# MPFB2: an open source human generator that runs inside Blender > MPFB is a free and open source human generator built as a Blender add-on rather than a standalone application, and version 2 of it requires Blender 4.2 or newer. The repository is mostly the add-on source, a test suite and documentation, and it ships three separate licence files because the code and the bundled assets are licensed differently. **makehumancommunity/mpfb2** — MPFB2 is a free and open source human generator for Blender - Repository: https://github.com/makehumancommunity/mpfb2 - Website: http://static.makehumancommunity.org/mpfb.html - Stars: 660 · Forks: 92 - Language: Python - License: NOASSERTION - Published: 2026-10-21 · Updated: 2026-10-21 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/makehumancommunity-mpfb2 ## The generator is a Blender add-on, not a separate application MPFB is described in one line: a free and open source human generator for Blender. That phrasing carries the architectural decision. The generator is not a separate program that exports a model into Blender. It runs inside Blender, which means the character you generate is a Blender object with Blender's own data behind it, editable with the tools you already have. The project belongs to the MakeHuman community, and its homepage is hosted as static documentation at static.makehumancommunity.org/mpfb.html, where the documentation and the FAQ live rather than in the repository itself. The primary language is Python, which is what a Blender add-on would be written in, and the repository is organised the way you would expect for one: src/ for the add-on, test/ for the tests, docs/ for the documentation sources, and script_samples/ for example scripts. The audience is anyone who needs a human figure in a Blender scene and wants a parametric starting point rather than a downloaded mesh, with the caveat that this is version 2, a rewrite that carries its own migration story, which the project addresses directly with dedicated FAQ pages rather than leaving to release notes. ## Blender 4.2 is the floor for the 2.x line The README states one hard requirement: MPFB 2.x requires a Blender version of at least 4.2. That single line has more consequences than it appears to for a planning discussion. Blender's Python API changes between major releases, and an add-on that pins itself to a recent Blender generation is tracking that API rather than an old one. A studio that standardised on an older Blender cannot run MPFB 2.x at all, and the workaround is not a flag, it is an upgrade of the host application. There is also a version story inside the project itself. The releases listed for the repository are v2.0.18 published on 2026-10-11, v2.0.17 on 2026-07-22 and v2.0.16 on 2026-06-13, and the default branch is master. The 2.x line is therefore the current line, and the 2.0 patch numbers suggest a project that is still settling into its new shape rather than one that has stopped moving. For an adopter, the practical checklist before anything else is short: confirm the Blender version in your environment is 4.2 or newer, and confirm that the Blender build in use is one the add-on supports. The project does not publish a compatibility matrix in the README, so the documentation site and the FAQ are where that information has to come from. ## Docs live off the repository, with a technical reference inside it The documentation is split in two, and the split is deliberate. The public documentation and the FAQ are on the project site, with the docs index at static.makehumancommunity.org/mpfb/docs.html and the FAQ at static.makehumancommunity.org/mpfb/faq.html. The homepage itself is where the documentation and FAQ are introduced, and the quick start guide at the docs path is the entry point for new users, since it carries the download links and a getting started video tutorial on YouTube. For developers, there is a separate set of technical reference documentation in the docs folder of the repository, indexed from docs/index.md. The README points at it explicitly with the note that for devs there are also some technical reference documentation in the docs folder. That arrangement is common in Blender add-on projects and it has a practical benefit: the user-facing docs get rebuilt and versioned separately from the code, while the reference material for the internals stays next to the internals and is updated in the same commit as the code it describes. One thing to note for anyone writing their own automation around MPFB is the script_samples/ directory in the repository, which is the closest thing to a public API guide that the README points at. The add-on is a Blender add-on, so the natural way to drive it is Python inside Blender, and the sample scripts are where you would look to see how that is done. ## MakeHuman and MHX questions get their own FAQ pages The README devotes a section to MPFB versus MakeHuman and MPFB versus MHX, and the way it is framed is worth noting. It does not claim to be a drop-in replacement, and it does not summarise the differences. It says that if you have previous experience with MakeHuman and or MHX, you might be interested in the FAQs explaining the similarities and differences, and then it links two pages, one on the differences between MPFB2 and MakeHuman and one on the differences between MPFB2 and MHX2. That is the honest way to handle it, because the differences between a standalone application and a Blender add-on are not the kind of thing a README paragraph can carry, and because users arriving from those tools have specific questions about their assets, their workflows and their expectations. The advice for anyone reading this project is to read those two pages before evaluating it if you have used either of the earlier tools, rather than assuming the file formats and the workflow carry over. The project also keeps a TODO.md at the top of the repository, which is where the planned work is recorded, and that is a reasonable second place to look for the current direction of the 2.x line. ## Three licence files because code and assets differ The repository contains three licence documents, and the naming makes the reason clear: LICENSE.md, LICENSE.CODE.md and LICENSE.ASSETS.md. The project is described as free and open source, and the licence field for the repository is one GitHub cannot classify, which means the terms are in the files rather than in a standard SPDX identifier that tooling can read automatically. That is a notable detail for a project that people are likely to want to redistribute as part of a character pipeline. The split into code and assets is a common pattern in projects that ship both a program and the data it operates on, such as meshes, base data or other bundled resources. The code licence and the asset licence are separate grants, and they can carry different obligations. A team planning to use MPFB in a commercial pipeline needs to read both files, and to read the asset licence carefully, because the thing that ends up in your render is usually the asset rather than the code. This is not a legal opinion, and the files themselves are the only authority. The point for an engineer evaluating the project is simply that one licence file is not enough to answer the question, and the repository makes the distinction explicit rather than hiding it in one combined file. ## A test suite and two static checkers in the repository The rest of the repository describes how the project is developed, and the files are conventional enough to read at a glance. There is a test/ directory, a .pylintrc for linting, a pyrightconfig.json for the type checker, and a requirements-dev.txt that pins the development dependencies separately from what a user needs. A fixfiles.bash script sits at the top level, and a remlog entry is present alongside it. There is a CONTRIBUTING.md, a TODO.md recording the planned work, and a .github/ directory for the workflow and community files. The presence of both .pylintrc and pyrightconfig.json tells you the project runs two static checks over the same code, a linter for style and issues, and a type checker for annotations. Having requirements-dev.txt as a separate file is the convention that lets a contributor reproduce the development environment without pulling those packages into an end user's install. For a user, none of this matters. For a team that wants to fork, patch or automate MPFB, it matters a lot, because it means the development setup is described in the repository rather than in a maintainer's head. The last push was on 2026-10-13, and the most recent release, v2.0.18, was published two days earlier on 2026-10-11, so the code is being worked on and shipped in the same week. ## Conclusion Adopt MPFB2 if you produce human characters in Blender and want the generator to live inside the same application as your modelling and rigging work, rather than in a separate tool. Skip it if your Blender installation is older than 4.2, since MPFB 2.x will not run there, and read the code and asset licence files separately before you commit to it, because the two are not covered by the same terms. Before you start, read the quick start guide, which also carries the download links, then check the FAQ pages on the differences from MakeHuman and MHX if you have used either of those, and run the test suite in test/ if you intend to develop against it. The last push was on 2026-10-13 and v2.0.18 was released on 2026-10-11. ## FAQ ### What Blender version does MPFB2 need? The README states that MPFB 2.x requires a Blender version of at least 4.2. The documentation site and the FAQ are where to check compatibility for a specific Blender build. ### Where do I download MPFB2? The quick start guide on the documentation site is where the download links are, at the getting started path under static.makehumancommunity.org/mpfb/docs. The same page links to a getting started video tutorial on YouTube. ### How is MPFB2 different from MakeHuman and MHX? The README does not summarise the differences itself. It links two dedicated FAQ pages, one on the differences between MPFB2 and MakeHuman and one on the differences between MPFB2 and MHX2, for readers who have previous experience with either tool. ### What licence does MPFB2 use for its code and its assets? The repository carries three separate licence documents, LICENSE.md, LICENSE.CODE.md and LICENSE.ASSETS.md, and the project licence is one GitHub cannot classify automatically. The code and the bundled assets are covered by different terms, so both files need reading for a redistribution scenario. ## Sources - [Issues](https://github.com/makehumancommunity/mpfb2/issues) - [makehumancommunity/mpfb2 on GitHub](https://github.com/makehumancommunity/mpfb2) - [Project website](http://static.makehumancommunity.org/mpfb.html) - [README](https://github.com/makehumancommunity/mpfb2/blob/master/README.md) - [Releases](https://github.com/makehumancommunity/mpfb2/releases) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/makehumancommunity-mpfb2