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MB-Lab
What it is
MB-Lab is a free, open-source Blender add-on for creating humanoid characters. It provides hundreds of morphing parameters for phenotype, body settings, expressions, and poses, with real-time interpolation and automatic random generation. Users can make realistic figures, anime-style characters, and elves. Meshes include eyes, teeth, tongue, gums, and eyelashes and are designed for subdivision and sculpting. Animation tools include a fitted skeleton, inverse kinematics, BVH retargeting, and an expression mixer for facial movement. Clothing and polygon hair can be loaded and adapted through proxy fitting. Blender Cycles and EEVEE rendering are supported with shaders and texture maps. Experimental tools create characters from rough 3D drafts or body measurements across 33 dimensions. MB-Lab exports BLEND and JSON files, including rigged exports. Version 1.8.1 requires Blender 4.0.0 or later. The repository is archived and read-only, and development moved to Charmorph.
For and against
For
- Free and open source
- Hundreds of morphing parameters
- Supports realistic and anime characters
- Includes rigging and facial animation tools
- Exports BLEND and JSON
Against
- Requires Blender 4.0.0 or later
- Repository is archived and read-only
- BVH import is listed as buggy
- Hair shaders may render incorrectly
The verdict
MB-Lab offers broad character modeling and animation controls inside Blender without a listed purchase price. Its final archived release still provides extensive morphing, rigging, and export features, but known issues and discontinued development matter.
Who it suits
MB-Lab suits Blender users creating customizable human or stylized characters for modeling, rendering, or animation. It is useful for people comfortable with an archived project and Blender 4.0.0 or later.
Plans and prices
MB-Lab
Blender 4.0.0 or later
Read 7 Oct 2026 · github.com
On the record
- Animation
- It includes a fitted skeleton, inverse kinematics, BVH retargeting, and an expression mixer for facial animation.github.com · read 7 Oct 2026
- Assets
- Users can load clothing and polygon hair, with proxy fitting to adapt them to characters and poses.github.com · read 7 Oct 2026
- Character creation
- It can create human characters and adjust phenotypes, physical parameters, expressions, and poses.github.com · read 7 Oct 2026
- Character styles
- It can create realistic characters and special characters such as anime characters and elves.github.com · read 7 Oct 2026
- Experimental features
- Experimental tools include character auto-modeling from a rough 3D draft and modeling from body measurements, with 33 dimensions supported.github.com · read 7 Oct 2026
- Integration
- MB-Lab is an add-on for Blender, and its rigging is described as intended to match external applications and motion-capture files.github.com · read 7 Oct 2026
- Known issues
- The README lists buggy BVH animation import, possible unknown bugs in MB-Dev tools, outdated hair shaders that render incorrectly, and slight skin color and bump-map changes on finalization.github.com · read 7 Oct 2026
- Model topology
- Its character mesh includes features such as teeth, tongue, eyelashes, gums, and eyes, and is designed for subdivision and sculpting.github.com · read 7 Oct 2026
- Parametric morphing
- It offers hundreds of morphing parameters, real-time parameter interpolation, and automatic random character generation.github.com · read 7 Oct 2026
- Project status
- The repository says MB-Lab 1.8.1 is the final version and that development moved to Charmorph; GitHub marks the repository archived and read-only since July 21, 2024.github.com · read 7 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- MB-Lab is a free, open-source Blender add-on for creating humanoid characters.github.com · read 7 Oct 2026
- Rendering
- The wiki lists support for Blender Cycles and EEVEE, with shaders and texture maps for realistic and anime models.github.com · read 7 Oct 2026
- Requirement
- The final MB-Lab 1.8.1 release requires Blender 4.0.0 or later.github.com · read 7 Oct 2026
