Click Record Motion at the top of the Motions section to capture live movement and save it as an animation file. Live2D models save a .motion3.json file in the model folder, while VRM avatars save a .vrma clip in the Inventory. Once saved, the new recording appears directly in the Motions list alongside the model's built-in motions. For existing Live2D motions, you can also open the dropdown menu on any motion button to edit channels, smooth curves, set a shortcut, or duplicate, rename, and delete the motion.
The recorder captures the model's final composited state on each frame: face tracking, lip sync, active expressions, playing motions, and parameters injected via the Plugin API are all baked into the keyframes.
Recording Workflow
Set the Duration for the take (2 to 60 seconds, 8 seconds by default). Clicking Start Recording begins a 3-second countdown so you can get into position before capture starts.
While recording, the button changes to Stop and a status line shows the elapsed time and frame count. Recording stops automatically when it reaches the set duration.
Takes shorter than 1.5 seconds are discarded automatically without opening the review dialog. Only one recording can run at a time; while a take is in progress, Start Recording is disabled on all other models in the scene.
Reviewing Motions
When recording finishes, the Review Motion dialog opens automatically. While the dialog is open, the recorded motion loops on the model using the curve-fitted keyframes that will be written to disk, so what you see matches the exported file.
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | Output filename, with the extension fixed on the right side of the field |
| Loop | Applies toLive2D Writes a loop flag into the motion file (off by default) |
| Include Physics Outputs | Applies toLive2D Shown when the model has physics; bakes physics outputs into the file if turned on |
| Drop Unchanged Parameters | On by default. Detects channels that did not move during the take and excludes them on export |
| Shortcut | Applies toLive2D Click Add Shortcut to bind a key combination and configure Stop on Last Frame, Fade Time, and Stop After (saved alongside the motion) |
| Loop Replay | Controls whether the preview repeats from the beginning when it reaches the end |
| Solo | Plays back only the selected channel so you can inspect it in isolation |
| Playhead | Drag to pause playback and scrub to any point in the take |
The right pane lists every captured parameter channel, each with an enable toggle and a Smoothing slider. Rows show Physics or Unchanged badges where applicable, and the header displays N / M Parameters Included.
Click Save to write the file to disk, or Discard to throw the take away. If a file with the same name already exists at the model root, Persona asks Replace the Existing File?; however, a recording cannot use the name of another motion listed on the model (such as one in a subfolder).
This dialog closes only when you click Save, the close button, or press Esc. Clicking outside the dialog will not dismiss it, so you don't lose a take by accident.
Live2D Recorded Channels
Recording samples every runtime Cubism parameter at its final evaluated value after external motions, automatic blinking, expressions, Auto Breath, lip sync, physics, and pose tracking have all been blended. Parameters marked as Repeat in Cubism Editor are unwrapped across their range boundaries during recording, so fitted curves continue smoothly across wrap points instead of jumping across the full range.
Physics output channels are sampled during recording but left out by default: because the model evaluates physics in real time during playback, baking physics outputs into the motion file would apply physics twice. Enable Include Physics Outputs only when you want to lock in specific hair or outfit movement.
Part visibility, opacity, and custom user-data events are not recorded.
VRM Recorded Channels
For VRM models, the recorder captures quaternion rotations for all humanoid bones, world-space translation for the hips bone, active expression blendshape weights, and eye gaze yaw and pitch.
Gaze is recorded on its own channel rather than as expression weights (in the VRM specification, the lookUp / lookDown / lookLeft / lookRight presets represent eye direction). Among humanoid bones, only the hips bone records translation.
When only face tracking is active, unmoved bones such as the fingers and limbs are automatically marked Unchanged and left out of the exported file.
Curve Smoothing
Each channel's Smoothing slider controls the tolerance for Bezier curve fitting (0.20 by default). Lower values preserve fine, rapid movement; higher values smooth out jitter and reduce file size.
Smoothing is normalized to each channel's value range, so the same slider value gives comparable smoothness on a 30° head turn and a 0..1 blink parameter.
Exported files bake keyframe curves at 30 fps.
Editing Saved Motions
Applies toLive2DEvery Live2D motion group in the Motions section has a dropdown menu on the right side for editing or managing saved .motion3.json files:
- Single-motion groups: The dropdown menu offers Edit…, Duplicate…, and Set Shortcut…, plus Rename… and Delete… for standalone motion files not declared in
.model3.json. - Multi-motion groups: The top of the menu lists each motion file in the group so you can play or stop a specific file, followed by Edit, Duplicate, and Set Shortcut submenus that list each file in the group.
Editing and Duplicating
Choosing Edit… or Duplicate… opens the same dialog used after recording (titled Edit Motion or Duplicate Motion) and loops a live preview on the model:
- Every parameter curve in the file starts included with Smoothing set to
0, keeping the original keyframe curve from the file without re-fitting. Raising Smoothing above0re-fits that channel into a smoother Bezier curve, while unchecking a row removes that curve from the saved file. - Include Physics Outputs starts on and Drop Unchanged Parameters starts off so all curves in the file remain enabled until you choose to exclude them.
- Part opacity and model-level curves cannot be shown individually in the parameter list, so they are preserved as-is on save with their count noted below the list.
- Edit Motion locks the Name field and writes directly back to the original file (including files inside subfolders). If the motion is currently playing as the idle animation, it crossfades to the updated curves immediately. Use Rename… in the dropdown menu if you want to rename the file.
- Duplicate Motion lets you enter a new name (which cannot match any motion already listed on the model) and writes a new
.motion3.jsonfile in the model root folder.
In Review Motion, Edit Motion, and Duplicate Motion, the Shortcut section on the left lets you bind or edit a key combination directly; click Add Shortcut to record a key and configure Stop on Last Frame, Fade Time, and Stop After.
Renaming and Deleting
To avoid breaking the model descriptor, only standalone .motion3.json files not declared in .model3.json (such as recorded or duplicated motions) can be renamed or deleted:
- Rename…: Opens the Rename Motion dialog to enter a new file name (which cannot match any other motion on the model). Saving renames the file on disk and updates any bound shortcuts as well as idle and tracking-lost motion selections across saved scenes; if the motion is currently playing, playback continues under the new name.
- Delete…: Moves the
.motion3.jsonfile to the Trash after confirmation. If shortcuts are bound to the motion, the confirmation prompt shows how many shortcuts will be removed, and any idle or tracking-lost motion selections referencing the file are cleared automatically while active playback stops and eases back to rest.
Storage Locations
| Format | Storage Location |
|---|---|
| Live2D | A .motion3.json file in the model folder, shown immediately under Motions without reloading the model |
| VRM | Saved under Animations in the Inventory, ready to play as a one-shot clip or set as idle |
Saved Live2D motions are listed automatically even if the model's .model3.json defines fixed motion groups, using the same discovery rules as loose motion files in VTube Studio Models.
Recorded VRM clips behave like any other animation in the Inventory: Remove from Inventory unlists the clip while keeping the file on disk, whereas Delete… moves the file to the Trash after confirmation.
Live2D motions cannot be saved if the model folder is read-only (such as bundled sample models). Load your own model from a writable folder before recording.
Last updated on November 7, 2026