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Turn your bad drawings into gorgeous anime and manga characters!

Oona McGee Jan 26, 2022
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Realtime 2-D character creation software is a game-changer for artists and non-artists alike.

Have you ever wanted to create your own anime or manga characters but don’t have the artistic skills to sketch them into reality? Well, then this new software from Japan will make all your dreams come true.

Created by talented software engineer T. Takasaka (@t_takasaka), this new program automatically turns crude sketches into beautiful illustrations, and that’s not all — it does it in real-time too.

▼ Take a look at the video below to see the magic in action.

スケッチからイラストをリアルタイムで自動生成する実験をしています。
これまで全く絵を描いたことがない人でも、それなりのクオリティのイラストを短時間で描けるようになればいいなと考えています。
次はパラメータスライダーを追加して、描いた後に画風や形状を変更できるようにする予定です。 pic.twitter.com/NgE2xFhzsh

— 高坂 (@t_takasaka) January 2, 2022

As you can see, even the most simple sketches can become pro-level creations, and there’s wide scope for all sorts of character looks, which can be personalised with individual presets.

▼ Simply sketch out some rough ideas and you can change your character’s hairstyle to your liking…

▼ …change the shape of their mouths…

▼ …adjust their their face shape…

▼ …and the shape of their eyes.

One of the great things about this software is you can see the changes as they happen, which allows you to chop and change all the details until you achieve the desired look.

According to Takasaka, there are plans to add a parameter slider to the program so you can even change the style and shape of a character after drawing it. While the software is currently in the testing phase, there are a load of people already keen to try it for themselves, as the video has gone viral with close to three million views, and comments like:

“You can be an artist with no artistic talent at all!”
“This is amazing!”
“There’s so much demand out there for something like this!”
“Now anyone can mass-produce anime!”
“If this becomes mainstream, the workload of illustrators will be greatly reduced.”

A lot of anime artists in the industry work ridiculously long hours for very little pay, so programs like this may very well help lighten the workload in future. Plus, of course, it opens up the world of digital art to anyone, regardless of their artistic abilities.

Making digital creation more accessible for everyone is something Takasaka takes great pride in, and it’s not the only project he’s working on at the moment — he’s also working on VRoid Studio, 3-D character production software that helps you create your own digital avatars, which we had fun with last year.

お仕事ではVRoid Studioという3Dキャラクター制作ソフトを作ってます。こっちもよろしくね。https://t.co/CqUflnaATe

— 高坂 (@t_takasaka) January 2, 2022

That program is past the testing phase and can be downloaded here for free and used right now. As for the real-time 2-D character creation software, we might have to wait a little longer for that one to be available to the public, but as soon as it’s released, we’ll let you know!

Source: Twitter/@t_takasaka, VRoid Studio via Hachima Kikou
Images: Twitter/@t_takasaka
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