NOTE: This is a work in progress and is far from complete.

This tutorial will walk you through using the TP_VTS plugin with Touch Portal to control VTube Studio. This combination is like having a steam deck, but it only costs $13.99 US for Touch Portal Pro and however much you donate to the TP_VTS plugin. Much less than what it costs to buy even the smallest Stream Deck.

Introduction

TP_VTS is a plugin for Touch Portal that interacts with VTube Studio. The TP_VTS plugin is donation ware and has a recommended donation of $2.00 US. Considering how much the TP_VTS plugin can do please consider donating more. This plugin allows you to:

  • Load a model, move a model and display a models data (Location, scale, rotation…).
  • Run hotkeys. The hotkeys don’t even need a key sequence, they are activated directly in VTube Studio.
  • Get and set expression states. This can set an expression without a hotkey. You can also use this to set the state of multiple expressions at once.
  • And much more, which I haven’t made use of yet.

Touch Portal is a very useful tool. Functionally it is like a Stream Deck, except it runs on Android and Apple mobile devices. Android back to 5.1 and IOS back to 9.3 are supported, so you can make use of your old devices. To use plugins with Touch Portal you need to pay $13.99 US to upgrade to Pro. Out of the box Touch Portal can also interact with OBS, Streamlabs Desktop and Twitch. Giving you complete control over your streaming setup.

VTube Studio is software for Virtual YouTubers “VTubers” that animates a mode. Many VTubers use this software, including myself.

Preparation

From here on it is assumed you have:

Touch Portal Quirks

Some quirks of Touch Portal that you should be aware of.

  • If you set full screen mode it can be difficult to get back out. Simple tap the screen twice using two fingers.

  • Sometimes the PC application and the mobile application will get out of sync. When this happens updates made on the PC will not be reflected on the mobile device. Sometimes this is caused by the two applications becoming disconnected. Other times the two applications are still communicating, but updates are not reflected. This situation can be resolved by restarting both applications.

Basic configurations

This section covers basic usage of the TP_VTS plugin.

Running a hotkey

The TP_VTS plugin action Run Hotkey (Wiki page) will run any Hotkey in VTube Studio. The Hotkeys do not need to have a key sequence assigned in order for them to be used.

To select a hotkey add the action Run Hotkey then use the + button to select the hotkey. Note that you can select anything in the menu, but only hotkeys will work.

Select Hotkey

Set an expression state

The TP_VTS plugin action Set Expression State (Wiki Page) will set the state of an expression to On or Off. Unlike using a Hotkey which will toggle an expression, this action will directly set the state of the expression. I use this for turning my models tail on and off.

To set an expressions state the action Set Expression State, use the + button to select the expression then select the state to On or Off. Note that you can select anything in the menu, but only expressions will work.

Set Expression State

Displaying model data

The TP_VTS plugin action Display Model Data is extremely useful for moving your model. This action writes all of the model data to a text file and then opens the text file. Most useful is the model location information, which can be used with the action Move Model.

The action takes no parameters so it can simply be added to a button. Note that the action displays the text VTS: Not for normal code block use. ... when used in a button.

Display Model Data Action

Here is an example of the data this action will gather. There is much more data in this file. The Model Location is what this tutorial is concerned with.

Here you will find data requested for the currently loaded model

Model Name: customizable final
Model ID: 92909a752c3a4a5daec15bb4e7ab0e80

Model Location:
    X = -0.6552083492279053
    Y = -2.220370292663574
    Rotation = 360.0
    Size = 4.857949256896973

Hotkeys:
    Type: ToggleExpression
        Name: Angry
          ID: 4a8c61d9819441368c2e32c561536048
...

Moving the model

The TP_VTS plugin action Move Model (Wiki Page) will move the model to a specific location and set the size and rotation. I use this for moving my model to specific locations for difference scenes while streaming.

To move the model add the action Move Model, then set the parameters X, Y, Rotation and Size to the values retrieved using Display Model Data. The Wiki Page for the action Move Model has a reference on these values. The parameters Move Model: Time(s) and Relative are not covered in this tutorial.

Move Model

More complicated configurations

More complicated buttons to control VTube Studio.

Combining actions

TO BE COMPLETED

Getting the state of an expression

TO BE COMPLETED

Creating Twitch events

TO BE COMPLETED

Using Touch Portal Flows

TO BE COMPLETED

Bonus: Creating custom Touch Portal Icons

Touch Portal allows you to use an image for buttons. This lets you do things like create a button that shows the expression you are toggling.

Touch Portal wants images to be 256x256 pixels and in either JPEG, PNG or GIF formats.

TO BE COMPLETED