Lesson Objective:

1. Learn what a parameters and blend shapes are

2. Learn how to create parameters and blend shapes

3. Learn how to use parameters and blend shapes

4. Learn about using multiple parameters or blend shapes at once

Lesson Quests:

Quest 1: Learn what a parameter is

Quest 2: Create a parameter

Quest 3: Add key points to a parameter

Quest 4: Learn what having multiple parameters does to an art mesh or deformer

Quest 5: Learn what a blend shape is

Quest 6: Create a blend shape

Quest 1: What is a Parameter?

Parameters allow you keyframe (Like binding or connecting) an art mesh or deformer to a specific movement or change. It sets different positions for art meshes and deformers, while smoothly moving the points of art meshes and deformers from one key point to another.

At you can see here, the deformer that is holding the Protagonist Logo art mesh is moving because it is keyframed to the Parameter "Angle X"

Each Parameter has a different name and ID that allows it to control a different part of the model.

The ID tells VTubeStudio what part of the model to move.

A list of the default parameters and their ID's can be found here on the official website:

As you can see, the parameter's have a name, this tells us what the parameter will move, and then the parameter has it's ID, or what VTubeStudio will read to understand what the parameter does.

You can also read the descriptions and remarks to help understand what each parameter does.

As we rig each part, I'll show you which parameters we will be using.

Quest 2: How to create a Parameter

To create a new Parameter, let's look at our Parameter Window:

Pressing the plus button in the bottom right of our Parameter Window will allow us to create a new Parameter.

Here you can Name your Parameter, set an ID for other programs to track, and change the ranges of your parameters movement.

Parameter Ranges:

These set the minimum, default, and maximum values a parameter will have.

The ranges are important to ensure smooth animations, prevent unnatural or jittery movements, and set limits to how far/long it takes for parts to move.

In general, larger ranges allow for more dramatic movements, while smaller ranges will cause faster and subtle movements.

If a large art mesh needs to make a large motion, having it on a parameter that is set to -1, 0, and 1, may cause it to move very fast and jittery when we set it up with physics.

General Rules for Parameter Ranges:

The Mouth and Eyes should be set to 0 when closed, and 1 when Open.

You can go past a value of 1 if you want to exaggerate the opened motions.

Face Angles (AngleX, AngleY, AngleZ) are usually set at a range of -10, 0, and 10.
Body Angles (BodyX, BodyY, BodyZ) are usually set at a range of -30, 0, and 30.

Physics Parameters (Custom Parameters we will use to make physics motions) can be set to a range that aligns with the intensity of the motion.

Quest 3: How to add Key points to a Deformer and Parameter

When a Parameter has active key forms, green dots will appear.

First you need to select a Deformer or Art Mesh from your Deformer Window.

Method #1
In Parameter Window:

These buttons at the top left of the window allow us to add or remove key points.
The first button adds a key point at the minimum and maximum value of the selected parameter.
The second button adds key points at the minimum, default, and maximum values of the selected parameter.
The third button removes all key points on the selected parameter.

The dots of a Parameter will turn green when you

Method #2

Right click on the parameters range area:

Once your right click, this little menu will appear:

You can now use the buttons to add, or remove points.
There is a also another drop down with more settings, but we will learn about those later.

Method #3

If you double click on a parameter, the following window for that parameter will appear:

Similar to the buttons on our Parameter Window, you can add and remove key points here as well.

Quest 4: Having Multiple Parameters on One Art Mesh or Deformer

You can bind multiple parameters to one art mesh or deformer.

It is only recommended to add 2 or 3 parameters to a single art mesh or deformer for the following reason:

Having 1 Parameter on an art mesh or deformer will allow you to have 3 keyed positions.

Having 2 Parameters on an art mesh or deformer will now let you have 9 keyed positions.
This is because your first parameter, in this case "Angle X" has 3 positions, -10, 0, and 10.
Your second parameter, "Angle Y" also has 3 positions, -10, 0, and 10.
Which means your "Angle Y" parameter has 3 positions for each of the 3 positions your "Angle X" has.

It's easier to see this if we click the little oval icons or links to the left of each parameter. This will link the two closest parameters.

Now with both parameters linked, we can visually see that there is now 9 keyed positions.

This means that we have animate, deform, or move the art meshes 9 different times.

Now what happens if we add another parameter?

As you can see here:

"Angle X" and "Angle Y" still have their 9 positions, but if we shift "Angle Z" over to one of it's other values, either -10 or 10, "Angle X" and "Angle Y" now have whole new set of 9 keypoint positions.

That would be 27 different positions to move our parts to...

So, we want to limit the amount of parameters keyed onto an art mesh or deformer to 3 at max.

In most cases, I usually only put 2 parameters onto one art mesh or deformer, so that way I only have to deal with 9 different positions.

Question:
Why would we put 2 keyframes on a art mesh or deformer if we would have to rig extra positions?

Answer:
Using two would allow us to create the corner angles of movements. For instance, the head can look left and right (Angle X), it can look up and down (Angle Y), but it can also look in the four corners, Up and left, Down and Right, etc.
So having 9 positions is actually beneficial to allow for our models to have a larger range of motion.

I would then make a Parent Deformer around the deformer that controls my "Angle X" & "Angle Y", and make this deformer control my "Angle Z" parameter.
This is why we make a deformer hierarchy, because our Angle Z deformer would now translate all it's movements (Because it is a parent deformer) onto the deformers inside of it.

Quest 5: What is a Blend Shape?

Put simply, a blend shape is the exact same thing as a parameter except:

• You don't need to rig the extra positions if you add two blend shapes to a art mesh or deformer. Live2D software will automatically compute and generate these movements.

However, this is only good for specific aspects of the model.
Since the software is generating the additional positions, we will not be able to edit and shape those positions as we'd like.

This would mean that if we used blend shapes for the angles of the head, we would not be able to shape the head to look good at it's corners. We would be stuck with whatever the program gives us.

Quest 6: How to Create a Blend Shape

When creating a parameter or editing one (Edit by right clicking a parameter and selecting "Edit") you just need to check off the "Blend Shape" check box.
You cannot change a parameter into a blend shape parameter if it has active keyframes on it.

End of "Parameters & Blend Shapes"

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