MB-Lab
MB-Lab (previously ManuelbastioniLAB) is a free and open-source plug-in for Blender for the parametric 3D modeling of photorealistic humanoid characters. It was developed by the artist and programmer Manuel Bastioni, and was based on his over 15 year experience of 3D graphic projects. Bastioni withdrew support for the project but it has continued as a community project under the MB-Lab name. Graphical interface and usability The plugin is completely integrated in Blender. The GUI is designed to be self-explanatory and intuitive and when possible the features are designed to work with one click. Over 90% of the character is defined with only three sliders that control age (from 18 to 80 y.o.), body mass and body tone. The character is finished with other lab tools for body and face details, poses, skin and eye shaders, animation, poses, proxy, etc. Technology The software is designed as a laboratory in constant evolution and includes both consolidated algorithms as the 3D morphing and experimental technologies, as the fuzzy mathematics used to handle the relations between human parameters, the non-linear interpolation used to define the age, mass and tone, the auto-modelling engine based on body proportions and the expert system used to recognize the bones in motion capture skeletons. The software is written in Python and works on all the platforms supported by Blender: Windows, macOS and Linux. All the characters use the same standard skeleton, so the poses and animation can be easily moved from a character to another. Most of the data distributed in the package is stored using the standard json syntax. License ManuelbastioniLAB is completely open source, released under standard licenses of the Free Software Foundation. Code: All files written in Python are released under GNU General Public License 3. Data: All data files released in the ManuelbastioniLAB package are released under GNU Affero General Public License 3. The characters generated with ManuelbastioniLAB are released under the GNU Affero General Public License 3 (as derivative of AGPL'd data, meshes, textures etc.) Anatomy and mesh topology of 3D human models ManuelbastionLAB provides two different base meshes for male and female models. Each model respects the fundamental requisites of a professional mesh, as defined by the author: Optimization for subdivision surfaces. No triangles. Edge loops designed for deformation during poses and animation. The topology permits to model the main features of bodies and faces. Minimal use of poles. Human readable topology. Sculpting-friendly topology. The base humans are modelled after accurate studies of anatomy and anthropology. The lab 1.5.0 provides about 470 morphs for each human character, designed to parametrically describe most of the anatomical range in human bodies, faces and expressions. Genitalia are not present. Anthropology and phenotypes Concerning ManuelbastionLAB, the word phenotype is intended with the following meaning: A "phenotype" defines merely the physical appearance of a class of characters, it is not related to politics, culture, language and history. It's used to describe the variations of human traits in relation to the evolution in a specific geographical area. ManuelbastioniLAB supports