by Ricardo2020 » Tue Apr 12, 2022 3:52 pm
Target files for MakeHuman either increase or decrease a vector or set of vectors affecting the shape of a model mesh from its default state. This is accomplished by moving the slider associated with the target to the left or right from its center default state. Left movements decrease this value, while right movements increase it.
In the Modeling tab, there are a number of stock targets such as age, muscle, weight, height, etc. Looking closer at, say, the weight target as an example, in the default center position, the target does not affect the shape of the model. However, if you move it to the left, the model becomes skinny. Likewise, moving it to the right makes the model fat.
MakeHuman comes with a vast array of built-in targets, but thanks to the efforts of the community, many more can be added. To do this, download the desired target(s) from the target asset page on this site and put them inside your custom folder within the home directory where MakeHuman puts user content. For Linux, it will be inside the home folder. For Windows, look in the documents folder. Custom targets are found in the Custom tab inside MakeHuman. The ones you install will be found on this tab.
If you are like me, you have so many custom targets that it becomes hard to find the one you want. Thus, you can put them in subfolders within the custom directory. Note that doing so will break any models made before the shuffle. If this happens, you can open the model file in a text editor and correct the path arguments to reflect any changes, then save the file and reload the model.
Targets can be made using Blender, though I have not yet learned how to do this. There are folks here in the community who can bring you up to speed on how it is done, and there are many tutorials online which detail the process. However, MakeHuman has a feature via an optional plugin which lets you save targets. To use it, first dial in your medel and then go to the Utilities tab and look for Save Targets. Click the save as button and give your new target a name, then click save.
Save Targets lets you create a full body morph that can travel with a given model it was made for. Thus, your model, along with the saved target, can be moved to another machine or uploaded to the community and it will load the same as when it was made on the original platform. When using such a target, it is best to start fresh, that is, close and reopen MakeHuman, then go to the Custom tab and apply your target before saving the model. It helps to give the target and the model a common name so they are easy to find later.
Know that targets can be finicky, with some not playing nice with others. Also note that some targets are much stronger than others. And so, trial and error is the method that yields a finished model. As you learn the ins and outs of the targets you use, practice will make perfect.
Happy targeting...
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