Practical overview
When it fits
Use the manual poser to experiment with character poses, or the puppeteer when you want webcam-captured head movement to control an anime character.
Who it is for
- Anime character creators who want to adjust a character’s pose with sliders.
- Developers exploring webcam-driven anime head animation.
- Users able to run a Python machine-learning project with the documented hardware and data.
Documented uses
- Manually pose an anime character by changing slider controls.
- Drive an anime character’s head movement from a webcam-captured person.
- Try the manual poser through the linked Google Colab notebook.
Requirements & limits
The repository is identified as MIT-licensed. The README links to a Google Colab notebook for trying the manual poser without local setup.
- Local use requires a recent, powerful Nvidia GPU; the puppeteer also requires a webcam.
- The project lists Python 3.6 or later and dependencies including PyTorch 1.4.0 or later, dlib 19.19 or later, OpenCV, Pillow and NumPy.
- Model files and the dlib facial-landmark predictor must be downloaded separately.
- Character images must meet the README's PNG, 256 × 256, RGBA, transparency and head-position requirements.
- The repository describes Version 2 as a more capable version of the software.
Check current requirements in the official documentation. Source-based guidance does not mean OpenViST has run or independently tested this project.
Prepare the local Python environment and character data
Set up the documented environment and files needed before running either demo.
Before you start
- Python 3.6 or later
- A recent, powerful Nvidia GPU
- Anaconda, if using the provided environment file
- Several gigabytes of storage for the Anaconda environment
Steps
From the project root, create the environment with
conda env create -f environment.yml.Activate it with
conda activate talking-head-anime.Download the main model files and extract them into the project's
datadirectory.Download and uncompress
shape_predictor_68_face_landmarks.datintodata.Use an included character image or add a PNG that is 256 × 256, RGBA, transparent outside the character, with the head inside the centered 128 × 128 area.
Expected outcome
The documented Python environment, model files and character-image inputs are prepared for the demo applications.
Guide limitations
- The README says local execution requires a recent, powerful Nvidia GPU.
- The puppeteer additionally requires a webcam.
- The environment setup may require several gigabytes of storage.
Try the manual poser in Google Colab
Open the documented Colab notebook for the manual posing application.
Before you start
- Access to Google Colab
Steps
Open the manual poser notebook linked from the project's README.
Use the notebook to try the manual poser, which adjusts an anime character's pose with sliders.
Expected outcome
The manual poser is available to try through the linked Colab notebook without downloading the code and setting up a local environment.
Guide limitations
- The Colab route is documented for the manual poser, not the webcam puppeteer.
Sources & review
Source record details
- Source availability
- Active
- Sources checked
- 16 October 2026
- Original website title
- pkhungurn/talking-head-anime-demo · Official homepage title · retained in its source language
Related options
Talking Head Anime Version 2 Demo — The repository README points to this as a more capable version of the same software.