[HN Gopher] Mesh2Motion - Open-source web application to animate...
___________________________________________________________________
Mesh2Motion - Open-source web application to animate 3D models
Author : Splizard
Score : 166 points
Date : 2025-10-24 11:01 UTC (11 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (mesh2motion.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (mesh2motion.org)
| raincole wrote:
| Pleasantly surprised to see a project like this without genAI
| nowadays.
|
| And for people inevitably asking "why not Blender," my answer is
| that the field of 3D content creation is so vast that some people
| need "gateway drug" like this (and SketchUp, and Daz3D, etc)
| before trying to throw themselves into Blender/Maya/Houdini's
| throats.
| fleischhauf wrote:
| why? aren't you desperately longing for trying to put into a
| prompt how a model should be animated? /s
| d0100 wrote:
| As a dev trying to create 3D games on my spare time, I
| actually am (I'm also eager to use stableprojector once I
| upgrade my 10yo pc)
|
| It's really hard having to be a 3D modeler, animator, art
| director, developer and having good enough taste to know
| you're never going to have the time to build what you find
| acceptable
| AgentMatrixAI wrote:
| First time making something 3D and code wise, codex has
| been very useful, even creating a in-game 3D editor as well
| as netcode
|
| The trickiest part is really using 3D and it comes with lot
| of extra scoping you normally take for granted: animation,
| uv texture, rigging for humanoids, making sure stuff
| doesn't clip through etc.
|
| Still learning Blender but its very slow. I haven't tried
| the MCP for it yet but I want to get proficient at it to be
| able to produce psx graphic models and textures...
| echelon wrote:
| I saw a post by a Gam Jam organizer recently.
|
| This person related that in the years prior to this one,
| artists were essential members of every Game Jam team.
| Getting art for the games was the hardest, most limiting
| step. Without an artist, the games were limited in scope. Not
| every team could get an artist.
|
| This year, many teams didn't have artists at all, and yet
| they were able to create more complete games with good
| looking art assets.
|
| This isn't "firing" artists. This is making engineers more
| effective.
|
| I work in the video space now, and I can't even begin to tell
| you how effective AI models make editors. It's like a super
| power.
| scottpetrovic wrote:
| genAI doesn't seem to scale very well without large costs and
| subscriptions to pay for it. Doesn't seem good for an open
| source project.
| eps wrote:
| Having the skeleton be auto-deduced (through the ML or otherwise)
| would've been a very natural fit here as a feature. Knowing that
| it's basically possible to do, selecting the skeleton type and
| then adjusting it manually, joint by joint, seems ... archaic?
| nusl wrote:
| Have you done 3D modelling/rigging/animating yourself before?
| leohonexus wrote:
| Why the condescending tone, OP has a point. Techniques like
| RigAnything[0] exist - whether this is within the scope of
| this project is another topic, but this seems like a
| reasonable request to me (especially considering how many
| x_2_y-named projects are ML related)
|
| [0] https://www.liuisabella.com/RigAnything/
| retSava wrote:
| I can see this being huge for 3d-printing. Apply on a sculpted
| .stl, reposition and download/save the new pose. There is already
| stuff in Blender to do stuff like that, but Blender is almost
| like a hobby in itself, just like the actual printing is like a
| hobby (to learn and master).
| reactordev wrote:
| Yessssssss......
|
| This and more mocap's plz. Keep going! The multiple animation
| export to glb saves me a ton of time. This is great! Combine this
| with ArmorPaint and you're almost there. Blender is great but
| it's so heavy.
|
| Great job.
| jackallis wrote:
| i need to map out tree house plans - can this be used?
| fsloth wrote:
| I'm sorry I can't quite parse what you are asking.
|
| "map out" - do you mean you want to digitally design tree
| houses?
| jackallis wrote:
| yes, kind stranger. i need to design tree house, was not sure
| if this can be used. not so fond of sketch up.
| drakythe wrote:
| This software is for animating preexisting 3d models, not
| creating new ones from scratch, so no, it will not serve to
| model a tree house.
| fsloth wrote:
| That's actually a really interesting take (even though the
| OP software is not really for that). How would you _like_
| to design this treehouse? Is the particular tree relevant
| here (do you have a photogrammetric scan of it for
| insrance) or are you planning to design a generic shape you
| are confident can be installed on the target trunk? Is the
| treehouse more of a plank platform for one or an actual
| multiroom house? Is the budget closer to 5$ or 50 000$?
| theossuary wrote:
| No, use sketchup
| iammjm wrote:
| nice, animating spinning wheels or tracks on vehicles would be
| cool!
| scottpetrovic wrote:
| can you give an example for clarification of what you are
| wanting to do? This web app is pretty flexible, so other types
| of rigs or animations could be added?
| leohonexus wrote:
| OP might be thinking about something like this paper "Rig My
| Ride: Automatic Rigging of Physics-based Vehicles for Games"
| by Katz et al.
|
| [0] https://melissa2661.github.io/RigMyRide/
| jdauriemma wrote:
| I just wanted to thank the creators of this app for making it
| usable without having to create an account. It's a breath of
| fresh air!
| scottpetrovic wrote:
| Yes. I really have sign up and subscription fatigue, so I don't
| want any of that happening. There is too much of that on the
| web already.
| stefanka wrote:
| Great project! It uses the motion library from the artist
| quaternius. He has some wonderful free and low-cost models.
| seanwilson wrote:
| This is cool! I was confused how to get going at first and didn't
| realise it was a step-by-step wizard I had to follow, plus I only
| watched the demo video briefly. I loaded the human then clicked
| around the main area and couldn't get anything to happen, and
| almost gave up.
|
| Suggestion to help with this: Instead of starting with a blank
| slate, start right at the end of the process with the human model
| loaded and animated, then the user can go "back" and change
| things once they've seen the kind of results they can get.
| scottpetrovic wrote:
| The next release I have for this has an "explore" page to
| start. What exists now is more of a 'build your own'
| page...which isn't great when visiting for the first time. See
| this small video of the new UX.
|
| https://x.com/scottpetrovic/status/1980697224142106716
| devJdeed wrote:
| This is defo a well needed project. The only other alternative I
| can think about is Mixamo. Goodluck and hope this projects
| overtakes Mixamo
| tantalor wrote:
| > Supports humanoid, four-legged, and bird creatures.
|
| Man is a featherless biped
|
| - tantalor
| AgentMatrixAI wrote:
| amazing timing! been needing something like this since Blender
| has been tough.
|
| I've been working on a cybercafe simulator with Three.js and
| codex and animation is hard to get right
|
| https://x.com/AgentifySH/status/1981761490274464068
| nisten wrote:
| All in typescript too. Actually very impressive. Well, some webm
| videos and .glb 3dfiles but only the essentials it seems, the
| rest is all propper typescript.
|
| But a very nicely put together repo. Good job.
| laurentlb wrote:
| Very nice project! Thanks for making it open-source and very easy
| to use. I hope you'll find contributors and be able to get a nice
| collection of animations!
|
| I'm starting a new project, I may have to use this tool in the
| next few months.
| Joel_Mckay wrote:
| Could also check out the Auto Rig Pro (
| https://artell.gumroad.com/l/auto-rig-pro ) plugin in Blender,
| as it does corrective shape-keys and makes exports to
| Unity/Unreal trivial. Also, FaceIt ( https://faceit-
| doc.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ ) uses the iPhone Lidar with the
| Unreal App, and makes facial expression capture less buggy.
|
| Keep in mind most motion capture files are considered live-
| performances, and must be licensed by the original rights
| holders:
|
| https://www.mocapclub.com/Pages/Library.htm
|
| https://github.com/MattiasFredriksson/io_anim_c3d/releases
|
| This project sort of works for basic mocap (calibration needs
| ChArUco board):
|
| https://freemocap.org/
|
| Or if you have the resources and athletic actors around:
|
| https://www.rokoko.com/
|
| Or for student projects could try:
|
| https://www.mixamo.com/
|
| Hope you make something awesome and fun =3
| throwaway743 wrote:
| This is great! I've been using mixamo and really sion, but would
| just love something open source that does both the body rigging
| as well as the facial rigging and lip syncing. It'd make life so
| much easier
| klaussilveira wrote:
| What algorithm is it using for applying weights? Blender uses
| automatic bone heat weighting, but sometimes it can fail.
|
| There's an open-source plugin that does surface-based heat
| diffusion and also this really clever voxel solution:
| https://superhivemarket.com/products/voxel-heat-diffuse-skin...
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2025-10-24 23:00 UTC)