Volume 2

Importing into Blender and assigning animations. Importing into Godot

Need two addons for Blender:

Step 1

Import

The import panel can be called in 2 ways:

  1. File –> Import –> MakeHuman (.mhx2)
  2. N-панель –> Import MHX2

result is identical:

If you need facial animation, you can:

  1. to enable the "Face Shapes" option for emotions via shape keys;
  2. if you choose a rig with face bones, then the emotions can be realised by poses.

In Rigging turn on Add Rig and choose Rig Type [Exported].

The rig assigned to the MH will be imported.

[Import MHX2]

Remove all the masks:

If the clothes will be the only one, it's better to leave masks.

Step 2

Assignment of animation

*A little note. For the game, the animation must be played without moving the character. Moving the character is done in the game engine by moving the object itself. As the animation in the example contains movement, you need to get rid of it (or take the animation already prepared). You can choose any convenient way for the character to stay in place. In my opinion, the easiest is to tie the Hips(root) bone to the position at rest. The way is not the best, but simple and fast. To do this, I make a copy of the skeleton at rest position. This is only necessary for binding.

To assign the animation use Retarget BVH plugin finalized by punkduck [MakeHuman Team] (for which he is very thankful).

[Load And Retarget] allows you to load animation and immediately apply to the character.

Select animation (02_01.bvh) and load it.

*Now bind the Hips animation bone to the rest pose bone for the character to walk in place.

Add the running animation (02_03.bvh).

Now the file is ready to be exported to Godot.

The documentation for the engine recommends that you triangulate the models.

But Blender does not allow you to triangulate an object that contains shape keys:
Modifier cannot be applied to a mesh with shape keys

Step 3

Godot. Import

The Blender Importer Addon for Godot allows you to open Blender files as Godot scenes.

This feature is built into Godot 4, but it doesn't work correctly there.

Just save the .blend file in your project folder and it will be automatically imported into the engine.

In an open scene, you can remove the resting pose skeleton you don't need anymore and separate clothes by scene for easy switching:

Video

Face morphs will be transferred, but you must remember to set the same Shapes settings for different body parts.

The main part of the tutorial is finished.

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

Some suggestions that arose during the creation of the tutorial

  1. Make an option in .mhx2 to save body parts and clothes separately, so they would be automatically put into Blender collections (for example, body parts into "body parts" collection, and clothes into "clothes" collection, maybe even by categories: "sports", "casual"…).
  2. Support importing collections from Blender, so that Blender collections open as nodes in Godot.
23 days later

Final part of the tutorial.

Volume 3

Creating a character for games in Godot using MakeHuman

  1. Change of hair (eyebrows, eyelashes, teeth).
  2. Body Shapes (Shape Keys).

It is assumed that there are already:

  1. the original MakeHuman model, which needs to be modified;
  2. a Blender file derived from this model.

Part 1

Change of hair (eyebrows, eyelashes, teeth)

Step 1

Changing body parts is somewhat different from choosing clothes. Since you can't have a character with several hairstyles (unlike clothes), you have to work with each hairstyle individually.

Load the model for which you want to change the hairstyle. Choose the hairstyle you want:

bob02 (In the standard installation)
author
Joel Palmius
Jonas Hauquier

If you want, you can add eyebrows, eyelashes, teeth to transfer. It is better to remove unnecessary things.

The model is exported in .mhx2 format ("Scale units" in meters).

Step 2

Blender

Opens the previously saved file with the original model.

  1. The file with the new hairstyle is imported into it.

  2. The hairstyle is transferred to the collection to the original model and linked (with a Shift).

  3. The armature from the original model is assigned.

  4. The entire new collection should be deleted.

  5. The file is saved to the Godot project folder.

Step 3

Godot

The Blender file imported into Godot can be saved as a new scene. If the previous file was already saved as a scene, the hair can be transferred to it as a node.

Part 2

Body Shapes (Shape Keys)

Assignment of shape keys

Step 1

MakeHuman

Load the model into which you want to add the shape key. The model should have clothes, to which a key will be applied to the form. Apply the modifier:

The operation must be repeated for each key.

The model is exported in .mhx2 format (units in meters).

Step 2

Blender

Opens the previously saved file with the original model.

Triangulation

The engine documentation recommends triangulating the models.

But Blender does not allow you to triangulate an object that contains shape keys.

Modifier cannot be applied to a mesh with shape keys

If the model does not contain shape keys, then that model can be triangulated before they are assigned.

Choice of modifiers for shape keys

You may only assign modifiers that do not change the size of the model skeleton! If the modifier changes the dimensionality of the skeleton (e.g. arm/leg length, shoulder width etc.), the result of the animation will be unpredictable.

  1. The modified model is imported into the file with the original model.

  2. The part (body) of the modified model is selected first.

  3. Then the same part of the original model is selected (with CTRL).

  4. Assign a shape key (Object Data Properties –> Shape Keys –> Join as shapes)

  5. The procedure is repeated with the clothing elements.

  6. The entire new collection should be deleted.

  7. The file is saved in the Godot project folder.

Step 3

Godot

The Blender file imported into Godot is saved as a new scene.

There is a bug: if "Bland Shape" is set to 1, artifacts appear:

It is desirable to set the value to less than 1.0:

A huge grateful thanks to those who have helped and supported me:

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

check the possibility of posting a video from Mastodon.

5 days later

Some remarks about working with newer versions of the software:

  • In Blender 3, the Retarget BVH plugin does not work yet.
  • Godot 4 does not import .blend files correctly. It is recommended to import via glTF.
15 days later

Volume 4

Adding animation

It is assumed that there are already:

  1. Blender file with animation;
  2. a scene in Godot derived from this file.

Step 1

Blender

Opens a previously saved file with the original model and animations.

  1. A new animation is imported.
  2. The file is saved in the Godot project folder.

Note. In this example, the jump animation is applied in place. In general, it is desirable to move the model in the game engine, as a node, then it will be possible to change the height of the jump. But in this case, I will show a fixed jump. To do this, leave the constraint of the bone fixed on the X-axis only. This change will affect the existing animations, but they are already in the scene file in Godot.

Step 2

Godot

  1. From the new file imported into Godot, only a new animation is needed:

  2. It can be copied or saved for future use:

  3. Open AnimationPlayer in an existing scene and load the new animation file there by copying or exporting:

That's it, the animation is added to the scene file.

_
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a month later
a month later
4 months later

Since MakeHuman can be used to create characters for games, I guess this news can be relevant here.

Recruiting for Makehumans Future!

The makehuman standalone program is aging and in need of a serious overhaul to keep her current and viable going forward.

And if someone who knows Blender and Python can help with this issue, that would be great!

MakeHuman could be the basis for creating a character generator for Godot.

    Tomcat I wonder if this wouldn't make more sense for them. Rather than maintaining all the technical debt from their own totally custom solution it might be better to stand on the shoulders of giants as the saying goes...

        I can't help in term of coding but how about having an option the create Anime style character (like vroid). I think it'd make the program more popular.

          Megalomaniak Gowydot It is noteworthy that these suggestions have already been proposed in that thread. And the same link was even shared. 😎

          Megalomaniak I wonder if this wouldn't make more sense for them.

          This is a highly autonomous program. I don't know what the developers will decide, but there's a lot of legacy stuff in there. I'm not sure how to just move everything over.

          My idea is to create a character generator for Godot, based on MakeHuman. Actually, this tutorial, was the first step towards that work. But… the situation around me (both personal and political) is not conducive to any thoughtful creative work.

          Gowydot I can't help in term of coding but how about having an option the create Anime style character (like vroid).

          MakeHuman allows those who wish to greatly modify the original models. Anime stylization already exists:

                  a year later

                  Some comments on the current state of affairs.

                  Diffeomorphic Add-ons Version 4.1.0 [BVH and FBX Retargeter] for Blender 4.1 is out. To make it work you need to first “Load BVH or FBX Files” and then “Retarget Selected To Active”. Then the animation will be assigned.