Dragonbones vs Live2D?

[Frostorm]

Apologies in advance if this is the wrong subforum. I considered the plugin support section but one of these isn't a plugin nor do I need help w/ it. My question is which of these (Dragonbones vs Live2D) is the better solution for making 2D img/sprites move, assuming $ isn't a consideration. Here's what I'm talking about:

Dragonbones

Live2D

 

[Hyouryuu-Na]

Dragonbones, in my opinion.

It may look pretty but Live2D is extremely hard to learn and use without a template. And the templates are for humanoid anime styled characters. Sure, you can use it to create some very nice characters but it's not something a newbie can pull off. You need patience and experience for it. Don't expect fast results from Live2D is what I mean.

Unrelated but unlike Dragonbones, there's no plugin that can support Live2D characters in battles. There are some plugins that can show moving models like pictures though.

 

[??????]

Dragonbones is awesome!! I've written a few plugins to incorporate them now, for battles, and pictures, and in menus, etc!! Never tried anything with live2d though.. could be fun to play with

 

[Frostorm]

Unrelated but unlike Dragonbones, there's no plugin that can support Live2D characters in battles. There are some plugins that can show moving models like pictures though.

I imagined just using it to create sprites, then using those sprites for the game (as frames).

 

[Hyouryuu-Na]

You mean on the map? Walking and stuff? 0_0 I can't even make my character blink properly XD The thing is... models can't be moved visually. You can't grab a bone and move the part. You have to first build the model and then use sliders to move parts. Making the sliders itself is hard as hell. Maybe it's just me who finds it hard. Better wait for more opinions.

 

[Frostorm]

You mean on the map? Walking and stuff?

Yes, my project in particular doesn't use SV Battles at all. Everything, including battles, is done on the map scene. However, I'm probably in the minority regarding SV Battlers.

 

[Hyouryuu-Na]

This is a failed experiment from two months ago. I spent 2 days making parts for her but still messed up the layers. And I've made two models before... each taking days.
The left one is a templage that comes with the software and the right one is my original character:

Spoiler: Failed Test

Not here anymore because it's a failed test and I'd rather not show it for more than an hour XD

 

[zaraku]

Never used Live2D but I reckon that's more ideal for "idle" movement like VN-style busts/cutscenes and not complex movement. You can't go wrong with DB since it's both easy to learn and quick to tweak/export, but YMMV.

This is a template I made for my map sprites in RMMV, I'm using Irina's DB Map plugin but I had to modify it to enable diagonal animations. Making all of the assets and the animations took the least amount of time (a few hours really), but most of the time and legwork were spent on setting up the actual skeletal rigs, the mastery of which is crucial to making decent-looking animations.

Spoiler: Walk Cycle

If you're serious about skeletal animations then after learning the basics you should take a look at inverse kinematics (IK) tutorials on YT. Whether they're DB or Spine tutorials doesn't matter, the principle is the same.

 

[LittlePIGGY]

Dragonbones is free. Cubism-distributed by subscription and for me, for example, too expensive. Even at the use rate for solo developers of individuals.