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.
Thanks for asking! Yup … that’s a lot of questions … Here are my answers.
#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:
I can’t find any tutorials on how to use the mmd fog effect, does anyone know how to use it?
Here’s a tutorial on HkFog effect; don’t know if it is the one you’re looking for, but it works well enough. Also you better translate the hkFog_Post.pmd in PMDE before you can use it unless you’re working in Japanese mode. Here’s the ready list of English names you can use:
Concentration
Range Y reduction
Red
Green
Blue
Lightness dark
Concentration 2
Range Y reduction 2
Red 2
Green 2
Blue 2
Lightness dark 2
I’ve used hkFog, I’m talking more about Postfog. I forgot where I got it from though, I just know that’s the name.
Again, it is same simple. There are two similar effects in the folder, check them both and apply the one that suits you more. Both contain a .pmd controller that you have to translate before using. Then load it into MMD and adjust its sliders. After that it’s obvious.
Anyone know how to make the water effect work? I have MME_Water_EX_v0_4_7_32_64. (I have 64 bit computer). I’ve tried changing my system locale to Japan, nothings working. I’ve been trying for days.
Rename folders and files to not have Japanese characters in them. Where there are pairs of .x/.fx files, make sure they retain identical first names after renaming as well. Also rotate the .x file 90 degrees over X axis.
BTW, there’s a newer v5 effect on the Beamman’s site, you may want to try that instead. It has ripples additionally to mirror surface.
Hey, does anyone know how to use raycast shader without a skybox. I have a skydome I really want to use, but it won’t show because of the need for a skybox. Any way to go without a skybox? Or Any way to make a skybox out of an HDRi image?
Go to the MME button and Effect Mapping, check the Skybox and then click Hide/Show to hide the skybox. … yes?
Thanks, that works great! :)
Will MMD ever have a new update? Have the developers abandoned MMD?
I have trouble for MMD, when I open the program and move the camera and the model, it glitches, work really slow, and tried rendering but rendering so slow, my mmd program works super glitchy and super slow!
Have you tried to update your graphic card drivers?
What graphic card drivers?
… Just find an adult who knows how to work with computer and ask him to do it for you.
I need help with something. I’m trying to install pmx editor. I already have the right version and everything plus all the programs it said I needed, but whenever I try to open it it won’t open.I there’s something I’m doing wrong please tell me I really need it :(
Does is show any error messages? Open Control Panel’s Programs and Features and see what versions of MS Visual C++ and MS Framework are listed there. (I know you said you have them, but I’d like to verify anyway)
Sorry, I’m not a native English speaker so I might have misunderstood things.
I can load other .x files into PMXE
Here’s the .x file I attempted to convert, it’s just one part of the whole model
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9-PCeaEjOAKeUtvcDRlbENSN1U/view
Interesting. I tried the file and it didn’t load to me as well. More than that, I tried to import the source .obj file into Blender, and while the exported file was rather different from what you sent, it didn’t load either. Then I tried to load it into an older PMDE (it is also listed on our Downloads page) and it *did* load. Although it only showed a single plain picture instead of the whole model; I’ve checked the file in the text editor and can confirm it contains no more than that. Apparently you’ve done something wrong when exporting.
So. Try to convert the file in Blender again. The result .x file should weigh around 10 KB, not 1, and list significantly more than measly 50 lines of text. When you’re successful, install PMDE 1.3.9, import it there and export again. See if your newer PMXE loads it then.
(Oh, and you may need to resize it as well)
Thank you so much ^^
I used Blender 2.78c to convert some game models into .x files but for some reasons PMX editor can’t open them, their names won’t even show up. Is there any way to fix it? Is it because of the file’s hex code? Please help me. Sincerely thank you!
A) Do you use PMXE’s Open or Import command? Try the latter one.
B) Were model names in Japanese or English?
C) Can you open resulting .x files in a text editor and what kind of data do you see there?
D) If nothing else works, you can try to export models from Blender into .pmd/.pmx format using either pymeshio or MMD Tools plugins, and then (if necessary) export as .x from PMXE.
I used the Import command. The models names are in English. And when I open it with Notepad it looks like this? http://i.imgur.com/YZ9jLVP.png
This is the error on MMD Tools http://i.imgur.com/Ktb7bbk.png
and pymeshio http://i.imgur.com/DONph6s.png
So you don’t see the .x file in the folder where you know for sure it is? What happens if you try to import some other accessories, not those created by Blender? What happens if you select “all file formats” option (*.*) in the Open panel?
What is exactly the sequence of operations you do when exporting an .x file from Blender?
Can you *import* a .pmd/.pmx file into Blender through pymeshio or MMD Tools?
(And do you *really* keep the whole Blender installation in your Dropbox??? (0.o) )
From what I see if I export it with Blender’s default option (convert to DirectX file) then I’ll see the .x file but I can’t open it with PMX editor, the .x file can be opened in MMD though. And the models I tried to import are from models-resource.rom.
If I select “all file formats” option then the files in the folders are just .mtl, .obj and some .png files for texture. I can import pmd/pmx file into Blender through them though.
(I keep almost everything in my cloud storage XD)
Once again: if you open a folder with Explorer, you see all files that are there, including .x file. When you open that *same* folder with PMXE using *.* mask, you see *all* those files, *without* that .x file? There’s something wrong with this picture…
Oh, no, I’m sorry didn’t make it clearer. I can see all the files actually, even that .x file with both explorer and PMXE. It’s just PMXE that won’t open the .x file. I mean, the Adjust Size table still show up and such, but then when I try to proceed further, the software would just go all blank again like this http://i.imgur.com/KIHOwB6.png And there’s no model or anything in PMX View too
Can you import other .x files, not generated by Blender?
Can you upload the problem .x file somewhere to test it?
https://www.models-resource.com/ds_dsi/pokemonheartgoldsoulsilver/model/11084/
I downloaded the models from here which nothing seems to work when I try to convert them using Blender
And the option to import .x file doesn’t even show up? It only show up in the export panel. I have already ticked “Import-Export: DirectX X Format” and pressed Save User Setting at the User Preferences http://i.imgur.com/LonFuWe.png
No, I mean can you load .x files into PMXE at all? Try some of stock MMD items from Accessory folder.
And no, I’m interested in the .x file *after* you export it from Blender, not what you convert it from (though that one I’ll look at either).
Reggie! First I wanna thank you for all you do here. It’s amazing to see someone as active as you in this community! I’ve finally gotten around to practicing posing with MikuMikuMoving, and so far….so good! The only issue I’m having, surprisingly enough, is an issue I’ve not been able to search for. Every time I load effects, like SSAO, DOF or Godray, my background disappears from my editor! The ground reference axis remains, and any color or picture loaded in the background becomes solid white. However, effects like Adultshader or Brushed do not mess up my background. I’ve watched and read hours of tutorials over MMD, MME, and MMM relating to loading effects and walked away with good knowledge about not my problem. I’ve performed a reinstallation of MMM and all related software like the .NET Framework to no avail. Reggie help! I’ll answer any other questions you may have.
Thank you for all the Kudos… !
I do not run MMM. Just to double-check your issue, I opened MMD 9.26, loaded a background photo-image and then loaded SSAO… no problem. I loaded an Animasa Miku and she had the SSAO on her… going back to camera mode, I checked and unchecked the SSAO display checkbox and saw that the SSAO effect was working fine; the background image was always visible…
… I am running an old Windows XP-Pro computer… maybe someone else can help you with the MMM issue… let’s see who responds, here.
Hi
I’m trying to recreate the “Twinkle” MMD but I’m currently stuck. At the middle of the song, the module is suppose to pick up an umbrella dance with it for a while then bring it back down again? How am can I make my module do that? I tried searching for tutorials but all I found is how to hold objects from the start of the song. I hope you guys can help me ^^. Thanks in advance.
You sent me an email, too… I replied to that email to tell you about using the OP function… let me know how it works for you!
hello, I am having the side by side error and I have done what the troubleshooting part of this website has said to do but I am still getting the error. I even restarted the computer afterwards. I don’t know what to do.
Check in Control panel’s Programs and Features window: what versions of Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributables are listed there?
I have a question about rendering. I’m a Windows 10 user, and every time i try to render an AVI, I pick a different video manager, and they ALL crash my client. I’ve tried every single one of them, and they all crash MMD. Am i supposed to pick a certain one or is it just my computer? Please reply ASAP.
Thank you for reading.
~A New MMD User
ONE of the standard ones should work for you! … like Microsoft Video 1 should always work … What computer are you running… can you give details about your video card??
I’m currently running a HP Notebook. And, no, i cant give details about the video card. (sorry ;-; I don’t know how to view the video card) And i looked at the standard ones, and i don’t see the one you stated. Here is a list of them i currently have:
AVI RAW
MJPEG Compressor
DV Video Encoder
MSScreen 9 Encoder DMO
WMVideo 8 & 9 Encoder DMO
Does AVI RAW cause you problems as well? Try to reinstall DirectX 9.0c and all recommended Visual C++ Redistributables for you version.
If that is all of your choices, you may need to update your Codecs…
https://learnmmd.com/http:/learnmmd.com/right-codec-when-rendering-mmd/
Hey, im back again. XD And i found out that almost everyone on windows 10 is having the same problem as i do. Is it a bug, glitch or something? I even updated every Codec, and it still crashes.
Sorry to bother you. ;3;
I’m in a little bit of a pickle, PrimeSense won’t show up in my device manager so I get things like can’t find the Kinect sensor and stuff like that after I followed the instructions given.
I had recently bought a new laptop and i downloaded everything but the NuruNuru/shaky camera thing. Where can I download it? I saw it on a YT video tutorial and I couldn’t find it again. I know how to use it, but is it possible you or someone else could link me to it? Or share me a copy? It’s not possible to get it from my old laptop since it fried and died on me.
Grab it while it still exists: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:oldDuz0YGCYJ:kharanoslogic.deviantart.com/art/Shaky-Camera-NuruNuruCamera-Tutorial-538998852+&cd=1&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-b
I have a question about editing. How do I keep the body or skin under the clothes of a model in pmd/pmxe editor? I see alot of models that are originally in jackets and pants wearing cute dresses but I don’t know how they do it. (I understand only to edit models with permission.)
Maybe this tutorial will help.