Hello everyone. As I've been requested to start streaming gaming and other content online via Twitch and/or other live/video streaming services, I've looked into the feasibility thereof but have run into a snag and think perhaps the community may have some advice.

Most are familiar with the webcam presence that many broadcast during streaming, but in lieu of that I've considered the use of a virtual avatar instead. To my knowledge the most popular ways to create this effect are to use something like Facerig ( https://facerig.com/ ) which allows real time expression mapping, movement and other features onto a virtual character and broadcast this as a virtual webcam of sorts. When you smile, the character smiles. Now FaceRig is mostly used for 3D animated characters, but there is a popular plugin for it that allows content created to Live2D (https://www.live2d.com/en/) standards to be used as well, giving those same expressions, movements and whatnot to a 2D anime styled avatar.

Be it using this combination of software or perhaps some other, there is a community of so called "VTubers" that stream and record their gameplay alongside these avatars. The greatest popularity is in Japanese and many choose to use "cute" female avatars (Audio wise it seems prevalent among female users as well, but I would not at all be surprised if some of them were males using a voice-changer to better fit the character). Here's an example of one of the relatively rare male-character demos, so you can get an idea https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6k77WQ9ZY8 . Likewise, here's one used with a pretty complex motions - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR32aZCz8Uw (female voice) and here's a simple one used as an avatar during game streaming - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBnCogAreu0 (male voice). From the research I've done, it takes an artist to create a custom character "rig" as it were if you want to use such an avatatar and prices can be significant in line with complexity.

With all this in mind, I was wondering about Linux usage. As far as I am aware , Facerig itself is Windows only and Live2D's Cubism3 editor is Win/Mac, but does seem to have some open source SDKs and formats. In theory, if there was an alternative to FaceRig that could also import and use Live2D created assets (which seem to be the gold standard), it could do the job but I don't really see anything comparable that lists Linux support. Anyone familiar with Linux native programs that may be suitable?

If there aren't any suitable alternatives, then I suppose the use of WINE and/or Proton would seem to be the next step. Neither the WineHQ AppDB nor ProtonDB seem to have any entries as to their usage on Linux, so perhaps it hasn't been attempted with frequency. I have a copy of FaceRig + Live2D Plugin both via Steam (from some bundle or another) so I could just jump in an give it a try with a demo character, but I thought I'd ask here for other input given the possible complexity of the software (ie It connects to a physical webcam and interprets data before outputting to a virtual webcam of sorts, interacting alongside other 2D and 3D applications).

Anyone tried something like this before>?