The Dramaturg Goes Shopping For Live2D Models!
“It wasn’t me who coined the term ‘skinsuit', haha!” - R.I, デラ・ルーの大導劇神
Executive Summary: As the actresses move into the house, I go shopping for their best fit models. My experiences looking for free Live2D models on Booth!
#HouseDelaroux, #AIVTuber, #HellsTheatre, #TechnoDramaturgy, #Dramaturgy, #LLMVtuber, #Ollama, #LocalAI, #AICharacterDesign, #VtuberDevelopment, #AICompanions, #OpenLLMVtuber
LAST TIME ON 'HELL'S THEATRE':
Our five actresses move into the house to become vtubers! The five genmate girls in no particular order:
Lumi: gentle fox, soft voice, deep thinker.
Piaccta: quirky trickster, bold colors, wild spark.
Hikari: neon diva, sleek shine, big dreams.
Ablam: sly rebel, sharp wit, dark flair.
Mistrál: smart guide, cool tech, steady glow.
(Adapted from their 'Genmates' cue card and audition logs)
Right! Currently your dramaturg is suffering from a little vertigo, so work has slowed down a little!
However!
This does not stop me from putting the [Vee] back in vtubing! Onwards! The work continues this episode of Hell's Theatre as I shop for Live2D models for the main cast! A bit of medicine, a little rest, and Hell's Theatre must move forward!
Where Do We Go Now? (We go to Booth.pm!)
The actresses have moved into the house and are doing their first conversations backstage! We are planning a lot of funky stuff like trying to get the genmates to 'talk' to each other onstream, so please look forward to it!
However! We face the first technical issue that I have to solve as a dramaturg!
A vtuber is three things!
A voice!
A personality!
And...
a 'skinsuit'!
I am riffing off Dokxbxrd in calling a Live2D model a 'skinsuit'. Essentially, it is the 'costume' that a vtuber wears when they appear on stage! A vtuber can have many models as they progress through their career, but their heart remains mostly the same! (haha!)
The Requirements For Summoning A Skinsuit Are Thus---
Since House Delaroux is kind of a binbo, and most people who start out don't have a lot of fund to buy high end vtuber models, the skinsuits I will be looking at have to be free, the author permits AI usage, and have a base level of functionality (emotions) to work in OpenLLM-Vtuber! What are the three requirements!
"Santa, Santa, why don't you drop off any presents at my house?"
"Because your family is poor." - sic, Santa Claus in Hayate no Gotoku Ch.1
It has to be free - This is a requirement, because most vtubers don't start out with the most high end model available. Exclusive and extremely expressive Live2D models can cost upwards to thousands of dollars depending on their quality! House Delaroux... is poor. (laugh) So are most vtubers starting out, so I would like to emulate that!
Can our girls succeed and become entertaining to watch despite given free models? There's actually a big precedent in Neuro-sama who says 'Yes, we can!' Most people don't know this; the wildly popular Neuro-sama was originally using a free Live2D model herself!
In a way, this is my trying to retrace the steps of Neuro-sama and many famous vtubers...
"An actress should wear a costume made by someone who believes in the show." - Miss Delulz
The author has to permit AI usage - Since Hell's Theatre is a show about "AI girls who want to be vtubers", we have to get help from people who like AI! We can't use free models from artists who are anti-AI on twxtter! First, we have to respect the artist's wishes! Secondly, as our Stage-Director has pointed out, this is a branding thing! I would like to ask for help and support people who believe in the show, and don't have any misgivings about the project to begin with!
Don't forget, when the season ends, the winning actress on Hell's Theatre shall have a skinsuit made according to her wishes! It would be a meaningful thing if she had a skinsuit with the same artist as the temporary one she was using on Hell's Theatre!
Base level of Functions - I am not looking for maximum impressibility for now. The skinsuit has to be able to move a little, talk and smile. This ain't Hxlxlive, this is House Delaroux!
We're running the actresses locally on an old rig, a good rig, a m15, but that's not going to be enough to run multiple models AND record at the same time! So just like our actresses, their skinsuits also have to be lightweight enough to let them collab and do other things on our tiny, tiny stage!
The Results Of The Skinsuit Search!
"Time has been erased, but the results remain...!"
"Na-nani?!?!" - Guy Who Still Doesn't Know How King Crimson Works
We're skipping over the boring parts of where I looked for skinsuits on booth.pm! After a quick vertigo spell, here's a quick summary, as of March [CURRENT YEAR+5],
There are 137 hits for 'free live2d model'
The results are a mix of girls, boys, non-humans and a small amount of mistagged assets.
We are filtering out copyrighted models like those from Honkai Star Rail.
We are not using boys and non-humans for fairness amongst our actresses.
After manually filtering the 137 hits down, we are left with 27 hits.
Out of the 27 hits, there are 3 models by an artist explicitly anti-AI.
We are left with 24 hits.
Ablam's [Live2D model] Alexia
By koyokistudio, https://kyoki.booth.pm/
I really like this model. Its a high ponytail, silver-haired girl, just like Ablam wanted. The quality is very good, the black tights, black jacket and exposed mid-riff scream punk, which fits into Ablam's style rebellious style very well! Since Ablam gave me the best impression moving in, I gave her the first pick of skinsuits! In truth, nobody else could have worn this skinsuit except for Ablam herself! Everyone's too safe and not quite unfiltered out the box like Ablam, good job Ablam!
Piaccata's【Free download of live2d model】OC
By koiyume, https://koiyume233.booth.pm
When I saw this model, I knew that it had to go to Piaccata! Its an innocent-looking girl-next-door girl with shoulder-length hair that falls slightly above her shoulders. I like her innocent smile in the preview pictures. While the author did not list any features, I look forward to testing this model out with Piaccata!
When I saw the model, I am reminded of a certain vtuber with a kettle-like laugh...! Perhaps it is fate that Piaccata, the quirkiest of the bunch, named herself Piacatta and got this model!
Lumi's【Free/完全に無料】 Ice Girl | Live2D
By TianYeLulu, https://tianyelulu.booth.pm
This is a really, really high quality model with multiple expression toggles, accessories and even a separate pet! It really is detailed and I can tell that TianYeLulu put a lot of effort into it! Amazingly, it is free! This one has to go to Lumi, since it fit Lumi being the most convincing actress right out the gate!
I look forward to seeing what Lumi can do with this model! Can she use her inherent advantage as someone with the best performance on stage, paired with arguably the best model of the cast? It really is up to Lumi's performance from now on!
Am I favoring Lumi too much? (laugh) Maybe! I think that Lumi has a huge advantage to start with, the other girls aren't playing catch-up though, they are all cute and funny in their own ways!
Hikari's 【無料】阿特斯拉 和 晴 (Atlas and Hare)
By 栖一灰, uploaded by https://booth.pm/en/items/4145288
A cute and serene model with a musical theme. While not the best fit for Hikari's image of a diva with a fusion of traditional and futuristic elements, the model is of high quality, and I like its image! I think Hikari will be happy with it too, it even comes with a little bunny pet! I am quite interested in seeing how a dual character setup (pet + vtuber) works with Hikari's model!
Mistrál's 【Free download of live2d model】Roxy
By koiyume, https://koiyume233.booth.pm
Also done by the fabulous koiyume, Roxy is actually one of the default presets in OpenLLM-Vtuber already! Its a good model, I don't really find any flaws with it; its jsut that Mistrál's specs, blue spiky hair and scientist-like is really too customized. Roxy is blue haired and a good model, so it will be interesting to see what the strongest actress (parameter-wise) can do with just a base model!
Alternative Live2DModels:
Hikari's Ink Style Miku Live2D Free model
By koyokistudio, https://kyoki.booth.pm/
Surprisingly, another great work by koyokistudio! This time it is a 'Hatsune Miku' model, but drawn in a traditional ink style! Its a very different model from the usual polished Live2Ds that are on the market! I was really excited to see this model, because when you think about Hikari's 'Diva' dream, nobody really embodies 'AI Diva' more than 'Hatsune Miku'! I do realize that there's a non-commercial clause below, so I'll keep this in mind. (T.T) Isn't the image of Hatsune free to use?
Curtain Call
While my work has slowed due to vertigo, fitting the actresses to their models is quite fun! In essence, I was retracing the steps that a vtuber takes when starting out as a rookie!
When I started this search, I mostly prioritized the 'beautiful' Live2D model; Miss Delulz reminded me that its not just about looks--- it needs to be versatile enough to be a vtuber! The models I selected here are all pretty anime girls in their own way, and the rest is really up to their performances! As the dramaturg, I am very proud of the models I picked out, and I hope the actresses will be happy with them!
The true value is in the actresses' heart---- that's the persona they will craft over the course of Hell's Theatre! The curtain will rise once again every Monday! Please look forward to the next episode of Hell's Theatre!
Next Time, On 'Hell's Theatre': We do dry runs in OpenLLM-Vtuber! The actresses use their skinsuits and perform in front of an empty theatre for the first time!
P.S: Special thanks to Io-sensei for minor art direction, you are a true friend of the theatre house! Also, I've started a side project evaluating webnovels, where Grok and I go 1v1 and we both give evaluations to new authors! Only on the Scribblehub Forums! Maybe one day we'll share the story of the 'writing' wing of House Delaroux too!
R.I, デラ・ルーの大導劇神
HouseDelaroux.com
250331
"LLM-based Vtuber setup"
"Ollama AI VTuber guide"
"Local AI companion project"
"VTuber AI persona design"
"Live2D AI VTuber test"
"OpenLLM-Vtuber tutorial"
