User:Geyser/CharacterTutorialMakeHumanToUE4

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  Konoko without armor

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  Konoko outline vs. Katia

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  Skinny anime girl (MH)...

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  matched to Kon's pose

Of the many character-generating tools available out there, MakeHuman is perhaps the most versatile. Even if you end up using Blender or other tools for some of the workflow, MakeHuman is quite capable as a standalone tool; it is also open-source and its key components are editable as plain text. The main limitation of MakeHuman is that it only deals with all-quad geometries (which is not always optimal, e.g., for hair).

The need for MakeHuman (or another advanced character generator) comes from the fact that Konoko's character in Oni has fairly non-standard female proportions: very broad shoulders, but a small torso and very narrow hips, and a relatively high and thin waistline. It is also important to have a well-rigged character that will deform well during extreme animations, and MakeHuman's weight maps are among the best there is. HERE is Konoko's model stripped of her armor and mostly consolidated into a figure with a smooth outline.

The differences between Konoko and a "normal" female figure are clearly seen if one tries to superimpose Konoko with "Katiusza" or Katia (a female mannequin bundled with Kubold's mo-cap animation pack. Apart from comparatively longer legs (if brought to the same height), Konoko has a very thin and high waistline, and also very narrow hips and torso (which is why her shoulders appear to be so wide set, while actually their width is correct at this character height). See also the side view comparison

It is quite possible to fine-tune MakeHuman to produce a rigged character with exactly the same proportions as the original Konoko, but first we need to make a neutral pose so that superimposition works best. A quickly shaped, deliberately skinny character ("anime style" custom morph dialed halfway, plus various built-in sliders; HERE), if brought into Blender via FBX HERE, is surprisingly close to the original Konoko in terms of height. We pose the legs and arms of that character to match Konoko's, and also adjust the spine to get a close match for the chest and shoulders (as seen from the side).

To do the actual modeling in MakeHuman, we will need Konoko's outline as a background image (something like the "Konoko vs. Katia" picture, but with all of Konoko's joints, complemented by a side view). Also, the pose we just arranged needs to be saved as a .bvh file, getting THIS.