If you read our article on VTubing for Beginners, you already know the difference between 2D, 3D, and PNGTubers. Streaming with a PNGTuber Avatar is the quickest (and cheapest) way to dip your toes into the waters of VTubing. For non-VTubers, a PNG avatar is the perfect way to keep your streams fun and interesting when you don’t feel like being on camera. Reactive by Fuji is a software tool you can use in conjunction with Discord to make a PNG avatar react to your voice.
You’ll need two avatars to start with Reactive Images–one talking and one not talking. You can either draw your own avatar in a software like Procreate or Gimp and export it as a PNG file or purchase an avatar from an artist. There are many places to commission avatars, including Etsy, Fiverr, Twitter, Upwork, and more.
Since VTubing is rapidly growing in popularity, there are many scam artists out there. One surefire way to tell if an artist is fake is if they have a wildly inconsistent art style. This may mean that they have been stealing other artists’ work to showcase on their own profiles. Occasionally, scammers will brazenly post works with the original artist’s watermark completely visible. Do as much research on an artist as possible before handing over your hard-earned cash.
Once you have your two PNG avatars ready to go, the rest is easy! We’ll show you how to set up your avatars with Reactive Images and then Streamlabs Desktop.
How to Add a PNGTuber to Streamlabs Desktop with Discord Reactive Images
First, go to the Reactive Images main page, log in with your Discord info, and grant access to your Discord account.
Once you’ve authorized, go ahead and upload your Avatar PNGs.
This PNGTuber avatar was designed by @wingmadewithlove on Instagram
Next, you need to set up your avatar in your software of choice. We’re using our PNG Avatar with Streamlabs Desktop. Before you start streaming, enter a voice channel in Discord. Make it a private channel so that no one can interrupt you during your stream. Then, go into Streamlabs and add your avatar as a browser source. If you don’t connect to a Discord voice channel beforehand, you won’t be able to see your avatar in Streamlabs Desktop.
After you’ve selected “browser source,” go ahead and name it. We wrote “PNG Avatar” to make it easy to find in our sources.
Next you need to copy and paste the link for “Individual Browser Source” from Reactive Images in the URL space.
That’s it; your PNG avatar should be ready to go. When your microphone registers sound, your avatar will toggle from non-speaking to speaking. It’s a cute and fun way to personalize your streams. After you’ve finished streaming, make sure to disconnect from the voice channel in Discord.
Will you try using a PNG avatar in one of your streams? Give Reactive Images a try and let us know what you think. As always, stay safe and happy streaming!