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Japanese art site Pixiv now lets you make your own 3-D model for free, and in English!

Katy Kelly Nov 8, 2021
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With a library of over 350 items, you can craft an original model even if you aren’t an artist! So we did.

With the recent boom in virtual YouTubers it seems like everyone and their shonen dog are getting in on the virtual avatar scene, which is why we’ve seen so many “create your own” VTuber apps and voice modulators cropping up all over the Internet.

And now Japanese website Pixiv, which serves as a hub for both original illustrators and fan artists, has chosen to throw their hat in the ring with their own free software.

Plus the best part is that you don’t need a single lick of artistic talent! The software, VRoid Studio, comes with a well-stocked asset library that lets you adjust the character model to your liking and even dress them up in stylish threads.

▼ The software’s official trailer is up on YouTube.

The program is available even outside of Japan and even has an English interface, as I learned when I decided to download it for myself.

Notably, the program is less than one gigabyte in size and isn’t especially demanding — it ran perfectly well on a standard laptop. The interface is also easy enough that you can jump right in like I did.

▼ First, choose to create a new character.
It asks you to choose their style of gender presentation.

As I’m not an especially talented 3-D artist or well-versed in how to rig digital elements, I decided to stick with the provided assets for the most part. My goal was to recreate myself in anime format as best as possible.

Next, you’re prompted to take one of the linked tutorials for beginners and experienced artists alike, or make a new model.

▼ The default template can be modified using the tabs at the top, sub-sections at the left, and adjustments on the right.

You can gradually progress through the tabs at the top, using the options on the left and detail-sliders on the right to fine-tune your design.

▼ Select eye shapes, irises, positions, then customize the colors.

▼ There are a bunch of hairstyles to play around with, and things can get really wild when you start customizing.

After a lot of futzing around with various menus, I had made a decent enough approximation of my physical form.

▼ Eyebags and all!

▼ But something was missing….

Oh, right. The clothes.

While VRoid Studio contains a fun lineup of comfy cozy outfits, there was no hope of finding a cute cartoony crab shirt like the one I was wearing. Time to flex that customizing content!

▼ Please take pity! I used a mouse to draw this.

To be fair to Pixiv here, this custom clothing screen is incredibly easy to use and with tons of options. It’s easy to imagine a competent artist crafting some gorgeous threads on their model with very little effort.

Once you finish clothing your character, the final screen in the modification gauntlet is “Accessories”. It only offers two kinds by default — glasses or animal ears.

▼ Just glasses, thanks.

After completing your model you can click the camera icon at the top right of the screen to have a little photo shoot with your model, guiding it through poses, setting up wind effects and photo filters, and even importing photographs to use as a background.

▼ Crouch pose plus comics filter!

The models produced in VRoid Studio are completely free to use, whether for commercial or non-commercial use, which is great news for any prospective VTubers who have been held back by the price tags of designing/rigging a 3-D avatar.

After creating your model, you can upload it to Pixiv’s dedicated VRoid Hub where you can view, rate, and download other models, as well as take photographs in an array of digital locales. This is currently limited to the VRoid Hub’s library, but hopefully in the future we’ll see collaborations with other digital events so you can attend them in your 3-D persona.

If you’re interested, you can download the software for free through their official website for Steam, Windows, or Mac OS. Let us know if you make your own digital avatar, and share it in the comments!

Source: VRoid Studio via Netlab
Top image: YouTube/VRoid Project
Insert images: VRoid Studio
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