So, I got a chance to sit down and try out Animaze! This software is for face tracking and to help people both develop and use their animated avatars for entertainers known as Vtubers that you might have seen on Twitch and YouTube!
Now a bit about Animaze, the company that created the software is Holotech Studios who are better known for its work with similar software known as Facerig. So to some people, the software will be fairly familiar already as it utilizes the same principles.
The difference between Animaze and Facerig however is that; you can purchase pre-made assets to use in Animaze from their store. So you won’t have to go out and hire animators, digital artists, etc as they try to help supply you with the assets they develop to work with their software.
Animaze does come with a free price tag, and best of all the ease of learning the software is pretty straightforward. So even those who have never been a Vtuber can easily pick it up and use it and to make it even easier they include tutorials as well!
There is, however, a big catch, which for me is a deal-breaker! And that is that they have a subscription to remove a passive watermark that will appear behind your vTuber model and around your model while using paid items until you either buy them or buy a subscription to their service.
So, if you’re trying to become the next big vTuber or you’re trying to get into Vtubing like Project Melody, Silvervale, Nyanners, and so many others look else ware at free alternatives this software isn’t that good.
Their subscription service also doesn’t hold up very well in the quality department. Unless you’re paying for their software, you’ll experience frequent crashes due to the implementation of their overlays and software control over your microphone and camera. It goes without mentioning that the watermark is so visible that it will break immersion, and it’s only going away if you’re willing to pay each month.
You need to know that this software has a subscription to remove a passive watermark that will appear behind your Vtuber model.
But the watermark is so visible that will break immersion and there is no way to remove it unless you’re willing to pay each month.
It’s, for this reason, I’d say that if you’re looking to be the best vTuber and look for quality content, models, etc there are quite a few free alternatives out there such as vTuber Editor, vTuber Maker, vTuber Studio, and many others. It might cost you a hundred or more upfront to get a high-quality Vtuber model made but that is a one-time fee and it will ensure that your future streams, YouTube videos, etc will all have no immersion-breaking watermarks floating around behind you.
Animaze by comparison feels like they’re trying to make Vtubing a subscription-based service with their software, whereas the entire community focuses more on helping each other Holotech Studios feels more like they’re trying to capitalize on it with quick cash grab software.
Even though I’m impressed with the ease of access they include with the software, I’m disappointed that they wouldn’t put more thought into how they should market the software. It feels insulting to try and take advantage of people in a fairly decent community for the sake of a quick cash grab.
Would I recommend Animaze at the end of the day? It’s good to learn from, and it does help people get into the Vtubing community.
But, if you’re looking to be a quality vTuber, and you want to feel engaging without watermarks breaking your communities immersion.
Then I would recommend that you look into other free alternatives there are way better suited if you’re truly interested in getting serious about Vtubing. Animaze won’t ever be able to match the level of quality that professional Vtubers already have for free.
An autistic gamer with opinions on games who also enjoys making dumb videos on the internet!