MikuMikuDance (commonly abbreviated to MMD) is a
freeware
Freeware is software, often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for the free ...
animation program that allows users to create animated and still renders, originally produced for the
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
Vocaloid
is a singing Speech synthesis, voice synthesizer software product. Its signal processing part was developed through a joint research project between Yamaha Corporation and the Music Technology Group at Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona. The s ...
Hatsune Miku
, officially code-named CV01, is a Vocaloid software voicebank developed by Crypton Future Media. Its official mascot is depicted as a sixteen-year-old girl with long, turquoise twintails. Miku's personification has been marketed as a virt ...
, the first member of the Character Vocal series created by
Crypton Future Media
, or simply Crypton, is a Japanese media company based in Sapporo, Japan. It develops, imports, and sells products for music, such as sound generator software, sampling CDs and DVDs, and sound effect, FX and background music, BGM libraries. The ...
. The program was developed by Yu Higuchi (HiguchiM) and has gone through significant upgrades since its initial creation. Its production was made as part of the VOCALOID Promotion Video Project (VPVP).
Overview
The software allows users to import computer-generated .pmd and .pmx models into a virtual space that can be moved and animated accordingly. The positioning of the computer-generated figures can be easily altered, as can the facial expressions (as long as the model has morphs to use), and motion data can be applied to the model to make it move. In addition, accessories, stages, and backgrounds can be added to create an environment, and effects such as shaders and filters can be applied using the MMEffect (MikuMikuEffect or MME) plugin. Sound and music can also be added via .WAV files to create music videos, short films, and fan-made stories. The motion data used to animate the characters and the pose data used for still-renders can be exported as .vmd (Vocaloid Motion Data) files and .vpd (Vocaloid Pose Data) files respectively. Camera data is also exported as motion data. The exported files can then be imported into other compatible projects. This allows users to share data with other users. The software also uses the
Bullet
A bullet is a kinetic projectile, a component of firearm ammunition that is shot from a gun barrel. They are made of a variety of materials, such as copper, lead, steel, polymer, rubber and even wax; and are made in various shapes and constru ...
physics engine
A physics engine is computer software that provides an approximate simulation of certain physical systems, typically classical dynamics, including rigid body dynamics (including collision detection), soft body dynamics, and fluid dynamics. I ...
. Users can also use Microsoft's
Kinect
Kinect is a discontinued line of motion sensing input devices produced by Microsoft and first released in 2010. The devices generally contain RGB color model, RGB cameras, and Thermographic camera, infrared projectors and detectors that map dep ...
for several
Xbox
Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...
consoles and
Windows
Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
updates for motion capturing. Map shadowing, screenshot rendering in several picture file formats and full movie rendering in the .avi file format are also possible.
With the exception of a few models, stages, motion data and accessories that come with the software, all content is created and distributed by users, meaning all rules and restrictions (or lack thereof) vary greatly from case to case. Most models' rules may be found in its readme file, which may be a .txt, pdf or a webpage file. The creator, HiguchiM, has stated he can make no promises regarding how other users' fan-made models can or cannot be used, and is exempt from all responsibility relating to this subject. Models created by users are often made available for public download. As MikuMikuDance is exclusively a posing, animation and environment-building software, modelers use external computer-generated modeling software such as
Blender
A blender (sometimes called a mixer (from Latin ''mixus, the PPP of miscere eng. to Mix)'' or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary ...
or
Metasequoia
''Metasequoia'', or dawn redwood, is a genus of fast-growing coniferous trees. It contains one extant (living) species, ''Metasequoia glyptostroboides'', which is one of three extant species of conifers known as redwoods in the world. ''Metaseq ...
, to create the model and UV map, while the majority of conversion to the platform (such as facial morphs, bones and physical bodies) is done with a program made especially for 'MMDers', PMD Editor or its successor PMX editor.
The software itself comes with a small number of assets. Models include various Vocaloids created by
Crypton Future Media
, or simply Crypton, is a Japanese media company based in Sapporo, Japan. It develops, imports, and sells products for music, such as sound generator software, sampling CDs and DVDs, and sound effect, FX and background music, BGM libraries. The ...
and Fanloids acknowledged by Crypton Future Media. One stage is available, which was inspired by a stage environment found in the game
Idolmaster. Accessories include a negi (a leek, Hatsune Miku's character item) and a microphone. Two sample .pmm files (the file type that MMD projects are saved as) allow the user to load in a pre-made project. It also contains a Dammy or Dummy Bone model, which allows for accessories and effects to be attached for ease of animating. No effects come with the MikuMikuDance software, as the MMEffect plugin is community-made, therefore effects must be downloaded online. The software was originally only released in Japanese, however an English version was released at a later date. Videos using the software are regularly seen on sites such as
Niconico
, known before 2012 as , is a Japanese video sharing service based in Tokyo, Japan. "Niconico" or "nikoniko" is the Japanese sound symbolism, Japanese ideophone for smiling. As of 2021, Niconico is the 34th most-visited website in Japan, accordi ...
and
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
and are popular among Vocaloid fans and users alike. Other websites such as
DeviantART
DeviantArt (formerly styled as deviantART and thus abbreviated as dA) is an American online community that features artwork, videography, photography, and literature, launched on August 7, 2000, by Mathew Stephens, Scott Jarkoff and Angelo Sotir ...
and
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
harbour the majority of still-render art. A magazine which hands out exclusive models with every issue was also produced owing to this popularity. Some models for Vocaloid may also be used for Vocaloid music, going on to be used by studios working with the Vocaloid software.
Many people also buy Windows100% magazines which give models exclusive to the public. These come out once every month and due to popularity, modelers are giving out secret models, as well as models customers have paid for online. Most of these tend to be
Vocaloid
is a singing Speech synthesis, voice synthesizer software product. Its signal processing part was developed through a joint research project between Yamaha Corporation and the Music Technology Group at Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona. The s ...
s or models that do not have a particular copyright holder.
On May 26, 2011, continuous updates of the software came to an end and the last version was released. In a closing statement, HiguchiM left the software in the hands of the fans to continue building upon. Despite this, the
source code
In computing, source code, or simply code or source, is a plain text computer program written in a programming language. A programmer writes the human readable source code to control the behavior of a computer.
Since a computer, at base, only ...
has not been released, and the developer has no intentions of doing so, making it impossible for people to continue building upon the original software. However, there are alternative programs that provide similar functionality, such as MikuMikuMoving (MMD's "replacement" that is updated frequently and has many of the features of MMD, as well as new file formats unique to the program, support for the
Oculus Rift
Oculus Rift is a discontinued line of virtual reality headsets, virtual reality headsets developed and manufactured by Oculus VR, a virtual reality company founded by Palmer Luckey that is widely credited with reviving the virtual reality indust ...
head-mounted display and a new UI, among other features), and the
free software
Free software, libre software, libreware sometimes known as freedom-respecting software is computer software distributed open-source license, under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, distribut ...
,
Blender
A blender (sometimes called a mixer (from Latin ''mixus, the PPP of miscere eng. to Mix)'' or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary ...
.
Between then and now, there have been several small updates to version 7.39, mainly the addition of the x64 version, providing better performance, faster render times, and higher quality, to name a few. However, on June 1 2013, HiguchiM began to release software updates very suddenly. Since June 2013, 20 new versions have been produced. Most of these updates were made to increase compatibility with newer, more advanced .pmx models. It is unknown why HiguchiM returned to the development of MMD. On December 10, 2019, version 9.32 was released, which remains the most current version.
In December 2014,
Sekai Project
Sekai Project is an American video game publisher. They are best known for licensing and translating Japanese visual novels into English, but they have also published manga and other non-visual novel video games.
History
Sekai Project originat ...
announced that they had acquired permission to release ''MikuMikuDance'' on
Steam
Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...
. However, it remains unreleased.
The first
anime
is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
television series to be fully produced with the software, ''
Straight Title Robot Anime
is a CG anime that first aired on February 6, 2013, in Japan. The anime is created with the MikuMikuDance animation software and is the first MMD-based program to air on TV.
Plot
The story is set in the year 9013 (Mobile Century 8013) where ...
'', premiered on February 5, 2013.
In 2021, the MikuMikuEffect Archive (abbreviated to the MMEArchive) was published. The project aimed to serve as a catalogue and centralized guide for MMD effects, though it went on an indefinite hiatus in February 2024 due to website costs and the site's creator moving on to other activities.
[MMEArchive on Twitter, published 8th February, 2024. Retrieved 9th of May, 2025. https://x.com/mme_archive/status/1755613817655152713]
Copyright
The software was released as freeware. The models of the Vocaloids provided with the software are subject to Piapro Studio's Character License, and cannot be used for commercial purposes without permission. Although the software is distributed freely, models released independently of the software may not be; originally produced models, motion data, effects and environments may be subject to their creator's own rules. The program does not include all Vocaloids by default, but it includes
Crypton Future Media
, or simply Crypton, is a Japanese media company based in Sapporo, Japan. It develops, imports, and sells products for music, such as sound generator software, sampling CDs and DVDs, and sound effect, FX and background music, BGM libraries. The ...
's Vocaloids which are
Hatsune Miku
, officially code-named CV01, is a Vocaloid software voicebank developed by Crypton Future Media. Its official mascot is depicted as a sixteen-year-old girl with long, turquoise twintails. Miku's personification has been marketed as a virt ...
,
Kagamine Rin, Kagamine Len,
KAITO
Kaito is a popular masculine Japanese given name. The name Kaito is a male name of Japanese origin. (written: かいと, カイト, 海斗, 凱斗, 開士, 魁斗, 海翔, 海人, 快斗, 界人, 嘉惟人 or 海都)
Notable people with the nam ...
,
MEIKO, and
Megurine Luka
, codenamed "CV03", is a Vocaloid software developed by Crypton Future Media, headquartered in Sapporo, Japan. Its official ''moe'' anthropomorphism is a 20-year-old woman. She uses Yamaha Corporation's Vocaloid 2 and Vocaloid 4 singing synthes ...
; and although Yowane Haku, Akita Neru, Sakine Meiko, and
Kasane Teto are not official Vocaloids (Teto being both an
UTAU
UTAU is a Japanese singing synthesizer application created by Ameya/Ayame (). This program is similar to the VOCALOID software, with the difference being it is shareware instead of under a third party licensing.
Overview
In March 2008, Ameya/A ...
and a vocal synth for Synthesizer V), they became so popular that Crypton Future Media officially licensed and added them to
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA.
References
External links
*
{{Vocaloid
3D animation software
Creative works using vocaloids
Windows graphics-related software
Freeware game engines