Chibi Nellyaa
Facetracking avatar Mini-Me
This is a face tracking avatar, that was created with Live2D Cubism software. The drawing has been created within Photoshop and then prepared for rigging. Afterwards the drawing has been rigged for the facetracking software VTube Studio.
The avatar follows the movement of the puppeteer in front of the webcam to create a live 2D character. Content creators use them to give their unique spin to their content.
Process
An detailed Making Of video is available for my more advanced Model Eliza.
This was a relatively simple character I designed as a base for this facetracking model. I started out with two designs exploring different directions, but settled on the simpler one in the end.
Some of the special requirements of illustrations for face tracking models is that every part of the model needs to be drawn in completely on it's own layer. Especially in those places you'd usually leave blank since they overlap. That's why the next step, inking the sketch on different layers, looks chaotic at first. After giving each layer their color fill, the drawing looks readable again.
Each part gets shaded similar to a "regular" Manga-styled drawing. Each part still needs to be completely separate, including it's shadows and whatnot. After finishing the drawing I prepare the file for rigging in Live2D.
Within Live2D every piece will be organized on a texture atlas. Since this figure is on the simple side, a single texture was sufficient.
Within Live2D movements will be created by using deformers (a deforming net layer, hierarchy shown in the screenshot in the left corner) and setting their values to parameters. (Parameters shown in the lower middle.) The software will interpolate the inbetweens.
This model is able to close her eyes, move her body, eyebrows, mouth and head. The Mini-Me features physics (flying hair, wiggly ears). The finished parameters can be mapped to facetracking software movements (shown on the first videos on this page), or animated traditionally with keyframes. My more advanced model Eliza shows both very well.
