Live2D held their annual creators conference, alive 2017, on December 4, 2017. This conference was held in Akihabara and featured booths, talk sessions, short film screenings, information sessions, and the Live2D Creative Awards ceremony.
The 10 finalists were chosen from 105 entries submitted from 10 countries around the world. There were five awards featuring prizes that included cash, Wacom tablets, trophies, and software suites. Aïda de Ridder from the Netherlands won the Clip Studio Paint Award with her piece “Mask,” while a duo called Hiraoka won the Student Prize with their “Kanban Musume CAC-Chan” that they developed as the receptionist for their school’s culture festival. The two Creative Awards were clinched by makotok1 with “VR Dragon to Tatakattemiyou!” and 2ex with “Let’s Enjoy Softball.” Ituka took home the Grand Prix Prize with her piece, “Balloon.” You can find all of the finalist pieces here.
After the award ceremony, the exhibition area opened and was teeming with people ready to check out the different wares on display. The booths featured not just information about software offered by Live2D but also information on certain games and anime, such as BanG Dream!, Uta no Prince-sama, and Destiny Child.
Some of the software demos available included Live2D Euclid, a modeling software that combines 2D illustrations into a 3D character that can be used not just in regular animation but also for virtual and mixed reality games and videos, as well as Live2D Cubism, a tool that can create an animation from a static 2D illustration. Both of these pieces of software can be used separately or together to easily create an animation from your original artwork. Cubism especially is used in the creation of more than 200 commercial titles.
Another very popular booth was the Visual Novel Maker, a piece of software that allows you to easily make your very own visual novel complete with resources like backgrounds and music that you can use to start immediately. VNM also supports Live2D so you can make the visual novel of your dreams using your original characters and setting.
The panels included a screening of ““The Lamp Man,” the very first short animated film created using Live2D by Live2D Creative Studio, as well as panels about the making-of process behind the film. “The Lamp Man” is an adorable short film about a young lamp man afraid of shadows. Part of the discussion during the making-of panels was that Live2D allows animators to finish the art at a much earlier stage, so it is easier to visualize the finished product ahead of time. It also reduces the time necessary for retakes and allows more freedom for editing of the art.
You can find the video of “The Lamp Man” below.
Because alive is first and foremost a conference, many of the companies that set up booths are actively looking for creators to hire. There is also a mixer in the evening where company representatives and creators can meet, so if you’re interested in breaking into the digital animation or game industries, please consider stopping by Live2D’s conference next year!
You can learn more about alive2017 and past years by checking out their page here. For more information on Live2D and the various software they offer, please click here. Maybe you’ll find a talent for animation you didn’t know you had!
Please scroll down for more photos from the conference!