My first upload on Weasyl!

WIP: Vocaloid Utatane Piko

100% modeled by me in Metasequoia 4
Textures made by me in Paint Tool SAI

---

Vocaloid is a vocal synthesizer created by YAMAHA designed for singing. There are many vocals to choose from, made by several different companies, and there are vocals in languages such as Spanish, Chinese, English, Japanese, and Korean. Vocaloids can be manipulated in a musical editor, where notes can be 'drawn' to make sing a sound, corresponding to the word (for English) or syllable/kana (for Japanese) typed in. Most Vocaloids are marketed with avatars or character designs to help users or listeners imagine the virtual singer easily. Recent Vocaloids with no avatars are meant to be used in a more professional sense. There are over 100 Vocaloid products, including online and mobile versions. There have been 4 major engine releases so far: VOCALOID, VOCALOID2, VOCALOID 3, and VOCALOID 4 (caps and spacing are intentional). There are still more and more voices being developed.

Utatane Piko (c) Ki/Oon Records (Sony Music Group)

Utatane Piko is one of many vocals from the VOCALOID2 era. It is a male vocal based on the Japanese singer 'PIKO'. "Utatane" means "singer sound," while "Piko" is a reference to the voice provider PIKO. Together, the name collectively means "The sound of the singer PIKO" or "Singer PIKO's sound." This model is of the avatar that was packaged with the Vocaloid. Unfortunately, the vocal was deemed a failure due to the lack of marketing and the fact that the voice barely sounded like the original singer. It has had no upgrades to the VOCALOID 3 or VOCALOID 4 engines.

---

Metasequoia is a Japanese-based 3D modeling program created by Osamu Mizuno (O.Mizno) and currently developed by his company, tetraface inc. It was originally designed to be user-friendly and for beginners. The latest core update, Metasequoia 4, had not only a complete design overhaul, it implemented several features so that it could be used in a more professional environment. Free, or LE ("limited edition") versions can be used infinitely, but they are limited in features, such as the lack of 4 viewpoints and UV mapping. The full version of Metasequoia 4 is shown.

Metasequoia 4 (c) tetraface inc.

---

MikuMikuDance is another Japanese-based program created by a Japanese internet user that goes under the alias 'higuchuu'. It was made for an abandoned project, the VPVP (Vocaloid Promotion Video Project), but MMD had continued to be updated. MMD is used for posing and animating, and defined as a "3D choreography program" by the creator. Like the name suggests, it was originally a program designed solely for the infamous Vocaloid Hatsune Miku, but has evolved to handle more than just one Miku 3D model. The ease of use grabbed the attention of Japanese VOCALOID users and eventually made its way overseas and has its own overseas community. MMD is free.