Character Base Mesh App

[BrokenPillar]

A co-worker sent this to me and I thought it was pretty amazing. The app is in alpha stage right now and so is a little rough around the edges, but it has the best humanoid base mesh I have seen, plus it is fun to mess around in. It is also open source, so you can't beat the price.

 

http://www.makehuman.org/

 

Check out this link to see the topology they are using. The mesh has been evolving for about ten years by some really talented artists. It is also all in quads for compatibility with sculpting apps and smoothing:

 

http://sites.google.com/site/makehumandocs/the-humanoid-mesh

[Pancakes]

I've never understood MakeHuman's purpose. If you can make your own base mesh then you would just about always want to make your own base mesh. If you don't know how to make your own base mesh, then you probably wouldn't know how to make use of MakeHuman's base mesh. Who is it for?

 

Also the notion of taking the human element out of 'the arts' seems like it should be the last task on society's list of things to do.

[Canardia]

I think it knows each part of the mesh, and can thus morph it to look like different people. If you do that manually, you only get random monsters

And I think it has also lots of animations.

[BrokenPillar]

I think the purpose is to start from the best possible base for your character. Knowing how to make a passable base mesh is one thing, perfecting a base mesh with correct anatomical proportions and the best possible topology for deformation, muscle simulation, and variation is another. Starting with a standard primitive and trying to make your own base mesh for a human character is re-inventing the wheel. It's a puritanical approach to making game art that does not have any real benefit other than being able to say that you did it. It will also most likely only result in an end product that is of poorer quality, unless you are willing to dedicate however many years of development and expertise went into this product.

 

I also really don't see how this takes the human element out of art any more than any other software tool does. It just lets you spend less time re-doing stuff that has already been done, and gives you more time to spend on the things that would make your character unique or 'artistic".

[Pancakes]

 

 

I also really don't see how this takes the human element out of art any more than any other software tool does. It just lets you spend less time re-doing stuff that has already been done, and gives you more time to spend on the things that would make your character unique or 'artistic".

 

imperfection is variation, the way a human hand quivers when it draws a straight line attributes personality to the line that is drawn, compare a free handed line to a line drawn using a ruler

 

Compare a natural human voice to a voice altered by autotune

 

It's the imperfections of a musical instrument that gives it it's own soul. I don't think there is any ideal base mesh just as there isn't one ideal guitar. I think most people understand this when they fall in love with a 3 legged cat or when they like an old pair of jeans because of how beat up it is.

 

Which is why I still just don't understand MakeHuman. Remember Charlie Brown, or the ninja turtles, neither was animated accurately but that was a part of their charm. If people start using these universal base meshes they are extinguishing the charm that might come in to being through the imperfections of their own models.

 

that's just my opinion. I'm not trying to change your opinion. But I am usually lured into a rant against my better judgement whenever I see another announcment about MakeHuman or any software that removes variation of the human hand from art a bit overmuch...at least from my point of view.

[BrokenPillar]

That makes sense if game art was purely about art, but unfortunately there are as many technical considerations as there are artistic considerations. 3D modeling is as much about the math that creates and moves the geometry as anything else. Every line (edge) is by nature more perfectly straight than any ruled line can be. Making a beautiful character won't mean much if the edges collapse unnaturally into each other when it is animated, or if the texture stretches in unusual ways whenever it lifts its arms. These problems don't add charm, they just make it obvious that something is wrong, even if the average user has no idea what an edge loop is. I agree that subtle variation and stylization is nice, but if you fail on the technical part it is likely that no one will notice the artistic value of your piece. Unless you are going for abstract or overly stylized, basic anatomy and topology should not be the areas that you should accept large imperfections and call it charm. If you are going for abstract or toonish, then this tool obviously wouldn't be of much use to you.

 

It is also a base mesh, which implies it is just a starting point. The artistic merit comes from what you add to or how you manipulate the base. Starting with an anatomically and technically correct base will only help ensure that these two elements do not inadvertently detract from your piece's artistic merits.

 

Sorry, I didn't mean this too turn into an abstract discussion about what art is. I just thought the tool was cool and wanted to share.