Creating Awesome Human Models In Blender

Creating human models has always been one of the more challenging tasks artists can face.  There are a number of tools out there such as Poser, MBLDaz or MakeHuman that can create human models for you.  Often the results aren’t exactly ideal for use in real-time games, however.  The Blender Add-On we are looking at today however generates excellent, fully rigged, and textured meshes that are perfect for use in games.

The add-on we are looking at today is the Manuel Bastioni Lab, very similar to Make Human, as it is a project from the developer who founded the MakeHuman project.  Unlike MakeHuman however, MBL runs entirely inside of Blender, and in my opinion, generates more game appropriate meshes and rigs.  It is completely free and open sourced.

First download the zip file available here, then install and enable the plugin in Blender.  If you are unfamiliar with this process, the video embedded below shows you the process step by step.

Once enabled it will add a new tab to the Tools panel:

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Initial controls are incredibly simple.  Pick the base type of model you want to create, if you want it to create Cycles based materials and if you want it to configure lighting for you.

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There are several different defaults to chose from:

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Your new model will be created as soon as you press the Init button.

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Now there are an absolute ton of configuration options available:

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Modify skin tons, default poses, default facial positions, and a ton more.  Once done, click Finalize and you are off to the races.

The Video

(Direct Link)


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