MB-Lab

Free plan Linux

What MB-Lab is

MB-Lab is a free, open-source add-on for Blender that creates humanoid characters. It provides hundreds of morphing parameters for adjusting physical traits, expressions, and poses, with real-time interpolation and automatic character generation. You can make realistic people as well as stylized figures such as anime characters and elves. Its character meshes include eyes, teeth, tongue, gums, and eyelashes, and are designed for subdivision and sculpting.

For animation, MB-Lab includes a fitted skeleton, inverse kinematics, BVH retargeting, and an expression mixer for facial movement. Clothing and polygon hair can be loaded and proxy-fitted to a character and pose. The wiki lists rendering support for Blender Cycles and EEVEE, with shaders and texture maps for realistic and anime models. Experimental tools can create characters from a rough 3D draft or body measurements, with 33 dimensions supported. Exports include BLEND and JSON, and rigged exports are supported. The final MB-Lab 1.8.1 release requires Blender 4.0.0 or later. The project is archived and read-only, and development moved to Charmorph.

Who it suits

MB-Lab suits Blender users who need to build and rig human characters, from realistic figures to anime characters and elves. It also fits users who want to adjust appearance with morph controls or use its experimental draft- and measurement-based modeling tools.

What it does well

Hundreds of morphing parameters with real-time interpolation
Can generate characters automatically
Includes inverse kinematics and BVH retargeting
Supports clothing and polygon hair with proxy fitting
Exports BLEND and JSON, including rigged exports

What to know first

Requires Blender 4.0.0 or later
BVH animation import is listed as buggy
Hair shaders may render incorrectly
The repository is archived and read-only

Plans

Plan	Billed and limits	Price
MB-Lab	Blender 4.0.0 or later	Free

As github.com lists them, read 7 Oct 2026. The maker's own page has the final word.

Getting started

Open the MB-Lab GitHub website
Use a Linux system with Blender 4.0.0 or later
Add MB-Lab to Blender

Verdict

Choose MB-Lab if you want a free Blender add-on for customizable humanoid characters, animation, and rigged exports. Look elsewhere if you need an actively developed project or rely on reliable BVH animation import and hair rendering.

Questions

Is MB-Lab free?

Yes. Its plan is listed as free, and it has no free trial.

Which platform does it support?

Linux is the listed platform. MB-Lab is a Blender add-on and requires Blender 4.0.0 or later.

Is MB-Lab open source?

Yes, MB-Lab is an open-source Blender add-on.

What file formats can it export?

It exports BLEND and JSON, and rigged exports are supported.

Is MB-Lab still being developed?

The repository describes version 1.8.1 as the final release and says development moved to Charmorph. GitHub marks the repository archived and read-only since July 21, 2024.

What known issues should I consider?

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.

Facts from MB-Lab's own pages

Animation: It includes a fitted skeleton, inverse kinematics, BVH retargeting, and an expression mixer for facial animation. · github.com, 7 Oct 2026
Assets: Users can load clothing and polygon hair, with proxy fitting to adapt them to characters and poses. · github.com, 7 Oct 2026
Character creation: It can create human characters and adjust phenotypes, physical parameters, expressions, and poses. · github.com, 7 Oct 2026
Character styles: It can create realistic characters and special characters such as anime characters and elves. · github.com, 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, 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, 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, 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, 7 Oct 2026
Parametric morphing: It offers hundreds of morphing parameters, real-time parameter interpolation, and automatic random character generation. · github.com, 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, 7 Oct 2026
Purpose: MB-Lab is a free, open-source Blender add-on for creating humanoid characters. · github.com, 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, 7 Oct 2026
Requirement: The final MB-Lab 1.8.1 release requires Blender 4.0.0 or later. · github.com, 7 Oct 2026

Where MB-Lab stands on Freedom251

3D Avatar Software#16 of 26