This project focused on designing and testing 3d widgets for MakeHuman, a free software for modelling 3-Dimensional characters.

Along with his mentors Stefano Fabri, Manuel Bastioni and Simone Re, Eugenio Passacantilli, student of Science in Communications at the University La Sapienza di Roma (Italy) designed and tested 3D widgets as a new concept to present options to users.

Read on for Eugenio’s project report:

Summary

“3d widget for Make Human” has been an ambitious, arduous but very stimulating project. Its main goal, in fact, was not simply to create a new tool or edit its features, but a total revolution of the program, decided after the team’s choice of re-design the software in 3D, which meant a re-design of all tools and features.
The project’s limited time span has not allowed us to carry out each task and meet all targets. However, it has indeed been possible to create the core of the new program, numerous new tools and characteristics, and remove several usability problems that had limited previous versions.

Tools

The transformation into a 3d structure allows the creation of a new type of tool.

• Living tools: thanks to the three-dimensional structure, it is possible to give a new tool-feedback. These tools, infact, change their shape according to the action done through them and reflect the intensity of the action itself. Therefore, tools are transformed into “organic”, almost “living” instruments. They no longer represent simple information, but they become a constant peculiarity of the software.

  

• Mesh: it is the main object in the software, now improved by the 3d structure, which also increases its potentials. As sensitive tool, in fact, it allows a revolution in the modellation process and, consequently, the elimination of usability problems that made the previous sculpting unmanageable.
• Mainbar: it is the only tool connected to the previous design, but, as a 3d object, it has new “self-describing” 3d options, in order to increase their visibility to the user. In addition, this tool fades away when not in use, a condition that avoids obstruction during the sculpting.

  

• File Selector, search engine: This tool is a kind of “hybrid”, a mix of “file selector” and “search engine”. Basically, it is a meta-data system that also allows to manage files and directories like meta-data. it is therefore a tag-oriented solution (like a simple search engine), but, thanks to meta-data, it can be used as file selector (even if in the internal software’s repository only).
  

  

Work structure and new tools

The mesh modellation is now shared between two different sections:

Primary modellation:
It allows to choose main human features such as age, sex and ethnic group. This section has 3 specific tools:

• Age Widget: allows to manage age, from “child” to “elder”.
• Sex Widget: allows to manage sex, mixing masculine and feminine features.
• Ethnic Widget: it manages ethnic features, allowing the choice of a pure ethnic group, or a multi-ethnic human, by the mixing of two pure groups.

Secondary modellation:
It allows to refine mesh’s single parts, by two kinds of actions and two specific tools:

• Generic actions: Size, rotation and translation of the part selected. Thanks to the 3D architecture, it has been possible to realize one single tool, immediately named “Transformer”, to carry out these three actions,
• Specific actions: Fat management (increase/decrease), Muscular tone management (increase/decrease), Skin management (wrinkle/stretched)

  

These pairs of opposite actions have been put together in three different tools.

Body subdivision

in order to make the refinement possible, it is necessary to subdivide the humanoid’s body. The heterogeneity of the human body, in fact, does not allow to refine generic parts in the same way.

Consequently, the body has been divided into three levels of parts:

• macro-zones: big parts of human body (head, arms, legs, etc.)
• zones: medium parts of the human body (nose, eyes ears etc.)
• micro-zones: small parts of the human body (root of nose, nostrils etc.)

Every macro-zone and the sub-zones contained in it are sensitive and become active when zooming on them.

This project was mentored by: