Three free ways to create humans in Blender without doing much work

[@jamesmunroe6558]

I'm much more interested in character creation for games and animation than 3d printing, but this was helpful to me as well. Thank you!

[@notverygoodguy]

I tend to forget people use Blender for other things than 3d printing :) I should perhaps push that angle a bit more.

[@caseymcdonald1686]

Thanks!

[@notverygoodguy]

And thank you very much for the super thanks. Very kind!

[@caseymcdonald1686]

I do have a question for you... My imported svg is not extruding as a solid. so it prints with hollow, trapped resin inside. solutions? Thank you for generously sharing all your insights.

[@notverygoodguy]

@@caseymcdonald1686 It should extrude solid normally and it would usually need a solidify modifier ( un-intuitively) to make it hollow. At least as resin printing is concerned. One thing that might make it appear hollow is if some walls are inside out. I would expect your slicer to spot that to be honest but it might not. So, I would definitely turn on Face Orientation in the overlays drop down at the top right of the viewport. Make sure you don't have any red faces on the outside. If you do, select them in edit mode, and go Mesh->Nomals->flip If you still have issues feel free to post a link to the blend file and I'll have a look at it.

[@VitusPolikarpusSM]

Thank you for this tutorial, very useful for me who is just learning to use blender

[@notverygoodguy]

Very pleased to hear that. Thanks for letting me know.

[@wojtek5596]

Thank you very much. For me MB-LAB is the best option . But probably mixing all these addons will give you amazing possibilities.

[@notverygoodguy]

Absolutely! No need to stick to one.

[@skeletalgamer1013]

My right ear enjoyed this video

[@notverygoodguy]

I know a couple of my early videos had this problem but nobody has mentioned it on this one before. Are you sure you were listening out of both ears?

[@skeletalgamer1013]

​@@notverygoodguysorry if my comment seemed a bit sarcastic and rude. I'm using wireless earbuds and yes, it works properly since other videos sound fine. But it's no problem! thanks for the video!

[@notverygoodguy]

@@skeletalgamer1013 No I didn't take it as rude. It is really good to know if there is an issue with a video. I'll look into it and make sure I'm not making the same mistake in the future. Thanks for letting me know.

[@cerruhh8007]

Same lol, i tought my headset was broken

[@g0balot]

Thanks. That charmorph one is really not very well known.

[@tonybones7858]

This is a fantastic video, thank you. I'm assuming you're not printing out naked figures, so what do you use for clothing that is printably friendly?

[@notverygoodguy]

Thank you. Sometimes I do print naked figures but usually they have some kind of clothing and that could be an idea for the next video actually :) There are several ways to do it. Easiest is to select some faces in the shape of some clothes and then duplicate them with D, scale them up a little and then add a solidify modifier. You can then tidy it up with the sculpting brush or something. Alternatively you can design clothing with planes and add cloth physics and stich the parts together with the stitching option. I often use simply cloth pro which is a paid add on though it doesn't cost so much. Maybe I'll do a quick vid :)

[@paluxyl.8682]

Is it allowed to use the models commercial for games in Unity or Unreal ? And if it's allowed, are there any restrictions ?

[@notverygoodguy]

There are different licenses for different models. There are some restrictions on the mb-lab models for example because they are licensed under AGPL which I believe means you can use it but must also make it available for others though I am not a lawyer. On the other hand in charmorph the Anotonia model and Reom use creative commons BY which means you can do with it what you will as long as there is an attribution statement somewhere. Best to check before using a model in closed source games.

[@paluxyl.8682]

@@notverygoodguy I have read the TOS of both sites before I have posted my question ... the list of rules is really very long and complicate written. My question about restrictions was more about what kind of games are allowed or not, for example games with violence (like Mortal Kombat) or 18+ adult games.

[@notverygoodguy]

@@paluxyl.8682 The license covers only how you can use models not what you use them in. If for example you satisfy the requirements for the model to be used in a game then it doesn't matter what kind of game that is.

[@paluxyl.8682]

@@notverygoodguy Good to know, that this 3 website allow so much. I was in the last weeks on many 3d models websites, and 3 (or was it 4, I can't remember at the moment) was with restrictions like violence and adult stuff. Some websites got even strange rules that allow some character models just for games that will sell under 2000 times. :( BTW, your channel is awesome ..... I have save at least 3 videos on my "game projects" playlist. Thanks for the awesome tutorials. ^^

[@notverygoodguy]

@@paluxyl.8682 Never heard of websites like that but I#m glad I avoid them :) Thanks for the positive channel comments. Taking me a bit of time to get a new video out at the moment but I'll get there :)

[@fenceup07944931177]

Thanks for this video. How do I get my rig to look like yours? with all the controls. could you do a video on how to pose?

[@notverygoodguy]

Hi and thanks for the feedback. With makehuman, there are not many controls as it is quite a basic rig. However, both MB-Lab and charmorph have a finalize button that you have to press before they create the rig. The one in the video with the fancy coloured rig is the one created by charmorph. If you don't see the rig, it may be that you don't have the rigify addon enabled. That hadn't occurred to me as I have had rigify enabled for ages so please let me know. I could do a posing video but probably only for charmorph as that has the most complete and flexible rig.

[@notverygoodguy]

Just confirmed you DO need to have rigify enables for charmorph to use it. Just enable it by Edit->Preferences->Add-ons and then in the little search box type "rigify" and click in the little box immediately to the left of the "Rigging: Rigify" label that should have appeared.

[@isabellecomeau811]

Do you know of any addons that would allow you to enter precise measurements for the model? Or if it would be possible to do it with one of these 3?

[@notverygoodguy]

If you want measurements such as length of arms, circumference of thigh etc then I don't think that would be possible. The exact height of the model is possible though without an addon as you can enter the Z height directly in the scale box. However, this would change depending on the pose.

[@matteosberna735]

Do you know where auto-modelling tools, present in Mb Lab, went in Charmorph?

[@notverygoodguy]

Sorry no, I have never used them or even, to be honest had any idea they existed.

[@vkupila1]

First of all, thank you for your tutorial. I have question regarding to CharMorph tool I really can´t figure out. After posing my character, I would like to get rid off the whole armature/rig and all of it´s connections but keeping the pose. How do I do it correctly without loosing the pose?

[@notverygoodguy]

Just about to upload a video that explains this somewhere in there but I presume you have tried applying all the modifiers and found it breaks the model annoyingly. However, if you select the model and then go object->convert->mesh it will apply all the modifiers without breaking it. This is not really intuitive given that model is already a mesh but it does work. Let me know if that helps.

[@vkupila1]

​@@notverygoodguy Yeah, I did try to apply modifiers and the whole model went just crazy. But your trick worked! Thank you so much and keep up the good work!

[@notverygoodguy]

@@vkupila1 Thanks for leaving the update!

[@ElinaAbdo]

in the latest version of blender i cant find the make human option in preferences what do you recommend?

[@notverygoodguy]

Looks like the plugin doesn't work for Blender 4.0. I have downloaded the makehuman plugin for blender 4 from this place though and it seems to work. The site doesn't use ssl so use at own risk. It was a link I found on the makehuman github though so should be OK. files.makehumancommunity.org/plugins/

[@SomniferousStudios]

Im having trouble with charmorph the characters arent coming up. Any Tips?

[@notverygoodguy]

charmorph currently has issues with Blender 4.0. If that isn't the version you are running can you tell me what steps you are taking to make it appear as I have never seen a character not actually appear without there being an error message.

[@designkairaa4448]

Thanks for the tut dude, i got stuck in MB lab, there is no inverse kinematic and muscle options in interface after i installed as you instruct.

[@notverygoodguy]

Which version did you install? You need to install the really old version that is still marked as stable.

[@designkairaa4448]

@@notverygoodguy Thanks dude..problem has been solved, actually i didn't do anything, opened blender this morning and it works.

[@notverygoodguy]

Weird! It is sometimes a good idea to re-start Blender after installing a plug-in- Maybe that's all it needed.

[@benito9830]

Do i need the body from Makehuman or is Charmorph standalone and has assets that you can use?

[@notverygoodguy]

Charmorph is a blender add-on and therefore doesn't work outside of Blender. It can create the body and a posing rig for you and it supports assets too but I have never seen any apart from the underwear that you also get if you turn adult mode off. They are not something I have looked into to be honest as assets are rarely 3d printable. I would suggest you just download charmorph and play with it as it doesn't stop you using makehuman too :)

[@benito9830]

@@notverygoodguy i see, thank you

[@Olivia-kt2oy]

Does mb-lab work with newest blender version 3.2.2 ? I can't´install it. When I download from GitHub, the file is not anymore a zip. I can't find the problem. Thank you for help.

[@notverygoodguy]

I haven't installed 3.2.2 yet but it is supposed to work. I just went to the github and it does download a zip file. Try this link github.com/animate1978/MB-Lab/archive/refs/tags/1_7_8_5.zip

[@the_art_of_chem]

same with me, why i can't install it in blender 3.5

[@devin-x2w]

I can't download charmorph it keeps seined error codes

[@devin-x2w]

I have the newest blender version as of 2024

[@notverygoodguy]

@@devin-x2w There have been lots of Blender versions in 2024. Are you getting errors downloading charmorph from github as shown in the video or are you getting your error during a different step? I just tried it on Blender 4.1.1 and it seems OK.

[@devin-x2w]

@@notverygoodguy I have blender 4.3.1 and I've tried downloading the newest char morph version 0.3.5 ( the newest version) and every time, it will send an error code

[@devin-x2w]

@@notverygoodguy it says error extracting archive / is a directory and I've tried with all three files that are available for download

[@notverygoodguy]

@@devin-x2w You only need the zip file. Can you tell me exactly which version of blender you are using and I'll test this myself. Thanks for the heads up.

[@bitmammothOG]

I think technically to be within license specs you would HAVE to choose Antonia wouldn't you?

[@notverygoodguy]

Depends what you want to use it for I guess but that is the most flexible choice. Roal was suppose to be license free but I think the MB-lab team kind of lost their way a bit with that.

[@vinayakhegde1044]

So we don't have a male mesh model in charmorph?

[@notverygoodguy]

Yes there is. In the "Base:" dropdown option you will find "MB-Lab male" and it uses the same model as MB-Lab uses. Because Mb-lab decided to remove adult mode some time ago, the male model has a texture for underwear on but it is manifold so can be 3d printed. There is also the Reom model which is supposed to be able to be made male or female but isn't there yet.

[@juna61]

In charmorph i didn't get the preassests to show up under the library.

[@notverygoodguy]

Have a look at the Installation manual at the bottom of the page where you downloaded charmorph. It mentions you may have to download the character library and has a link to where you can get it.

[@juna61]

@@notverygoodguy Ah yeah I found other download file with over 500mb of stuff and installed it. Cheers!

[@notverygoodguy]

@@juna61 Good news! Thanks for letting me know.

[@raisdog6086]

how am i gonna close adult mode in charmorph?

[@notverygoodguy]

It's a check box you can find in the same place as when you enabled charmorph when you installed.

[@raisdog6086]

@@notverygoodguy thanks bro

[@benben2846]

Thanks, very interesting! It's a pity in charmorph not to be able to dress the characters!!

[@notverygoodguy]

I was aiming towards the 3d printing community really with the choices of tools and clothing tools rarely provide something that you can readily print especially if you want to pose the character. However, for other uses I would suggest Daz3d as a good option if you are looking for a pretty good tool that also has a huge range of outfits you can use.

[@mestevep12]

Thank you

[@notverygoodguy]

My pleasure. Thank you for your feedback.

[@RobertSpiller]

Got this question...what if I want to take a picture of me, and turn it into a anime still shot, and it actually looks like me? Can that be done in blender to your knowledge? I want to take my family reunion pictures and turn them into cartoon characters, or even characters in blender, but they must be real....is that even possible?

[@notverygoodguy]

There are addons that will take a photo and use it as a texture for a model but it is still a fair bit of work. Maybe photoshop or some video editing software might be a better choice though if you only want a photo as the end result.

[@PeterBerghold]

All three of the tools shown come from the same guy eventually. This is all directly due to the efforts by Manuel busted bastoni

[@notverygoodguy]

He created the models and the original work for MB-Lab that's true but the current code for that and charmorph are separate now. I also don't think he was responsible for the Antonio model in charmorph. He should get a lot of credit for what he did but is also the reason that the license for the model is not completely free. Many attempts were made to contact him to get his permission to completely free them but he kind of just disappeared. This is the reason that MB-Lab are going in a completely new direction with the model. I do not know if Bastoni was involved in make human. He may have been.

[@Chareidos]

I guess there is no tutorial out there on how to use your CharMorph Model for Unreal 5 Engine... :-/

[@notverygoodguy]

Not from me I'm afraid. My models are more for 3dprinting than gaming. Sorry.

[@delycan4912]

My makehuman thing wont link with my Blender

[@notverygoodguy]

In makehuman, do you have the "Accept connections" box checked and the port set to the same number as the port set in the blender makehuman add on?

[@cstpa1]

ty ty

[@spielweltenschmiede]

The rig of the finalized Charmorph character looks complete different and I absolutely have no idea how to pose anything...

[@notverygoodguy]

It is different. Charmorph uses rigify which is a blender add on that gives you a very good and pretty complete rig. Posing is basically just creating your rig, then parenting your model to the rig (usually with automatic weights) and then selecting individual bones and moving them.

[@spielweltenschmiede]

@@notverygoodguy Thanks. It was my fault, cause rigify was no installed and so charmorph didn't make a control rig...

[@S9universe]

@@notverygoodguy you can use rigify on makehuman i saw the option but did not test it

[@notverygoodguy]

@@S9universe This is true but it takes a fair bit of tweaking to make it as good as what you get out of the box from charmorph. At least it has for me. Ultimately though, having the model created and morphable within your scene is a big advantage in my view. Don't get me wrong, makehuman is a great tool and I used to use it a lot :)

[@S9universe]

@@notverygoodguy hey, thanks for the amazing review, i downloaded charmophe, because u said it was quicker, i'm gonna give it a go :)

[@KhyrisEidan]

Sound is odd. o.o

[@notverygoodguy]

Yes it is. Sound on my early videos is not their strong point. That's for sure.

[@diegoarce490]

Thank you for the websites and tutorial. NOW, free clothing ??? Thank you. By the way, on Blender 3.5 now 2023 you can bring the model over real easy and go to pose and change the pose. What is really, really difficult, at least for me, is making clothing. Even with your tutotrials

[@notverygoodguy]

Making good detailed clothes requires a lot of work and probably sculpting. The more simple the clothes the easier it becomes of course. What are the difficulties you are having? Maybe I can do a specific video to help.

[@helpline5950]

bro can you help how to cut man head with sword animated

[@notverygoodguy]

This video was really aimed at 3d printing where animating is not so important. However, you need to look for information on rigging, posing and keyframing. IT isn't so hard to do something simple. It is a different matter if you want it to be realistic. You will also need to separate the head from the body to make it a separate object. A video on cutting up a model in blender should help you with that part.

[@ilmir9606]

1 way - open MakeHuman 😀

[@notverygoodguy]

That is one way mentioned in the video, yes :)

[@Infinity-Minus-One]

they all fall under AGPL 3 license, SO you cant use them for your indie-games

[@notverygoodguy]

Not for charmorph Antonia or Reom models. They are CC attribution so you can with credit. The MB-Lab models are indeed AGPL and although I am no lawyer I believe you can use that too as long as you make your derived model available to everyone.

[@diegoarce490]

BLENDER is an overwhelming software. Way too much to learn. Makehuman is simpler more attarctive, lot less complicated. COULD YOU PLEASE. Make more Makehuman tutorials? Ex. Makehuman character, export/import into Meshmixer, add support and print. I been wanted to create a man fishing. That is simple, but I can't find an already made model that I can download and print. Can it be done.??? Thank you. Trying very hard to avoid Blender. I just can't remember where to go to do what I want. .

[@notverygoodguy]

Blender is not so hard if you stick to the parts you need. For example if you want your fishing man, all you need is a human model with a rig either from makehuman or wherever, select the rig, go to pose mode, select a bone and move it, select another bone, move it etc, find a fishing rod model and add it. In it's simplest form, this will will get you where you want to go even though it would be a bit tedious. That said, I can't see how you get to where you want with only makehuman and meshmixer. I just checked and there is no fishing person pose available in makehuman so you will need to find some means of posing whatever you do. Perhaps Daz3d studio is for you. It makes posing simple but it does have a restrictive license for 3dprinting. Alternatively look at this model on cults 3d, maybe it works for you cults3d.com/en/3d-model/art/n1-sitting-fisher-with-fishing-rod-3d-print-model

[@diegoarce490]

@@notverygoodguy Yes, you are right. Created a Playlist and I have been saving the youtube tutorials. Thanks. Also NOW I understand how to change the pose of the models.

[@notverygoodguy]

@@diegoarce490 Glad to see you making some progress here :) Are you still using meshmixer though? Great bit of software but it hasn't been updated in years and doesn't really offer much any more.

[@trachinusdraco]

Mb-lab has horrible topology

[@notverygoodguy]

It's fine for 3d printing work I think but you will definitely re-mesh for serious animating.