【Live2D tutorial】Animated expressions (updated method)

Hello and thank you for watching!

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Model: Bino
  / binotweets  
  / bino  

RotusLotus
  / rotuslotus  

My socials
  / mamabun2d  
  / mamabun2d  

Background song:
   • Daft Punk - Pee Is Stored In The Ball...  
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Script

Hello everyone and happy holidays! 6 months ago I made a tutorial video on how to make animated expressions. I have now improved on my rigging and I have a smarter way of rigging. In today's tutorial I will show you guys in detail how I go from start to finish animating expressions. You will need separate parameters for toggling on these expressions this is just about the actual animating and their designated parameters part

Credits
My model for today is Bino, she has a few expressions that have animated movement as well as one fully animated one. If anyone wants a tutorial on any of these emotes in detail write it in the comments and I can fix another tutorial

These are the expressions she has right now.

@rotuslotus fully explained this technique to me so please go and check out his work! His socials will be linked in the bio.

Param.
First I want to create the parameter. I’ve been using -1 0 1 as my range. Once the parameter is created I go back into editing the parameter by Right clicking and then choosing “Edit parameter” There should be a box you can tick in where it says “Repeat”. Now when you pull in your parameter you tell it keeps going. Not all expressions require ‘repeat’, Bino's “Blush” expression has pounding eyes. In that expression the range goes from -1 0 1 without ‘repeat’. I will go into detail about this later

Deformers & Rotation
Now we want to actually make your assets move.
Hierarchy wise when it comes to deformers I like putting the expression deformer highest up. Even with the changes the movements under will look the same. This is however just how I like to do it so do what you think looks best.
When it comes to divisions and bezier divisions you create as many as you find needed. I naturally go by 20x20 and 2x3 but this is just a personal preference.

There are ups and downs to rotations. While rotations can make your work easier for you since there is a built in “scale” and “angle” tab it will however not work as well as a child in your hierarchy. I personally use Rotations as Parent hierarchies.

Keyframes

Repeat parameters-
For repeat keyframes (green dots) I make the last two keyframes either the exact same OR with 0 opacity. This is so I can as smoothly as possible make it blend in together.

Regular parameters-

For regular parameters I just add in the keyframes for how I want it to look. There isn’t any direct needed precaution.

Animating

Now we are actually going to animate,
What I did for this model is create 1 singular idle animation and add all the expressions needed keyframes. Make sure you do not toggle on the actual expression.

Here is the example, if i were to add the toggle params onto the animation you can tell that they all function together on the same idle animation. Make sure you delete the toggled parameters from the animation once you are done animating. I want the expressions to toggle on with keybinds in my tracking program not with my animation.

Exporting

When exporting go to File- export motion file- make sure you have the same settings as me- and then save it into your models folder. Make sure you have exported the wanted version of your model first. There is a chance your model will otherwise not recognise the new changes you made.


Vtube and prpr

My personal preference is vtube studio but someone asked if i could show how to do it to prpr so I will show how to add on the idle animation in both programs.

For both programs you go into settings, specifically avatar settings. It’s symbol is a halfbody avatar with a cogwheel next to it. There is a button where it says Idle animation or motion. Press that button and add the idle animation

There you go! Animated expressions!
Thank you for watching! Good luck on your rigging journey