Clean Up a MakeHuman File in Blender (For 3D Printing)
This is part of my “3D print a MakeHuman” tutorial. This part covers how to clean the topology in Blender, and my previous post covered how to import MakeHuman files into Blender.
MakeHuman models have clean topology but need basic clean-up. This is beginner-friendly and takes under 30 minutes in Blender (assuming you know basic commands.) The messy topology is inside the head and between the butt cheeks. To clean it, we must delete some auto-generated parts and smooth out overlapping vertices.
If you’re using this to make a 3D printed BJD, action figure or doll, here’s a list of additional resources.
Three-Button Mouse (Important! Don’t skip this!)
Remove “Pose Mode Lines:” Go to “Object” Mode. Right-click the “Pose Mode” lines and then click “X” to delete. Afterward, go to the “Modifiers” tab (located on the right side of the screen) and delete the “Armature” modifier.
Remove skin color, go to the “Material” tab (right side of the screen) and click the minus sign. Enjoy the rainbow of flashing colors!
Clean the Butt (Smooth Overlapping Vertices)
... I never thought I’d be writing this, but to avoid cleaning butts, make flatter butts with a lot of space between butt cheeks. If you prefer big round butts, here’s a quick way to clean those:
1. Go to “Sculpt” Mode and make FREAKING SURE that “X-ray” vision is turned off.
Long Reason Why: X-ray vision is turned on/off by clicking “X.” It lets you see all vertices at once. Don’t leave it on as you sculpt in Sculpt Mode or you’ll accidentally select and edit parts you don’t intend to. If you must use x-ray mode while sculpting, go to “Edit” Mode and use Blender’s “Hide” command to lock parts before entering “Sculpt” mode.
2. Zoom in to the butt crack.
3. Select “Smooth” and make your brush small enough to cover the buttcrack line. Adjust size by clicking “[” and “]”.
4. Lightly smooth between the butt cheeks until they are no longer crumpled into each other. If needed, select “Pinch” to tighten the space back up. To add volume, make your brush large and select “Inflate.”
Clean the Head (i.e. Delete Auto-Generated Parts)
The head is the messiest part of a MakeHuman mesh, so it takes more work to clean. These are the steps:
1. Delete Eyeballs. Go to “OBJECT” Mode. Right click the eyeballs and delete by clicking “X.”
2. Delete Eyeball Sockets. Go to “EDIT” Mode. Zoom inside your head and find the eyeball sockets, which look like mushrooms with a short “stem” that leads toward the eye. Make an Edge Loop around the part of the “stem” (closest to the eye.) Delete the vertices. Then select the leftover socket and delete that. Delete until the eye holes are entirely flat and empty.
If you don’t want eyeholes, you can now extrude and join vertices to close that space (I won’t do this here because it’s time-consuming.)
3. Delete “Mouth Cavity.” The “mouth cavity” is a balloon-shaped structure inside the mouth. Repeat the Edge Loop delete process from Step 2. Delete the mouth cavity until there are no tightly-spaced or overlapping vertices in the far edges of the mouth.
4. Close Mouth Hole. Deleting “Mouth Cavity” leaves a hole between the lips. You don’t need to close this, but might want to.
The best way to close the mouth hole is to rebuild the missing part of the lips by extruding and merging vertices (that also allows you to delete less of the mouth.) Some people use a process called “retopology” to keep the original mouth design intact. You can do both of those on Blender, but it takes over 30 minutes.
Here’s a quick-and-dirty way! It’s fast but yields uglier results:
Select an “Edge Loop” around the mouth. Extrude it until the mouth is half closed, then click ENTER. Repeat until the mouth hole is small or you feel it looks good. Then click “W” => “Merge” => Merge at Center.
To make the mouth prettier, sculpt in detail via Blender’s “Sculpt Mode.” Go the “Mode” dropdown menu, click “Sculpt” and sculpt in details.
Booya! Now your model has clean topology!
For a proper 3D print, make it hollow and add at least one hole.
To do this, add wall thickness (i.e. build the inside of your model.) After this tutorial, you just have an outer shell with no wall thickness-- and 3D printers don’t “see” that as hollow, or your eyeholes/moutholes as real holes.
Even if you are building a heavy statue, make it hollow-- this saves over 50% in printing material costs, improves print quality on thick areas, and ensures that most printers can print your file.
If you’re making a 3D printed BJD, action figure, or doll, you have to build joints before you add wall thickness.
