VMagicMirror vs XR Animator

VMagicMirror displays and animates a VRM avatar on a Windows desktop without requiring dedicated VR devices. Keyboard and mouse input control the avatar, while game controllers and MIDI controllers provide additional input. Microphone-based lip sync and webcam head tracking are listed, and expressions can be switched through those controls, including avatar-specific blend shapes. Optional iPhone and iPad devices support face tracking through the iFacialMocap app. Advanced documentation covers VMC Protocol motion and facial data, webcam hand tracking, accessories, Buddy characters and game motion input. Spout output includes portrait-resolution output. Listed uses include work or game streaming, live coding presentations, avatar presentations and desktop mascot use. Windows 10 64-bit is required; Windows 8.1 or earlier and 32-bit editions might not work. Older AMD CPUs may crash at startup, while older GPUs may fail to load face textures. The Standard Edition is free, while Full Edition costs ¥3,000, paid once and includes future updates. Commercial use is allowed subject to the VRM model license.

XR Animator is a free tool for driving MMD or VRM 3D avatars from pose input. It uses MediaPipe and TensorFlow.js to detect poses from webcam video, and supports face, full-body, and combined face, body, and hand tracking. Full-body tracking can use a webcam or an image or video file. Face tracking supports 52 ARKit-compatible blendshapes. Users can record motion capture, export VMD, BVH, and glTF motion, and load VMD, FBX, and BVH motion files; FBX or BVH motion can also be exported to VMD. The scene can include 2D images or video, 3D panoramas, and .x or .glb objects. The web app works in major desktop and smartphone browsers, while Electron apps are available for Windows, Linux, and macOS. Android Chrome supports augmented reality. VMC protocol support and a frameless transparent background for capture apps are limited to Electron mode. The project notes that smartphones with limited processing power may be better suited to face tracking alone.