3D CAD Modeling - Preferred Software for Human Form

So I'm pretty experienced when it comes to CAD'ing up mechanical assembles (everything from handheld props to complex larger scale models) but one thing I'm trying to figure out is the preferred way to CAD piece that fit a person. Anything ranging from wearables (like a helmet or chestplate) to actually CAD'ing a standard sized person for reference.

Are there specific (preferably free) software packages available that excel at this? Ideally I'd find a package which has some pre-CAD'ed human bodies available as a starting point to work from....

Thoughts?

 

Well, Poser specializes in human form. But there's several reasons why it isn't CAD-quality for anatomy.

I think if you are going into this as a toolkit for making wearable items, you should skip both pre-modeled mannequins and the challenge of modeling your own, and go instead for a full-body scan. There are a small but increasing number of services and DIY scanners to achieve this. Then use the point cloud you get from this as a static non-posing model within your CAD program.

I'm pretty sure I've read of several feature films going this route already for certain props.

 

Yeah, I'd love to get into the 3D scan part of things but currently fund-limited. I've got two things I'm wanting to work on - CAD'ing wearables but also making some small figures where the human model doesn't have to be accurate to anybody - just basically as a filler base to build from. When you say DIY scanner, are you talking about a modular scanner you can build or what? Cuz to my knowledge, I'm just familiar w/the stuff you'd find on amazon or whatever.

 

Well, for modeling your own, Blender is free and powerful. It seems to change, but I believe DAZ studio is free as well and many Poser figures are distributed free; these as I said are a detailed but not necessarily wholly accurate human figure. Easy enough to pull the obj file out of the "Runtime" directory (as it is styled in Poser-speak). And with DAZ Studio or Poser or several other compatible programs (possible even Blender) you can pose it to a more useful and/or anatomical pose (the default pose for the figure mesh itself is optimized for joint design).

 

Awesome, thanks for the tip. I'll check them out and see how it works.

 

I personally would suggest using Autodesk Meshmixer for your organic modeling if you need a free program to work with. You can find fairly accurate human models on Thingiverse.com as well as a few other free model sites. When I work on an organic piece I tend to model the base shape in a parametric program so I can have the exact dimensions and then I take it into Meshmixer as an STL and sculpt out the organic details from there. You can do some pretty accurate body scanning with an X-box Kinect and a semi-free program called Skanect.

 

Punished props did a good tutorial a while back on setting up a digital human model. That might be useful for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCIF6DEyicE