In the world of animation and design, only those with deep pockets can acquire the best software (unless of course you decide to traverse the high seas if you know what I mean).
Of course, freeware does exist legally on the internet, and the Vocaloid scene is no exception. Don't have $200 to blow on a voice bank? Download an UTAU! With some correct tuning and lots of practice, UTAU can sound more realistic than even premium Vocaloids. Need a studio software to record and produce music? Plenty exist, and a free demo for FL Studios (a great music creation software) is available to tinker around with.
In fact, Miku V3 English comes with her own studio free of charge! Isn't that nice.
...
So you have your newest track, complete with some seriously wicked UTAU tuning, and now you want to create a PV for it? Well I suppose it is important to beef up your emotional song with some touching visuals of everyone's favorite twin drill rocking pink haired singer!
Well...what options do you have, really? Unless you're quite the accomplished animator, you're likely wanting a quick and easy program that doesn't look like complete crap.
In that case, you might want to try...
MMD or Miku Miku Dance!
MMD is a freeware program that allows you to import different 3D models of your favorite characters, and make them get down and funky. I believe the program itself, upon download, comes prepackaged with Miku only, but its been awhile since I've used MMD for anything serious.
Upon opening the program, you're greeted with a very beginner unfriendly interface. Also, unless you have the Japanese language pack installed (PC users), some of the buttons and text will look like it came out of some crazy hacker's behind.
So naturally, the first thing to do is to hit all the buttons. You can move Miku around, bend her joints, and view her from ANY angle of your choosing.............please restrain yourself. I know what you just did.
At this point, unless you're completely new to the MMD scene, you've likely seen the many fan creations out there. From different Vocaloid costumes, to Hetalia, to even YouTube star Pewdiepie, a myriad of different models exist to suit your fancy...and its free!
So you have the program, installed the Japanese language pack, and have a collection of great models. Time to make your creation COME ALIVE!!!
...
Two hours later:
Yeah. Its not the easiest thing.
Alright, the main purpose of this post was to talk about the merits of MMD as a program, not provide a handy tutorial. I'm not the best at MMD after all. actually really terrible.
So!
MMD, known as Miku Miku Dance, was created by Yu Higuchi in early 2008. Its a freeware program as I stated above, and IT SHOWS. Oh jeez. Believe me, it shows.
MMD itself is not a bad program by any stretch. For a free software, its actually quite robust and allows for many modifications via separate downloads. Of course, being free, anyone can use it, everyone can use it, and EVERYBODY DOES...or at least it seems that way sometimes.
Aside from a few really good videos, YouTube is completely covered in a slimy layer of mediocrity when it comes to MMD.
However, can you really blame the public for not using MMD for its original purpose? Its not easy to make really clean looking music videos, so why not make stupid crap like:
More akin to YouTube Poop than anything else, these videos define idiocy...
and I love them. Don't judge.
So overall, MMD as a whole is a fantastic resource. Its free for those who are poor, law abiding citizens, and who are ambitious. Unfortunately, its also free for those who want to abuse our eyes, but hey, what do you expect, really.
ROCK ON FELLOW VOCALOCONNOISSEURS!
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