MH into Godot tutorial

[MrP]

Got rid of the errors, I had to enable Accept Connections in mh 1.2. i can import every model now, but there are no shape keys for the modelling / macrodetails.

[tomcat]

Yeah, only face ShapeKeys are transferred to the engine.

To transfer the ShapeKeys for the body, you need to transfer the target body shape for each ShapeKey and assign it manually in Blender. This is a big and tedious job. I suppose the Mesh Data Transfer plugin can help.

I was going to do it before I got sick, but unfortunately I didn't have time. Now I am recovering and hope to get back to this work soon.

There is an important note with regard to the use of ShapeKeys in the game engine: you must ensure that the resulting body with the use of modifiers corresponded to the skeleton model, otherwise when animating the character will become ugly. That's why you can't transfer all body settings from MH to the engine. For example, you can't change the length of the arms/legs/body.

[MrP]

No worries, you've been very helpful. I've realised that it's next to impossible to get shape keys for the body, because the plugin uses a combination of built in shape keys (the ones that start with $) in order to make one macrodetail to work. I know you can import a human model with some facial shape keys, but can we import for the eyes too?

[tomcat]

Yep, those models that I made, had eyes. That was a separate node associated with the body. In the gif where the character is growing, it's with eyes. You could also do teeth and tongue… possibly hair. In the medium term, my idea is to try to make a character generator in Godot based on MakeHuman, like Go_MakeHuman_dot.

[MrP]

any ideas on how to create shape keys for closed eyes?

[tomcat]

any ideas on how to create shape keys for closed eyes?

Yeah, for some reason there's no eyelid control in the resulting file. I'll have to suggest what to add.

There is this option: Expresition mixed —> closed eye and imported into Blender as a target for the morph. The eyelids do not refer to the eyes, but to the body (head).

[tomcat]

little announcement

Change of clothing and animation:



Video



MakeHuman 1.2.0
Blender 2.93.9
Godot 3.4.4

[tomcat]

Creating a character for games in Godot using MakeHuman

An expanded and expanded edition of the MH into Godot tutorial (part 2)

In 3 volumes.

This is not really a tutorial, but more of a developer's diary type of thing.

It is intended for game developers and is supposed to be published on the Godot site. I will be grateful for comments, suggestions and other constructive criticism.

Volume 1. MakeHuman

1. Creating a character in MakeHuman. Plugins, Assets.
2. Selection of clothing. Additional settings.
3. Importing into Blender.

Volume 2. Blender

1. Exporting to Blender.
2. Assigning Animations.
3. Importing into Godot.

Volume 3. Conclusion

Challenges and perspectives.


Volume 1



Creating a character in MakeHuman

Creating a character for the game with a change of clothes and several animations.

Introduction. MakeHuman Overview

FAQ:What is MakeHuman?

MakeHuman is a completely free, innovative and professional software for the modelling of 3-Dimensional humanoid characters.

Documentation:What is MakeHuman?

MakeHuman is an open source (AGPL3) tool designed to simplify the creation of virtual humans using a Graphical User Interface, also commonly referred to as a GUI.
…
Humans are created through the manipulation of controls that allow for the blending of different human attributes to create unique 3D human characters. The controls are intended to provide the user with a simple way to create characters that give expression to the widest possible range of human forms.
…
The MakeHuman project strives to provide a complete tool that allows for the management of all things needed to create realistic virtual humans.

Distinguished by a large number of settings and easily expandable features. There is a plugin for mass character creation "Mass produce". Has a lot of ready-made clothing and accessories. You can create new ones yourself. Easy to integrate with Blender.

Has options not found in other similar programs:

• Allows you to change the age of a character. It is enough to create a model and you can change the age with one parameter. Very convenient if you are making a game about growing up.
• Allows you to assign different rigs to characters. Large selection of ready-made skeletons or you can make your own.

Sliders do not have the ability to enter a numerical value, which is sometimes not very convenient.

The program is mainly aimed at artists who create static images or videos. It is still little adapted for use in games, but has a lot of opportunities in this regard.


I will try to show how you can make a character with a change of clothes and assign him animation.


Programs used:

MakeHuman 1.2.0
Blender 2.93.9
Godot 3.4.4 (3.5 compatible)


Addons:

For Blender
Retarget BVH
MHX2

For Godot
Blender Importer Addon for Godot
The additional viewport in the screenshots is Camera Monitor.


Step 0

Program Installation

Download the program, install it.

User data is located in the folder:

Windows
C:\Users\[Name]\Documents\makehuman\v1py3\data\

Linux
~/Documents/makehuman/v1py3/data

This is where you install additional assets: clothes, hair, poses ect.

You can install them directly from the program, tab "Community". Or manually from the site — User contributed assets.

They are very well represented in the gallery, but it's a bit difficult to get there.


The following assets were used in the tutorial:

Author
Asset

punkduck
sport briefs 01
sport bra 01
sun visor (sports visor)
Short jeans (female)
Sleeveless Shirt
tennis shoes
Martial-Arts Shoes (Kill Bill)

Elvaerwyn
Ladies Sunglass1 by Elv

RehmanPolanski
Scalp Viking

callharvey3d
Fangs

sonntag78
Orkifyhead
Orkifyheadtarget custom skin

Hatshj
Alien Eyes

blindsaypatten
Fully close mouth

Joel Palmius
Elf ears

Animation used from the cgspeed
MotionBuilder-friendly version 2010 RE-RELEASE
BVH directories 01-09 (32 MB)
02_01.bvh walk
02_03.bvh run


Step 1

Modeling

Run the program and customize the character. By default, it offers a middle-gendered and middle-aged character.

Since there are no numeric values to enter, you have to move the sliders, like this:




General body settings, head, torso, arms, legs...



Apply the modifiers
Custom
Orkifyhead
Elf ears
Fully close mouth




Geometry

The following sequence is not important, we need to equip our character with everything necessary for life and combat: hair, teeth, tongue, eyebrows, eyelashes… if it is supposed that the character will not open his mouth, you can skip the teeth and tongue setup.

Hair
Scalp Viking

Fangs
Fangs (from the Clothes[Accessory] tab)



Making the body parts modifiable is possible, but difficult. At the end I'll tell you how.


Materials

Assigning textures.

Body
Orkifyheadtarget custom skin

Eyes
Alien Eyes




Step 2

Dress up your character.

Geometry
Choose clothing

If a change of clothes is expected, then we put all the necessary clothes on the character. In this case there are 2 sets: casual and sports.

Casual
Short jeans
Sleeveless Shirt
Martial-Arts Shoes
Ladies Sunglass



Sporty
port briefs 01
sport bra 01
sun visor (sports visor)
tennis shoes



The option "Hide face under clothing"
If you don't intend to change clothes, it's better to leave this option. If this option is disabled, then it will be visible when the body goes beyond the clothes. When exporting, this function will be enabled in any case.




Step 3

Pose/Animate
Assign a rig

The rig should match the animation. For this example I use the CMU Motion Capture animation and assign the corresponding rig CMU mb.



The character is ready for export.


Step 4

Export to Blender

You can put the character from MH into Blender in several ways.

1. The most reliable one is exporting to .mhx2 (MHX2 - MakeHuman eXchange format 2). This is the only way to correctly transfer the textures to the game engine.
2. If you use export to Blender via Socket (tab in MH "Community"), you will have to assign textures in the engine manually.

It is desirable not to forget to switch "Scale units" to a meter.




To be continued…


Some suggestions that arose during the creation of the tutorial

• Place links to galleries on the Assets page. It is more convenient to go directly to the gallery.
• Change the default unit of measure to meters. This will make exporting to Blender easier.

Funds

I'd like to try to raise finances to work on gamedev. I suppose, in addition to the engine site, also to put up on Patreon. Of course in completely free, but with an offer of donations. Considered an option with itch.io, but I could not find there section for tutorials. Are there any thoughts and suggestions on this topic, where else you can publish a tutorial?


Translated with http://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

[joepal]

I'd like to try to raise finances to work on gamedev. I suppose, in addition to the engine site, also to put up on Patreon. Of course in completely free, but with an offer of donations. Considered an option with itch.io, but I could not find there section for tutorials. Are there any thoughts and suggestions on this topic, where else you can publish a tutorial?

My experience with patreon is that is smooth and painless. They deal with all the tricky formalities, such as EU VAT rules. It is also perfectly possible to publish material direcly there, using the wysiwyg editor they have. As long as you don't need to publish large binary files, my guess it would suffice for pretty much.

Another alternative, for tutorials somehow involving MH or MPFB, is to commit them to the new MH site. See for example this tutorial for unity: http://static.makehumancommunity.org/ma ... there.html. I wouldn't mind having a header/link in a tutorial saying something like "Hey, this tutorial was contributed by xyz, check this patreon link if you want to sponsor further tutorial writing".

[tomcat]

Thanks for the reply!

Another alternative, for tutorials somehow involving MH or MPFB, is to commit them to the new MH site.

If this tutorial seems worthy, it can be posted on the new site. I'll wait a few days for comments on it and try registering on Patreon in the meantime. The problem isn't VAT, it's the sanctions — the payments don't go through to our banks. I'm not sure if Patreon can solve that.