FRIEND!
i'm also a live 2D artist! i work with Cubism app (their website is live2d.com) because i like it's terms of usage more than emofuri
there's a learning curve to both of them, i started out with emofuri but switched to cubism because it's nearly impossible to get just the one frame you want to export in emofuri!
cubism is like: export image as transparent PNG? done
i wish there was support to import the animated mesh into Renpy, i think with the right expressions, even static characters can make more complicated emotions.
some of the comments on this thread assume that it is only used to make characters looking at you (the player) but it's actually just an animating app, it can do whatever you want it to do. i've seen people use it in wide-angle scenery shots of forests and water, they make music videos with it, they make characters who walk to the left or right!
i don't know how much of it was post-processing, but it's possible.
it's just that it is geared towards production of characters because that's the current rage in gaming in Japan (especially on smart phones because it is interactive)
Do you think more people would engage in a VN that has been animated with emofuri?
i would! it seems to me like technology that isn't yet implemented where it should be, it has so much potential but the support it has in other systems/programs is still too small
the community is also very small and not a lot of users are creating tutorials or offering free samples (even at a lower quality than commission work) so it's not easy to find your footing on where to begin!
there's some links in my signature you might enjoy reading through, we talk about emofuri and live 2d with renpy and learn together
It's not a technique that expands the range of stories we can tell, so is it worth going through all the extra trouble?
i actually think it would, because it's not limited to human face making.
in theory, it should reduce the amount of objects needed to make tactical RPGs on Renpy since you draw the item once and just stretch and bounce and animate it however you want. you want little people on tiny goats? sure! you want tanks with retracting canons? easy. a castle in the background pulling it's feet up from the ground and walking away? uhhh sure
i imagine it would also make better dress up games since Renpy can remember the choice of clothes and the live2d app will apply all the expressions as per usual, instead of having to create special statements and folders for every item of clothing the player chose and then redraw the sprite wearing those clothes in every pose you need.
you can make a character sit down, if you can draw it yourself or your artist is paid enough, it's actually pretty simple to switch legs and arms in those apps.
with the right expressions, you can even tell a story with just conversation (no need for novel-style narration that some players don't want to read) because you could just show that the character is swinging their arms in boredom, avoiding eye contact, or looking this way and that in embarrassment without an anime blush etc
you can even make stories that don't look like your normal VN because you're not restricted to the character being waist-up in the center, considering the rest of her body is cut off. just commission a whole body paper doll and zoom in and out in renpy, zoom however you like to show the character coming closer or further away, left or right or leaving the screen or walking in
you can make picture-book style stories with swaying/moving objects on the screen, this way even children can read the stories and look at the illustrations however they like instead of having to follow the pace of a video.
you can use the lip sync option and create a whole story with just
a sprite and someone's voice, i don't know how that would be implemented in renpy code-wise since it would depend on what aspects can be supported by an SDK if there ever was any
according to the development updates on Cubism, the new versions will support lighting and shadow from the program itself. so you will only ever need one sprite for your scene, and when it becomes morning, evening or night, just change the shading/lighting and go with it. no need to repaint the whole character or change lighting for every time of day in your game. you will be able to make glass objects like glowing lanterns and crystal balls, maybe even reflective objects (i'm hoping, since the demo only showed light-reflecting objects)
i've love to add actual examples of all of the above but i don't want to hijack the thread
sooo sorry for the wall of text i just really like this technology!
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)