Link: http://www.makehuman.org/blog/index.php

I recently discovered a very fascinating open source software project called the Make Human Project. It's been around since 2001, but I only heard about it recently. As a programmer and sculptor with a fascination with anatomy and the sheer diversity of the human form, this is right up my alley.

The goal of the project is to create a single mesh — a 3D representation of a person — that can be transformed (or morphed) into any possible human shape, regardless of age, ethnicity, level of fitness, or other individual factors. But the project is not only about making a mesh, it's about a whole platform - a computer program to allow you to modify the mesh with intuitive controls (without needing to know how to sculpt in 3D). The program will allow you to create a base 3D model to represent any individual, real or imagined, and export that figure to be used in other programs, or Make Human can render images itself.

The program is still in alpha (early testing with features still under development) and there are many features that aren't available yet (hair, the ability to pose the figure, the ability to generate low-resolution models for games, clothes), but the results are still impressive. Since Make Human will export files in a widely-used, industry standard file format called Wavefront OBJ, you can use the program today as a starting point for digital sculpting, finishing up in another program like Maya or Blender.

Because the program is open source, if you're technically minded, you can actually make changes to the underlying data models to suit your own needs, and if you're a competent digital sculptor, you might even consider contributing to the project as an artist.

When you first launch Make Human, you're presented with the "universal mesh". This figure is designed to be completely androgynous, with features that are completely ethnically neutral:

There are four sliders on the left side that allow you to mix different full-body features. Move the top slider to the left and the figure becomes more feminine, to the right it becomes more masculine. The second slider changes the apparent age from the figure from twelve to seventy. The third and fourth sliders let you adjust the weight and muscle tone of the figure. Here's an example of the female figure in Make Human age progressed from 12 to 70.

On the right side of the screen, there are four maps that contain ethnic morphs. These contain morphs with facial features common to certain geographic areas and/or among certain ethnic groups. Although this feature is still under development, it's amazing to see the variety of human features that they've captured already. They've got six major ethnic targets from Africa alone. And these targets are not all-or-nothing. They can be mixed and matched, so you could create a figure with features that were, for example, partially Koisan (an ethnic group from the southern part of Africa) and partially Sudanid (ethnic group dominant in the Northeast of Africa).

Although there are fewer ethnic targets for Europe and Asia and none yet for the native American populations, I've spoken with the project members and expanding the ethnic targets is one of their highest priorities. They are actively recruiting digital sculptors and creating composite reference images of the different ethnic groups.

If this were the extent of Make Human, it would be impressive, but it's not. You can also modify the attributes of specific portion of the body, both on a macro level (leg, pelvis, upper torso) or on a micro level (belly button, clavicle, etc). Do you want long legs, or a short neck? No problem. Want a fat figure with muscular arms? Again, no problem. Long torso, big feet, off-center belly button? Want a pretty girl's head on a muscular man's body? All okay but, ummm... you might want to talk to a psychiatrist about that last one.

The roadmap for Make Human is fascinating. They have plans for adding pose tools, different emotions, clothes, different shaders, more textures (skin types), low poly exporters to allow making figures for games. When completed, it's going to be an amazing program. Scratch that - it already is an amazing program. When it's done, it's going to be phenomenal.

If you've got a few minutes to spare, you should download the current alpha and try it out. If you've got a little more time to spare why not consider contributing some of your time to the project (if you can't, you could also donate some money). This is a community-based project, which means that nobody is paid to work on it, and nobody has to pay to use it. It is, and will remain free.