I've got a younger relative who is really interested in V-tubing but just doesn't know where to start. I do know that it's not necessary to immediately buy all the most expensive equipment and programs and stuff though and I know I've got a couple of peeps on my timeline that are involved in the V-Tuber scene so any advice on that front would be great.

Also artists that do avatars/models for V-tubing. If anybody on my timeline does those or knows somebody who does, definitely send me a link.

veadotube mini by olmewe

Start with PNG tubing!

if they've never streamed before, jumping straight into vtubing is a big giant commitment

Commissioning a static avatar with a blink and mouth open/close will be a lot cheaper than most Live 2D options

Oooh~ I don't know myself, but I've got a friend I can ask about it, including 2D models.

if they don't have a capture card for games.

Elgato HD60 S+, External Capture Card, Stream and Re...

That is the best entry level option

The cost of vtubing isn't just the model, which can be thousands of dollars, but the indrustry standard of controling a model is using an iphone's face tracking.

Yeah definitely start with a pngs. Viewers won't mind and it makes it easier to get started

I'd also make sure they know how to turn off comments/chat if they need to. People are mostly kind, but if someone gets too cruel it'll be better that they know how to do it rather than trying to figure it out while also upset.

That said, you also need to learn how to engage with your audience. So learn how to ban people and get mods for your chat

Oh yeah absolutely, my brain just went to more the extreme scenario, but yeah banning should be the first move.

bunnymoonvii PNG-tubing was exactly what I was thinking of for "Do this before fully committing to true V-tubing" THANK YOU. ^^

And I definitely appreciate the recommendation for a capture card. I have no idea what they currently have or have access too, so that'll be extremely helpful to have a good entry-level suggestion for.

malkuthsoldier Oh gosh, this, thank you. I think they're probably tech saavy-enough to know how to turn off comments/chat but always good to double-check.

Since I'm partially enabling/helping them with this, who knows, I might be somebody they ultimately approach to help mod, so might as well make sure I know what I'm doing too. XD;;;

I didn't really explain that thing I linked, it's a free program to animate an avatar to your voice. So you don't have to wrangle Discord to do it.

It has a lot of neat little features

Like being able to use multiple expression asigned to hotkeys

later on, they can look into the program vroid studio to build their own avatar for pretty much free, and playing around with it nets you a very pretty free model with the cost of just knowing how to play with textures, and what not. tracking can be done with a web camera, and a host of other free things

vroid studio, vseeface to animate it, and a regular logitech 930 are pretty basic tools for 3d animated things for a secondary step up into the world of vtubing

and not gonna lie, I've been 3d vtubing for nearly two years now and I've never considered getting a 2d model except for a couple of times wheneverBOOTH - 創作物の総合マーケットhas offered up cheap customizeable ones

and the nice thing about the 3d models is that booth, the site I linked also has TONS of free 3d vroid model resources for vroid studio to just drop into the character creator with credit and permissions

the end result can be VERY pretty

agreeing that pngtubing is the way to try it out for sure (or skipping right to the 3d vroid if they're artistic enough!) though I'd probably suggest the capture card as a later step unless they don't have anything on PC to play. just in the interest of mitigating costs!

the cheap/cookie-cutter live2d options can be really cool if that's their style, too, and honestly could be cheaper than a custom png...

there are a lot of free overlays and bgm they can use to make things look more polished, i'll grab links asap!

Hell, there's even picrews that allow use for PNGtubing

Faelions Avatar Creator

That one allows commertial use for PNGtubers and editing of the image

bunnymoonvii That's alright! I had done a little reading into it myself then in the meantime but I appreciate the extra info. The multiple expressions assigned to hotkeys feature sounds especially helpful.

gokushufudou Thanks! That's super helpful to know because a 3d model was originally what they were thinking I believe (and will probably be what they want to graduate to eventually if anything) so I really appreciate the resources.

silverchaos Thanks. I'm not exactly sure what they currently do or don't have with their present set-up, but that would be a money-saver if they don't have to buy a capture card right away. I do know they have a Macbook of some kind, not a PC (or a desktop) so hopefully that's not gonna hinder them when it comes to streaming. XD;

And dang, I hadn't even considered live2D or just finding some commercial use picrews, that's a great idea!