SOMA provides a unified, differentiable layer that bridges incompatible human body models like SMPL and SMPL-X in a single closed-form pass.
arXiv · March 18, 2026 · 2603.16858
The Takeaway
It eliminates the need for complex, per-model retargeting or adapters in human reconstruction pipelines. This allows researchers to mix diverse identity sources and motion datasets seamlessly, significantly simplifying the workflow for 3D animation and simulation.
From the abstract
Parametric human body models are foundational to human reconstruction, animation, and simulation, yet they remain mutually incompatible: SMPL, SMPL-X, MHR, Anny, and related models each diverge in mesh topology, skeletal structure, shape parameterization, and unit convention, making it impractical to exploit their complementary strengths within a single pipeline. We present SOMA, a unified body layer that bridges these heterogeneous representations through three abstraction layers. Mesh topology