FaceBuilder for Blender 2.80+
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FaceBuilder add-on for Blender can help with building 3D models of human faces and heads using a couple of photographs. With FaceBuilder you don't need to be an experienced 3D modeller to create a quality 3D model with clean topology.
Automatic camera setup, format detection & estimation
FaceBuilder will read the information stored in your photos and use it to set up virtual cameras automatically. You can still set it up manually if the data is not stored in photos but you know it. More than that, now you can use photos of any dimensions together!
Facial expressions support
If you’re after the ultimate quality and preciseness — you need photos with neutral facial expression, but no worries if you can’t get them — now FaceBuilder supports facial expressions of FaceTracker, thus you can still get decent results even with non-neutral photos!
AI-powered automatic face alignment
You don't need to manually pin faces anymore! At least, not from the scratch. Our face alignment is not yet always 100% accurate, so it requires some manual adjustments sometimes, but it radically reduces the time of shaping the models. So much, we’ve actually stopped doing this manually in our team while testing and we don’t want to go back!
Create MetaHumans from photos
You can use FaceBuilder as the first step in creating a MetaHuman from photos. We've also included a UV-layout compatible with MetaHuman so you can transfer skin features along with the shape. Please read the guide or watch the stream to learn more!
Import facial animation from Epic Games' Live Link Face app
Manual facial animation can take too much time, so we added support for Epic Games' Live Link Face iOS app — record the expression using your iPhone or iPad with the TrueDepth camera and export a CSV file! More than that, you can use recordings of anyone's face with anyone's model built with FaceBuilder!
If you're a Nuke user, you can export facial animation tracked with our FaceTracker and import it in Blender.
Animate faces manually with 51 built-in FACS blendshapes
The model of FaceBuilder has 51 built-in ARKit-compatible FACS blendshapes available for manual animation. You can also export the head with all its blendshapes and animate them in any other 3D-software.
Three built-in topologies
Whether you need a hi-poly model to shape as many facial features as possible, or a low-poly model to integrate it into some real-time workflows, we've got you covered! FaceBuilder has built-in low-poly, mid-poly and high-poly topologies that you can switch on the fly!
Neck ready to be attached to a body
Having a head is good, but what about body? Not a problem! We refined the neck so you can easily attach the head to a model of a body!
Ready to be used in Unreal Engine and Unity
With a body or without it, animated or static, with blendshapes or just the geometry — everything FaceBuilder produces can be easily transferred to Unreal Engine and Unity as an FBX-file!
Total diversity
Our evergrowing statistical model already has data for humans of widest age range from most places on Earth, so you shouldn’t face any problems modelling people from any part of the world!
Works even with a single photo
The more photos you have, the better quality you can get. But sometimes all you have is just one photo or a frame from a footage and you still need to get your job done. So, we’ve got you covered — you’ll be surprised where just one image can get you!
Configurable model
You can switch on and off different parts of the 3D model customising it to your needs. The shape is not being affected, so if you decide to switch something back when the model is ready — it won’t break anything!
Choose a FaceBuilder plan
Freelancer Monthly
— A node-locked plan that can be used only on the machine where it was activated
— Can be purchased by an individual only, can be used for commercial work
Charged monthly
Freelancer Annual
— A node-locked plan that can be used only on the machine where it was activated
— Can be purchased by an individual only, can be used for commercial work
Charged annually, you save $37/year
Studio Annual
— A plan that can be shared by unlimited number of machines: one key for one machine at a time
— Works with License Server
— Can be purchased by a company or an individual
Charged annually
All our subscriptions can be used for commercial work.
All results of your work with our plug-ins belong to you, no strings attached.
If you decide to cancel your subscription, you can still open your projects with our plug-ins and export the results of your work, the only restricted thing is adding new changes.
When you cancel a subscription it remains active until the next payment date.
For enterprise pricing, please get in touch!
Latest user works
To see your works here tag @keentools on Instagram
System Requirements
— Official 64bit version of Blender (2.80 and newer) downloaded from Blender.org
— A decent GPU that can handle 3D mode in Blender
— 64bit version of Windows, Linux or macOS
Help resources
The comprehensive written guide can be found on our Medium page.
Video-tutorials in many languages can be found on YouTube, we can recommend this one.
The official installation video-tutorial is here.
For assets and project examples you can visit our examples page.
Frequently Asked Questions
— How to install FaceBuilder add-on into Blender?
Please have a look at this video. Also, here's the comprehensive written guide.
In short: you can do this if you open Blender settings, find the "Add-ons" section, there’s the “Install…” button which you need to press and choose the download add-on ZIP-file. Please note, that some operating systems and web-browsers unpack downloaded files automatically — to avoid this don’t click the file in the downloads list of your web-browser, just go to Blender and find the add-on file in your downloads folder. If you're a macOS user, you'll download a DMG (Apple Disk Image) file, you need to mount it first (double click), the add-on ZIP-file is inside.— How to remove FaceBuilder from Blender?
You need to open the add-ons preferences pane, find FaceBuilder, click the "remove" button and relaunch Blender.
— How to update FaceBuilder add-on?
If you have the Internet connection on the machine with Blender, our add-on will check for updates from time to time. When there's a new version, you'll be offered an automatic update.
If you want to update it manually, you need to reinstall it. Before installing a new Core Library you need to restart Blender. The recommended process would look like this: remove the old add-on, restart Blender, install a new version of the add-on and then install the new Core Library.— I have installed it but cannot see it anywhere/it doesn't work
First, it's always good to review the installation instructions in our guide.
Anyway, if you have installed something and it doesn't work it's better to remove it first and relaunch Blender. Then please make sure you're installing the add-on zip file on the Blender add-ons page and then you're installing the KeenTools Core library on the installed FaceBuilder settings page.— I downloaded a DMG file, where's the ZIP-file?
If you double-click the DMG-file, it'll be mounted as a disk, where you can find the add-on ZIP-file. You can use this ZIP-file on any OS, but DMGs work out-of-the-box only on macOS. The DMGs are being downloaded only on macOS.
— I see no photos or black screen after switching into pin mode
It looks like your GPU (video adapter) is not fully supported by Blender so it cannot work in 3D mode. You can either address your question to the Blender community or try a machine with a better GPU.
— The add-on has disappeared after relaunching Blender
First, try to press "N" key in the viewport — you should see a toolbar sliding in on the right side of the viewport. If there's no FaceBuilder tab, open Blender settings and try to search FaceBuilder in the add-ons list (the Add-ons section can be selected in the left column). If there's no FaceBuilder, it means it has been deleted — please check that your antivirus software didn't remove it. If it did — add the Blender add-ons directory to the white-list and install FaceBuilder again.
— I get error "[Errno 9] Bad file descriptor" when trying to install the add-on
It looks like the add-on zip-file is corrupted, please download it again and check there's no antivirus software that locks or modifies the add-on package.
— I've installed Blender from a Linux repo, the add-on doesn't work
Unfortunately, you need to download the official version of Blender from Blender.org website, since custom builds are often relying on unsupported versions of Python.
— I see an error which is not described here, what should I do?
If the error message belongs to FaceBuilder, please try following the instructions that are included into the error message, it should help. If it doesn't help, try to remove and install the add-on again (don't forget to relaunch Blender after removing the add-on). If the error belongs to Blender, it's advisable to search for similar errors in your favourite search engine on the Internet, you can also look for answers in Blender community. If nothing helps, please drop us a message, we'd be happy to help!
— Can I use FaceBuilder with Blender 2.79 or older?
Unfortunately, no. FaceBuilder works only with Blender 2.80 and newer.
— Can I use my custom 3D model?
Not at the moment, but we plan adding this in future.
— How can I animate the head?
At the moment you need to manually attach a rig to the 3D model of the head. In future we plan to make this available out of the box.
— Does FaceBuilder use photos to shape the model?
No. FaceBuilder relies on camera settings and positions of all pins across all photos. Photos are being displayed to you as references.
— Can I sell the models created with FaceBuilder?
Yes! Everything you create with the help of our plugins and add-ons is yours.
— Do I need a subscription for FaceBuilder for Blender?
Not for the FaceBuilder add-on itself, but for KeenTools Core library. You can use it without a subscription for 15 days after the first launch with no restrictions or limitations. After that you'll need to subscribe, which you can do here.
— I have a subscription for FaceBuilder in Nuke, do I need another one for Blender?
No! Activating a subscription on a machine allows using FaceBuilder in Nuke and Blender.
— Is the KeenTools FaceBuilder open source? Where's the repository?
The add-on is an open source adapter for KeenTools Core Library, its Git repository can be found here.