MikuMikuDance (known amongst the community as MMD) is a freeware program that lets users create 3D animated movies, originally produced for music videos of Vocaloid Hatsune Miku. The program itself was programmed by Yu Higuchi (HiguchiM)and has gone through significant upgrades since its creation. Its production was made as part of the VOCALOID Promotion Video Project (VPVP). Animation and Photography studio Asahi Production would help distribute the software upon its increase in popularity.
Many notable Vocaloid music videos have been made with MMD, such as the music videos for Mitchie M's Viva Happy and News 39.
The software comes with a pack of 3D models of the Crypton Future Media Vocaloids (Miku, Kaito, Len, Rin, and Meiko). Additional models can be downloaded for use, however, the copyright rules depend on the modeler themself. Other programs have been made to work with MMD, like PMD Editor, its successor PMX Editor and MikuMikuEffect.
Animated shows which use MikuMikuDance include Straight Title Robot Anime and Hi-sCoool! SeHa Girls. Kizuna AI, the Trope Maker of Virtual YouTubers, is also animated in MMD (via body tracking).
The Japanese version can be downloaded here
; the English version here.note
MikuMikuDance and videos made from it provide examples of:
- All-CGI Cartoon: What the program specializes in. Straight Title Robot Anime and Sega Hard Girls are some series to utilize this.
- Animated Music Video: The application was created with this usage, though people have used it for other things as well, such as having characters play out different scenarios.
- Author Appeal: Many MMD users use PMD (or more recently PMX) editor to make self-models or other characters, usually one they make up or from their favorite series. There are also massive amounts of content from popular fandoms such as Five Nights at Freddy's and Yandere Simulator, to the point where at least one viral video on social media was likely a tossed-together MMD.
- Art Evolution: Model creation, the usage of lighting, camera angle, and enviroments uploaded into the program have improved tremendously since the program first launched. As well, many people are learning how to make the models move better so they appear less jerky and more fluid during the programmed choreography.
- Cel Shading: The default setting of the program. This can be altered through third-party effects like Raycast (which is a raytracing engine for MMD) or Ikeno's ikPolishShader.
- Department of Redundancy Department: The name of the program.
- I Do Not Own: MMD video/image creators who use assets they didn't make themselves must credit and/or link back to the original creators.
- Improbably Female Cast: A majority of the models used in or that can be uploaded to MMD are female, though the number of male models has increased a lot over the years with the rise of popular male character-centric franchises such as Touken Ranbu, Ensemble Stars!, and Idolish 7, among others.
- Massive Multiplayer Crossover: This is very common, as models of characters from various series, films and video games have been made.
- No Flow in CGI: Tends to happen either with certain models or beginners. Otherwise averted.
- The "Physical Operation" button is specifically made to avert this trope.
- No Hugging, No Kissing: The community as a whole forbids using the program for romantic or sexual depictions, especially of characters from other intellectual properties. Dancing to music with romantic/explicit lyrics is fine.
- Transatlantic Equivalent: Trans-pacific variant — The US tends to use Valve's Source Filmmaker to make 3D films out of characters the same way Japan uses MMD.
