Quick Start

Contents

  1. 1 Introduction
  2. 2 Installation
    1. 2.1 Windows
    2. 2.2 Mac OS X
    3. 2.3 Linux
  3. 3 Default Mode
    1. 3.1 Toolbars
  4. 4 Modeling
    1. 4.1 General section
      1. 4.1.1 Anatomical controls
      2. 4.1.2 Ethnic Mixer
    2. 4.2 Details section
      1. 4.2.1 Genitals
      2. 4.2.2 Adjustments
      3. 4.2.3 Symmetry
      4. 4.2.4 Hair details
  5. 5 Pose Controls
  6. 6 Files
  7. 7 Render
    1. 7.1 Aqsis
    2. 7.2 Pixie
    3. 7.3 POV-Ray
  8. 8 Libraries
    1. 8.1 Hair
  9. 9 Measure

Introduction

This Alpha 4 release provides a subset of the features that will appear in the full 1.0 release later this year. This is not a full-function release and, most notably, does not provide functionality to allow the figure to be posed. It does illustrate the new mechanisms by which the figure can be modelled for ethnicity, gender and age. It also contains tools to allow the shape and size of key body parts and individual anatomical features to be modelled in detail. More complete releases are expected to follow soon. Please check back regularly for updates.

MakeHuman(TM) is a free interactive modelling tool for creating custom 3D human characters. These characters can be modelled in minutes and can then be used with many other modelling and rendering programs to incorporate realistic human figures into computer generated images and animations. Features that make this software unique include the penta-parametric GUI(tm) and the Natural Pose System(TM), for advanced muscular simulation.

The home page for MakeHuman(TM) is at http://www.makehuman.org/ . The MakeHuman project is an open source project hosted on Google code at at http://code.google.com/p/makehuman/. This document is the Quick Start document. The MakeHuman Users Guide covers the same topics as this document but in greater detail.

Installation

Since Alpha 4 installers are available for all major platforms. You could download them at http://sites.google.com/site/makehumandocs/download.

You will need 30 MB of disk space for the installer and a further 100MB for the application code. Once installed you can delete the installer to recover the disk space that it occupies. It is recommended that you run MakeHuman on a machine with at least 512MB of memory and at least an 800MHz processor.

If you want to run MH on a specific platform, you may still be able to build, run and use this application by building it from the SVN source code. This requires a bit more effort, additional knowledge and compilation tools. See the  Developers Guide  for more details. Unofficial nightly builds are also available (see this page http://code.google.com/p/makehuman/source/checkout for more details).

Windows

The Windows version of MakeHuman needs the Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package because MH is compiled with python 2.6 and without these libraries it can crash at startup. To check whether this package is already on your system open the Control Panel and select 'Add/Remove Programs' ('Programs and Features' in Vista). If not, download and install it from the Microsoft site.

To install the MakeHuman application, download the MakeHuman Windows installer from the MakeHuman Web site and execute it. Run the application from Windows Start menu.

Mac OS X

A zipped package which contains an Universal Binary of MakeHuman is available for Mac OS X 10.5 (aka. Leopard).

Note that this version of MakeHuman does not run on Versions prior to Mac OS X 10.5!

Download the archive and unzip it into a separate directory on your file system and unpack its Application Bundle named MakeHuman.app. 

A good location for this is the folder Application but this is not mandatory.

Finally you may start MakeHuman by double clicking the Applications icon.

Linux

.deb packages are available for both 32- and 64-bit versions of Ubuntu 8.10. Download and run the file appropriate for your version. The installation process will be started. After the installation, Makehuman will be available in the applications menu.

Further information on the installation of MakeHuman can be found in the Installation section of the Users Guide at Users Guide

Default Mode

When you first launch the MakeHuman application you should see the default human figure facing you with outstretched arms. As illustrated in this screenshot, the figure should appear in the centre of the window surrounded by a set of toolbar and toolbox controls.


Controlling the Display
The human figure is displayed in 3D. You can rotate the figure, zoom in/out and pan around the window using either hotkeys on your keyboard or by using your mouse (or graphics tablet, etc.).

The numeric keys, along with the '+', the '-' and the '.' keys and the up, down, left and right keys on your keyboard are used as hotkeys (the number key settings make most sense if you have a numeric pad on your keyboard):

Rotating the Figure:
  • Left click the mouse and drag up, down, left, right or press 8, 2, 4 and 6 on the keyboard. 
Zooming In and Out:
  • If you have a central wheel on your mouse this can usually be configured to zoom in and out, otherwise you'll need to use the '+' and '-' keys on your keyboard. Pressing the '.' character resets the zoom (and removes any panning to point the camera at the centre of the figure). 
Panning:
  • Right click and drag or use the up, down, left and right keys to drag the contents of the viewing window around, effectively panning the camera. Pressing the '.' character returns the figure to the centre of the window (and resets any zoom). 
Preset Positions:
  • Pressing '1' returns to the default front facing view, '3' displays a side view and '7' an arial or top view. These keys do not reset the zoom, or panning, so press '.' if you need re-centre the camera. 
Undo/Redo:
  • Pressing 'Ctrl Z' can be used to undo the previous operation (change to ethnicity, gender, age, etc.) 
  • Pressing 'Ctrl Y' redoes an operation undone by using 'Ctrl Z'.

Toolbars

There are 2 set of toolbars. Top menu represents general program modes and operations, while bottom buttons represent sub-modes and contextual operations. The whole structure is:
  • Modeling.
    • General. Anatomical modelling screen which allows you to control the ethnicity, gender, age, muscle mass, weight and height of the character that you are creating.
    • Details.
    • Finishing.
    • Hair details.
  • Files. Saving and loading files, including export in various 3D file formats.
    • Save.
    • Load.
    • Export.
  • Render. Allows rendering with different render engines.
    • AQSIS. The default render engine.
  • Libraries.
    • Hair.
    • Background.
  • Measure.
  • Help. Opens a PDF copy of the Users Guide in your PDF viewer.
  • Quit. Closes the MakeHuman application. Note that in this Alpha 4 release it exits without prompting you to save.
Other toolbars and control widgets appropriate to particular operations will appear when the application is in a particular mode. For example, when using the default 'Home'/'Modelling' Mode screen, you will see anatomical controls on the left and right hand side of the figure.

Modeling

The Modeling button on the toolbar takes you into the modelling mode where you can model the anatomy of the figure. This mode provides controls to adjust the ethnicity, gender, age, physique and stature of your character. A common modelling technique is to model generic attributes first, such as age, ethnicity and gender and then to work down into greater detail, modelling individual body parts and then specific detailed features. MakeHuman is structured to make it very easy to follow this pattern of working.

Changes made using the various anatomical controls can be reversed by using the Undo button on the right of the screen (or Ctrl-Z on your keyboard). Undone changes can be re-applied using the Redo button (or Ctrl-Y on your keyboard). Changes can be reset to their initial values using the Reset button.

General section

Anatomical controls

The main anatomical controls are located on the left. Moving the sliders allows setting the main attributes of the model, including gender, age, etc.

Ethnic Mixer

The world map on the right hand side of the Modelling page allows you to select and mix together traditional ethnic characteristics. Alpha release only contains a small collection of the ethnic groups that will be available in the full release.

When you click the continent of interest a larger map of that region is displayed listing the different ethnic groups available. Select the 'increase' or 'decrease' button then click on the ethnic group to increase or decrease the proportion of ethnic characteristics to inherit from that group. Click the 'reset' button and an ethnic group to reset the ethnic characteristics from that group to zero.

Details section

Details section allows weight and tone changes for individual body parts.

Genitals

Genital control allows adding genital to the figure.

Adjustments

To change individual body parts, select
  • Select Tone adjustment, Weight adjustment, Move or Scale mode on the left.
  • Hold down the mouse button over a body part and drag the mouse. For all modes, except "Move" dragging right increases value, while dragging left decreases it. "Move" mode shifts the body part to the direction set by the mouse.

Symmetry

Symmetry controls allows enabling and disabling symmetry, as well as copying right-side details to the left and vice versa.

Hair details

Hair details allows setting the hair color.

Further information on MakeHuman Anatomical Controls can be found in the Anatomical Controls section of the Users Guide

Pose Controls

This Alpha 4 Release does not provide any pose controls.

The default position has the human figure standing facing straight towards the camera with arms outstretched.
Further information on Posing MakeHuman figures can be found in the Pose section of the Users Guide

Files

In this Alpha 4 Release the Load, Save and Export buttons work.

The Load button displays a file browser, showing images of MakeHuman 1.0 files from your 'models' directory. The first image in the chain is shown in the middle of the screen. Clicking on this image or pressing 'Enter' loads that model into MakeHuman so that you can work on it. To step along the chain you can click the image to the right or press the right arrow on your keyboard. To move back along to the left, press the left arrow or click on the image to the left.

The Save button initially displays a text field into which you can type a name and tagging information that will help you to subsequently find your model. You then need to press 'Enter' or click on the 'OK' button next to this field and MakeHuman will save the anatomy and pose of the current figure into a MakeHuman format file. The file will be saved into the 'models' directory on your file system using the first word you typed into the name/tagging field as the file name and an extension of 'mhm'.

The export button saves a Wavefront object file as well as a material file and skeleton to import in a 3d modeller like Blender.

Render

Rendering options are provided by a bottom buttons on the 'Render' mode screen.

Aqsis

Aqsis is an Open Source rendering application that implements the Renderman® standard. You can see examples of its capabilities and download the software from http://wiki.aqsis.org/. MakeHuman provides an option to directly render an Aqsis compatible Renderman format file containing a posed and morphed humanoid model.
The files generated by using this render option are written into the 'renderman_output' directory on your file system.

Pixie

Pixie is an Open Source RenderMan renderer for generating photorealistic images released on a GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). You can see examples of its capabilities and download the sorftware from http://www.renderpixie.com/. MakeHuman provides an option to directly render a Pixie compatible Renderman format file containing a posed and morphed humanoid model.
The files generated by using this render option are written into the 'renderman_output' directory on your file system.

POV-Ray

The Persistence of Vision Raytracer (POV-Ray) is a popular and freely available rendering application capable of generating stunning images and animations. You can see some of the images that it is able to generate and download the software from http://www.povray.org. MakeHuman provides an option to directly render a POV-Ray 'include' file containing a posed and morphed humanoid model. This option also exports a pigment map and generates a sample 'scene' file that contains a series of examples illustrating a range of ways of using the model. These examples and further options for rendering are explained in more detail on the Users Guide
The files generated by using this rendering option are written into the 'pov_output' directory on your file system.

Libraries

This menu section contains various additional functions.

Hair

Allows hairstyle selection.

Measure

This section allows explicit settings of Chest, Waist and Hip girth and Stature.

Further information on MakeHuman Rendering options can be found in the Rendering Options section of the Users Guide.
Information on exporting MakeHuman figures can be found in the Export Options section of the Users Guide

Copyright MakeHuman© Team 2010.
Permissions are given to reproduce, modify and redistribute this document in accordance with the licensing statements at Licensing