows8 and change it to 10, believing it would work, but nothing, I need help with that , it is urgent;;;;

    Reply

      1. The application could Not be started; The parallel configuration is not correct. See the Application event log or use the command line tool (sxstrace. exe) for more information.

        That’S what he said…

        Reply

        1. See https://learnmmd.com/downloads/#C++ for the appropriate C++ programs… You gotta download those and then run ’em on your system. They are made to be add-ons to your existing system and they are from Microsoft so you know they are safe. MMD requires that you run those add-ons for C++.

          Reply

  4. I am relatively new to MMD, and I have made some models, most of them I can not use.

    The problem I am having is that whenever I load motion data with one of these models, is that their legs move into position, but the rest of their body does not do so. Also, they do not seem to sit down. I am having this problem with 4 of the 6 models I have created. I have MMD 7.39, since that’s the latest version I can get on my computer. Is there any solution to this?

    Please reply quickly, I require answers.

    Reply

    1. There can be plenty of reasons for a model to act wrong. For starters, check if all bones are connected and ordered properly (read more about it here). Scan through the list of bones and see if their parent and child settings are correct, and whether there are any red marks signifying incorrect order of bones.

      If that doesn’t solve your problem, try to explain it in more detailed and comprehensible way. https://learnmmd.com/http:/learnmmd.com/troubleshoot-mmd-models/

      Reply

  5. I was working on adding physics to my model and when I was finally done I tested her out to see that part of the skin of her arm was not moving with the rest of it. Is there a way to fix it in PMXE or MMD? I don’t want to re-import the base if possible because I worked so hard on it and I like it a lot. I don’t want to have to start all over. Please tell me if there is a way to fix and thank you!

    Reply

    1. Unfortunately, there’s not enough information here to say why that’s happening. If all that you messed with (since your last, working version) was adding rigid bodies and joints– physics– then deleting all rigid bodies and joints will restore your model to its previous state.

      If you’d like, you can attach the model to an email and send it to the address above, and one of us will take a look at it.

      In the future, I’d encourage you to make frequent backups of models when working on them, so that you have more “restore points.”

      Reply

    1. When I right-clicked a spot of whitespace on that page and chose “Translate to English”, the page DID translate to English and I see
      the artist left a list of Credits:
      [Stage] ■ Night’s Western Bridge Stage: @ Ai [Effect] ■ ikPolishShader / ikSunshaft / ikBokeh / ikDiffusion2 / ikClut: ikeno ■ o_SelfOverlay / o_toProfileColor: Otomon ■ HgSAO / HgSSAO / WorkingFloorAL: Wire P ■ SvSSAO / MotionBlur: Borobor ■ ImRadiosity: Elle / Data P ■ In the air Drifting dust effect: Incarnation Barretta

      … so… maybe the effect you seek is in that list, somewhere! SSAO makes the colors stronger and adds shadows… Diffusion2 adds over-all softness/blur to the entire scene… and, out of that list, those are the ones I have experience with.

      That one effect, near the end: ImRadiosity MIGHT be it… with a name like “Radiosity”! … I Googled it and found some leads… even that video you are asking about… but I didn’t find a source for it… not YET, anyway. You will be digging through Japanese pages and Nico-Nico before you find that effect.

      It might be that In the air Drifting dust effect: Incarnation Barretta… Looks like THAT makes x-shaped sparkles… Search Google and dA for THAT one and I bet you will have it.

      The models sources are listed in that description, too.

      LearnMMD.com has tutorials involving WorkingFloor, scan down the list of categories (that orange type down the center of our pages)… and use the SEARCH window to find instances of the effects if they are on our Site… Maybe GOOGLE for images of each of those effects to see what you can find. … Good luck!

      Reply

      1. I actually found and downloaded the effect called ImRadiosity, i just have 0 clue how to use it XD
        As for the Drifting dust effect: Incarnation Barretta thing, I didnt really find anything

        Reply

        1. What’s the link to the ImRadiosity effect? … I did find a Dust Effect:
          “Dust effect floating in the air”
          Author: incarnation Valletta
          … but it didn’t have the power to make the lights react into stars. … If you set the Si size to, like, 10… you will see the dust is a bunch of bent hairs floating around.

          Reply

            1. As always… always… you gotta read the README file … Translate it if you need to.… It has instructions for this effect, and some tips to help you edit the effect’s .fx files so you can tweak the effect… Lots of info there.
              I translated the README and put it here for you: https://learnmmd.com/ImRadiosity_v02%20readme.txt

              Open it and see that you will be adjusting several of the parameters in the AMP (accessory manipulation panel). … Also see that this is a spin-off of the SSAO effect… so, it’s about light and color intensity and shadow; looks like I can learn something by playing with it… But it is not the effect that caused star-flares around the lights. We will have to keep huntnig for THAT one.

              Reply

              1. ImRadiosity is actually pretty easy to use and creates interesting look in your animation; light/shadow and blur is what it’s about… expect a tutorial, soon…

                Reply

  7. I don’t know how to animate the facials
    For example, if I register blinking and then I turn it into happy eyes, when playing, the two facials are, like, combining
    What should I do in order to get them (all facials, that was an example) looking good?

    Reply

    1. You have to turn one back to normal as you use the NEW one… Like “blink” and then undo Blink… and then do Happy Eyes. … If you close them as Blink and leave them closed and then apply Happy Eyes, you WILL get both at the same time. https://learnmmd.com/http:/learnmmd.com/short-sharp-sudden-motions-require-mikumikudance-skill/

      Aaaah… I see you asked the same question on different articles using a different name… and KB gave you good advice!

      Reply

  8. Every time I try to open MMD, an error appears (0xc000007b) and none of the youtube or website tutorials I’ve followed have helped. could you help me?

    Reply

  9. i have an issue with textures… the model pmx and the textures are in the same folder, but the texture is not showing…. the textures haven’t got any japanese names, i renamed them as 1.bmp; 2.bmp ; etc… whythe texture is not showing?

    please, if you can answer as soon as possible

    please and thank you

    Reply

    1. Did you also change the model file? If you move or rename the textures, you need to edit the model as well. It’s not that the textures have to be in the same folder, it’s that they have to be in the right place relative to the model file– they have to be where the model is looking for them, with the name that the model file is looking for.

      Reply

  10. Hi, I’m new and I tryed the repetited motion, but the frames after one cycle just don’t load and the animation stops. Please help and sorry for my English. “^^

    Reply

      1. Yes. But after a cycle stops, no matter how many times I copied it. I tried with different motions too, but didn’t worked. :/

        Reply

      2. Yes. I tried with different motion-cycles too, but after one it stops no matter how many times I copied it.

        Reply

        1. So… you have many more frames with diamonds in them… but MMD stops playing after only a few frames? Did you try telling MMD how many frames to play? … Under the PLAY button are two windows… put Zero in the first window and then put the last frame number in the second window. When you push PLAY, MMD will play that many frames. … Yes?

          Reply

  12. Help! i have put MMD (64bit) and MME (64bit) together put when i load skybox of Raymmd i don’t see the sky box and MME icon just has nothing (sr for my English)

    Reply

    1. That Skybox model is a PMX model… it loads from the MMP (Model Manipulation Panel) like any dancer model. It is not an “accessory”.

      Reply

    2. That would be correct. RAY-MMD’s Sky Hemisphere sky box is invisible. It is supplied this way for people who want to use “standard” sky domes made by other modelers.

      Some of the best ones to use are the ++Skies sky domes by aokcub [ https://aokcub.net/cg/incskies/ ]. These have their own effects which are compatible with RAY-MMD and really look nice.

      The purpose of the Sky Hemisphere sky box is purely functional – for creating the lighting environment under whatever sky dome you wish to use.

      Reply

  13. When I use raycast and start render it takes too long to respond what’s wrong with it? Please answer my question~<3

    Reply

  14. I recently got an HP Chromebook and decided to start animating on MMD again. I tested out both versions of the software, but it didn’t seem to work since my Chromebook runs on Chrome OS and not Windows software. I was wondering if there was one that works for my Chromebook. Thank you!

    Reply

  15. Can you do a dolly zoom/vertigo/zolly effect in MMD? I’ve tried doing it unsuccessfully and just wanna make sure there is no way before I resort to post-fixing.

    Reply

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