User:Angel Emfrbl/Sandbox

Why use a Mascot?
A mascot design is usually used as a marketing and PR device. It is used to catch attention and promote a UTAU voicebank and the tradition is borrowed Vocaloids use of mascots. Take note, you do not have to use a mascot at all, but unlike Vocaloid where it is more easier to do so, UTAU benefit the most from having one owed the sheer number of voicebanks. Even if you release a voice that is of quality, it is much harder to ensure the audience that it is a good vocal.

Copyright Concerns
Just as its forbidden to create a voicebank from Lady Gaga, take note don't rush to make a voicebank based on a exisiting person (fictional or otherwise) i.e. your favourite superhero, with your voice backing it. Sure its your voice backing it, but there is still a copyright infringement on the mascot design. Even if you do not make a profit from the voicebank, you can still be sued for the copright infringement so its quite a serious issue.

It is very common for UTAU to borrow influences from the Vocaloid series of voicebanks, and Hatsune Miku's design has greatly influenced UTAU as well. So how do they get away with this? Copyright does not mean you cannot take your inspirations from existing characters, you just can't make a exact likeness of the character. That means its fine to borrow aspects of existing Vocaloids and UTAU, but you cannot copy Teto Kasane's design and just make it pink and green or use the Voclaoid Yuki's design and give her a fluffy blue scraf. You can only borrow elements of these designs and build a unique design of your own on top of them that clearly distinguishes your character from them. In short, if you really want to base your character on a superhero, its fine to do so to construct your new singing UTAU "superhero", just don't make your singer look like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, etc.

Copyright is the single most important thing to be aware of when designing UTAU. Several UTAU voicebanks, such as the Vipperloids, have already been backed by the owners own copyright claims so even UTAU are not "safe" from encountering these problems. Some artists are particular defensive of their designs even if their not copyrighted and will point fingers at the slightest bit of likeness to their own designs. Know where you stand with their designs and yours as well. If in doubt, use existing designs as a guideline on what to avoid moulding your UTAU on if you have any concerns with copyright at all.

Also, don't forget your design is your own and you too can claim copyright on the design yourself.

For further reading see U.S. Copyright Office FAQ.

Where to begin?
Designing a mascot is not s easy as it seems and there are several things consider. Firstly, consider the mascot represents your voicebank and will be the "face" that goes with the voice whenever someone mentions your UTAU. There are advantages to making the appearance fancy, but there are also advantages to keeping it simple.

It is also not always easy to do the design of the mascot first before you have even recorded the voicebank, because sometimes the results in UTAU do not meet expectations, and what you visualised for the mascot design before recording may not even be suitable once the UTAU is completely recorded. If you are doing it afterwards, one thing to do is to start by listening to your voicebank in action several times and trying to visualise what kind of person they are in real life.

A mascot does not have to be human and does not have to be the same gender as the intended voicebank. There is nothing to same you cannot create a crossdressing alien or a genderless crab, though these may be harder to "sell" to your audience.