- MHX export from MakeHuman
- MHX import into Blender
- Mocap tool
- Lipsync tool
are tools for facilitating the use of MakeHuman characters in film-making with Blender. Some documentation is available in the Documents section, but it is not entirely up-to-date, and the mocap tool is not documented at all. The present text describes the tools above in the context of making a short movie. It does not just describe what each button does, but why it is there and how it is intended to be used. To make the text self-contained, there is also a discussion of some parts of Blender, like file linking and video sequencing, that are not so well known but absolutely essential for film-making.
Hence this text contains the most up-to-date documentation of the features listed above.
I also wanted to show that it is possible to use MHX export and the mocap tool to make an animated short very quickly. Despite the flaws in the animation and the shadows, I think that this point has been proved.
The book:
Download from RapidShare
Download from Hotfile
Download from MakeHuman
The movie:
I could put the PDF up on tuxfamily along with the builds. Is this OK with you? (sorry for asking here, I lost your email address somewhere :-) )
ReplyDeleteHello Thomas...many thanks for your book. I've been following your work (and unknowingly duplicating some of it on my own) since late 2007, in Makehuman .91. This really ties it together with Blender 2.55, and I expect to make good use of it. I'm going to run a Facial Emotions lab with my Psychology students, and have all 30 of them create a Makehuman head with their features, then work on subtle (and not-so-subtle) facial emotions. This PDF is a great step towards that goal.
ReplyDeleteHi Joel. I would appreciate if you put the pdf on tuxfamily. Thx.
ReplyDeleteHi Zinc. Thank you for your kind words. But I doubt that you have followed by work since 2007, since I only got involved with MH in 2009.
Hello Thomas! Thanx a million for the informative book. There is one problem I get when I try to load, retarget and simplify; The following errors are shown and bvh rig never match the MK rig:
ReplyDeleteTraceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/regi/blender-svn/install/linux2/2.55/scripts/addons/space_view3d_mhx_mocap.py", line 2095, in execute
loadRetargetSimplify(context, self.properties.filepath)
File "/home/regi/blender-svn/install/linux2/2.55/scripts/addons/space_view3d_mhx_mocap.py", line 2079, in loadRetargetSimplify
(rig90, action) = importAndRename(context, filepath)
File "/home/regi/blender-svn/install/linux2/2.55/scripts/addons/space_view3d_mhx_mocap.py", line 927, in importAndRename
guessArmature(rig00)
File "/home/regi/blender-svn/install/linux2/2.55/scripts/addons/space_view3d_mhx_mocap.py", line 904, in guessArmature
raise NameError('Did not find matching armature. nMisses = %d' % bestMisses)
NameError: Did not find matching armature. nMisses = 23
location::-1
location::-1
I'll appreciate if you can help!
Hi ragotago. The problem is that the bvh file defines a skeleton not recognized by the mocap tool. Currently the tool only works with bvh files from five sources: CMU Motionbuilder-friendly, CMU Daz-friendly (and probably other Daz/Poser files), ACCAD, mocapdata.com, and some more. It does not work with bvh files for 3dsmax, e.g. CMU 3dsmax-friendly from cgspeed.
ReplyDeleteThe error printout says that in the best fit there are still 23 unrecognized bones, which is a lot. Your bvh file contains a skeleton which is completely new to me. You have cut out the interesting info, which is just before the error message: the names of the bones and how well they fit with the different known armatures. If you send me the bvh file, I can make the tool recognize your skeleton. My email address is thomas_larsson_01 at hotmail dot com.
Thomas,
ReplyDeleteThank you for a great book!!!
The mocap tool works fine with blender 2.55, except the line of action can go anywhere, for example when the rigg is pointed forward and a walking bvh was imported the rig goes up at every step (like climbing stairs) instead of forward. Any suggestions?
Hi dave,
ReplyDeleteThe problem might be that you imported the bvh file with the wrong scale, cf the discussion at pp 72-76 in the book. But a scale problem should only make the character move too fast or too slow, not in the wrong direction.
I don't have any such problems here. Where does you bvh file come from? Perhaps download a more recent nightly build.
Hi Thomas,
ReplyDeleteWhen I try to load a BVH file I get a traceback error:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "D:\Data\Blender\Installs\BL042D~1\2.55\scripts\addons\space_view3d_mhx_m
ocap.py", line 2031, in invoke
context.window_manager.add_fileselect(self)
AttributeError: 'WindowManager' object has no attribute 'add_fileselect'
Still looking around and I noticed that the lateset build of blender 2.55 has an import bvh feature and that doesn't give the error and actually loads the bvh file. Now the problem is I have the armature from the bvh and the human from makehuman but can't seem to parent them.
ReplyDeleteSo, using MakeHuman 1.0 Alpha 5.1 and Blender 2.56 Beta I tried the built-in importer. All seemed okay except that Scale 0.1 to downsize dm to m did not work on those strange artifacts on level 20 (which are marked IK-something and look a parachute pack on the back of the hips). Whatever those are, they didn't scale.
ReplyDeleteI DL'd the nightly build form MH and extracted the io_import_scene_mhx.py but could find no similarly named file to replace it any where on the C-drive of my Vista Pro Ulitimate.
I am also getting this error again and again
ReplyDeletewhat is the solution for this
File "D:\Data\Blender\Installs\BL042D~1\2.55\scripts\addons\space_view3d_mhx_m
ocap.py", line 2031, in invoke
context.window_manager.add_fileselect(self)
AttributeError: 'WindowManager' object has no attribute 'add_fileselect'