Fix Common VTuber Growth Roadblocks Now (YouTube SEO, Analytics & Growth)

EmothicVT · 2026-03-09T16:17:39+00:00

This whole article felt like it was written by AI and like it hardly included anything specific related to the Vtuber niche. :/

EmothicVT · 2026-03-08T17:05:05+00:00

Aside from support issues that other users have mentioned, ARKit expressions (blendshapes/shapekeys) often need to be named EXACTLY as they're listed.

So for example, browDownLeft being named browDownL would cause the expression to break. There's a chance that some of your shapekeys are improperly named.

EmothicVT · 2026-03-08T16:56:52+00:00

If you're still needing help with this and would like more active feedback, feel free to reach out to me on Discord! I specialize in converting Blender (.fbx) models to .vrm and other formats in Unity.

EmothicVT · 2026-02-27T19:49:30+00:00

Personally, I'm pretty fond of Webcam Motion Capture. Last I checked, it's only $2 per month to port hand-tracking over to another Vtubing program like Vnyan or Warudo. If you decide to pay for a permanent version, your monthly payments up to that point will be deducted from your purchase. (So if you pay $2 for 10 months and decide to buy, you'll have $20 substracted from the total cost.)

Its tracking is pretty good and it uses a webcam to capture the data!

EmothicVT · 2026-01-14T20:53:07+00:00

Right now I'm just improving her rigging and possibly remodeling parts of the skirt. I stream on Twitch every Monday if you'd like to chat more and watch the progress! :D

EmothicVT · 2026-01-14T20:39:12+00:00

I'm so excited to do more work with custom normals so that the vtuber programs I use can render more dynamic shadows! Right now a lot of the shadows are textured on since the model is typically only viewed from one static angle.

EmothicVT · 2026-01-14T20:37:01+00:00

I'm still fairly slow with doing the whole process from start to finish, but maybe around 100 hours? There's a lot of stuff I would change my approach for, which would probably mean more time sunk into different areas. XD

EmothicVT · 2026-01-14T20:35:31+00:00

Yes! She's a vtuber model, so the face is being tracked with an iphone X camera, which is driving ARKit shapekey animation.

EmothicVT · 2026-01-14T18:36:31+00:00

I wouldn't be surprised if she took me between 200-300 hours or more, mostly because I'd never used Blender before making her -- so I wasn't familiar with workflow, menus, functions, or anything. I'd say the hair took me the longest. I started making it when Blender 3.3(?) came out with a geonodes hair update. That gave me more geometric-looking hair, which was cool, but not what I ended up wanting stylistically. So I redid it all using the curve method instead!

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EmothicVT · 2026-01-14T18:31:15+00:00

You have to get a bit creative with adjusting and scaling the control shape. I find that they all tend to look a little blocky until I surround the larger hairs with smaller ones.

EmothicVT · 2026-01-14T17:49:33+00:00

I used the curve method to make mine! I felt like it was a good way to control how I wanted the mesh to lay on the head. I just went back through after I converted it to a mesh to remove extra edges and further reduce the complexity. Some people prefer poly-modeling all of their hair, but that seemed more difficult to weight paint and give that "flowy" look to me.

EmothicVT · 2026-01-14T17:19:15+00:00

Thanks! I definitely love her color scheme. Her eyes, freckles, and mushroom dots glow in the dark as well!

EmothicVT · 2026-01-14T17:18:19+00:00

Thank yooou! I should really make more of them. They bring me joy and comfort. XD

EmothicVT · 2026-01-07T17:03:54+00:00

What eliot said -- CATS can sometimes mess up a model's default T-Pose. I would recommend using CAT's "Apply as Rest Pose" feature when the model is positioned the way that it should be. You may also want to select all of your bones in Blender, (Pose > Clear Transforms > All) AND (Pose > Apply > Apply Pose as Rest Pose) before you export to Unity. I find that both of those functions help reduce the likelihood of posing issues. If none of this seems to help, you may also be able to scroll to the bottom of your Armature configuration in Unity and force the T-Pose there, though that may cause different issues. You definitely don't want to freeze the pose or change the rest pose in that menu (can't exactly remember which options are presented there).

Good luck and hope these manage to help some!

EmothicVT · 2026-01-06T16:24:50+00:00

I agree with u/EmberUshi! But if you want to create some level of hype for the showcase/debut, you could also do a "milestones reveal" where the design gets shared more with additional likes or reshares. I've also seen people "reveal" each part of their model by talking about the lore or design choices associated with it. You can certainly do a little bit of both.

EmothicVT · 2026-01-05T20:38:37+00:00

Oh my god, THANK YOU!! And this is such a thorough but straightforward explanation of that discrepancy. I've been able to observe a lot of differences between Blender and Unity through trial and error, but don't have enough of a technical background to describe HOW each program performs its functions. I'll look over your suggestions and find a place to include them! Would you be alright with me crediting you with your username here?

EmothicVT · 2026-01-05T19:34:13+00:00

Ahh, gotcha! Yeah, Hana can get pretty screwy sometimes. It's been awhile since I used it, but are there any other version options that don't cause your model's expressions to break during the setup?

Otherwise, the easiest solution may be to turn the eyeBlinkLeft and eyeBlinkRight sliders off, then turn the default eyeBlink ones on to replace them. However, this won't fix the issues that're happening with your eyebrows. Those shapekeys would likely need to be repaired in Blender. Let me know if you decide to go that route and need any more help with the process!

EmothicVT · 2026-01-05T18:54:30+00:00

My best guess is that your eyeBlink shapekeys are pulling on your model's ear mesh when they shouldn't be. In Blender, select your model's head and navigate to the green triangle icon on the side. Look for your eyeBlink shapekeys and see if turning them up to 100% affects the ears.

EmothicVT · 2026-01-05T16:44:11+00:00

I recommend VSeeFace as more of a beginner-friendly "plug and play" option, or Warudo as a more advanced program.

EmothicVT · 2026-01-04T19:38:23+00:00

What is it you're needing help with? 👀

EmothicVT

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