Pulsar: Virtual Live
A grant-winning independent Music Video project exploring the production of a virtual world live guitar performance.
This project is ongoing and will be followed up with a further refined 3d vtuber avatar and live performance.
Skills: Virtual Production, Motion Capture, Character Modeling, Audio Production, Set Design, Video Editing
Made with Unreal Engine, Blender, Maya, Photoshop, Rokoko Studio, DaVinci Resolve, Ableton Live
Virtual Production Workflow
-
![]()
Rig Adjustment to VRM Format
Modified the character rig for the “Yoominel: Virtual Avatar” character. It was re-purposed to fit with the VRoid (VRM) model format to be made compatible with Unreal Engine’s MToon shader plug-in called VRM4UE.
-
![]()
Avatar Face Adjustments
Made improvements to the VTuber model’s face, initially created for the “Yoominel: Virtual Avatar” project, by re-modeling hair, editing facial features, and creating customized shape keys.
-
![]()
Audio Production
Backing instrumentation was composed and mixed in Ableton using various VSTs before the performance capture.
-
![]()
Basic Garment Modeling
Modeled a basic windbreaker and skinsuit outfit in Blender, which resembles the real world performance outfit.
-
![]()
Motion Capture Testing
Began integrating Rokoko Studio and the Smartsuit II for live motion capture connection to Unreal Engine.
-
![]()
Virtual Scene Creation
Created a virtual stage in Unreal Engine using futuristic city prefabs and lighting systems.
-
![]()
Unreal Engine IK Retargeting for Rokoko Mocap
Imported a native Rokoko “Newton” avatar, then set up an IK rig for both Newton and the VTuber avatar in Unreal Engine. Each bone in the VTuber was then individually retargeted to the Newton avatar. This allowed for proper movement detection with the Smartsuit II.
The guitar was connected to a bone socket and then aligned with Unreal Engine tools. -
![]()
Live Virtual Performance
Recorded the grant award deliverable of a virtually embodied guitar performance, then composited videos in DaVinci Resolve.
Live Virtual guitar solo explored
This 1-minute music video is an independent project which was started in September 2025 with the aim of exploring a virtually embodied live guitar performance. While virtual performances are not new, I am fascinated by the possibility of having more of the real-world performance alongside the virtual avatar. I believe there can be new possibilities in choreography that open up when it’s possible to switch between the virtual and real performer; thus, this project is the beginning of exploring such a path by learning about and developing my own virtual performance pipeline.
The project features an original music composition I made and showcases the same live performance in both the real-world and Unreal Engine environment using a self-developed 3D virtual model. The avatar was modeled and rigged in Blender.
The live performance was captured while wearing a Rokoko Smartsuit II under a real-world windbreaker to make the outfits match as closely as possible in both environments.
This project was awarded the Northeastern University Art+Design 2025-2026 Grant, with the music video deliverable fulfilling the requirements of the research grant.