Hi. Some of us have started working on how to get characters from the new Makehuman 1.0 into Blender 2.5.
The goal
The goal is to have a Makehuman to Blender pipeline and work flow that is quick comfortable and flexible. To be able to pose and animate a character freely inside blender.
Right now there are two methods of work flow being discussed. A traditional exporter or makehuman as a pluggin for blender.
Both blender and Makehuman is coming out in new versions that open up new possibility’s.
Some technical facts
Makehuman 1.0
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Main features written in Python.
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Can be used as a python module.
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C++ opengl engine.
Blender 2.5
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Blender is now using modern mvc Model View Controller.
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Fully exposed python API.
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New animation system where any value can be animated.
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Blender gui is scriptable.
Pros and cons of the two different methods. (will be updated as the discussion progresses)
Here is what I could think of. Sorry if this is a little repetitive but some of the pros also appears as cons.
Makehuman as a pluggin
Pros
- No need for rigging.
- Proof of concept that works. http://thereisnoend.org/2009/09/04/index.html#mh1
- MH characters can use the new blender animation system.
- Characters can be posed inside blender.
- Any new MH feature (like advanced muscle simulation) that may be implemented in the future that may not work with the exporter will also be available inside blender.
Cons
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The makehuman pluggin would have to be installed in order to change or animate the characters created.
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Version dependency problems.
Exporter for Makehuman
Pros
- Version independent.
- Characters can be used on computers without makehuman installed.
- The exporter might work in other programs too. Especially if a standard like collada will be used.
Cons
- Rigging will be ridiculously difficult.
- Creating an export script that does this will be very complex.
- No proof of concept for rigging export
- The exporter file would likely need to include a lot of python scrips anyway.
- I assume (Please correct me if I am wrong) that finding a file standard that supports all the features needed to export a fully rigged and functioning character from makehuman will be difficult at best.
Open collada
Perhaps open collada could solve the problem with rigging?
http://www.blendernation.com/the-khronos-group-announces-significant-collada-momentum-at-siggraph-2009/
Misc links and other forum discussions:
http://www.makehuman.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=471
http://www.makehuman.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=201&p=3316#p3316
http://www.makehuman.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1037&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=10#p3328
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=165935