Part 1 — Avatars — Creating a Prototype Vtuber — what Free Software to use and how to do it?
This is the opening introduction to research into rapid prototyping of an expressive and fully realised virtual avatar which can be created using free to use software which Generation Z has access to via a PC. (I mention Generation Z, as this cohort is the primary focus of my PhD research.)
The idea of showing how this can be done in a 15 minute video, with a brief explanation, is to demonstrate the low barrier to entry to create a virtual avatar .
Low barrier to entry or frictionless ease of use will enable more digital avatars to be created, which means more experiments will happen with this new medium.
In theory, this should result, in a cultural shift and new culture and media being created by the users and community — we will see!
I also learnt about the 3 pieces of software to make my avatar and how to broadcast it and make a Youtube video, or to become a Vtuber, by watching Youtube videos (In my academic texts, I will reference these videos)
As part of my PhD research, I am undertaking research into prototyping, and so I am blogging about the experience here, to form part of my academic record, notes for future study and potentially my thesis — so this actual blog post is just part of my notes for future reference.
So this is all work in progress.
I also share my findings here, in a facebook group and creative community, feel free to join us https://www.facebook.com/groups/1537457282955910
Creating Avatars for online and digital worlds.
Demonstration by Mark Ashmore.
This is the first part of the multi-episode series of short films, which introduce the viewer to Avatars, how they are made, with what software, why they are made, who is using them, and why, and then start to experiment with them as a creative tool.
In this film, I introduce 3 key free pieces of software, which are required to make an Avatar that can be simply controlled via a webcam on a low powered PC.
For Free…
Software is https://vroid.com/en/studio/ this is a place for a free avatar (like the one i use in the video) or to design your own.
I then use — https://www.vseeface.icu/ which enables your .VRM file (VRM is the name of the file that the avatar model is saved as, like a photo is a Jpeg) to load up your Avatar from VRoid and then puppet it, i.e control it using the webcam on your laptop, or an external camera, i used my laptop camera for ease.
To put this film together, I used OBS — Open Broadcaster Software https://obsproject.com/ which is again free..
it is used by a lot of professional Twitch broadcasters, as you can have various video inputs, so you can webcam your face and audio from speaking, whilst sharing your screen, or screens (for example, filming a video game/ Twitch Streamer, whilst also showing them playing the game, by sharing in game footage— and the software allows you to choose what you show.
In this example, I’m broadcasting my Avatar, and kind of green screening the avatar background, so that it becomes transparent on the film (like a presenter and a weather map) In later films, I will look at using Leap Motion, an external 3rd party motion detector, which tracks hands, to puppet my hands in VseeFace — so please subscribe for that. You might also want to join my immersive arts lab here, we host events about this subject matter https://www.facebook.com/groups/1537457282955910
This is my first rapid prototype experiment — and part of my netnography immersive journal.
