Personally, I just don't see how iClone would be useful in a corporate training environment.  In fact, the program is only good for wizards, fairies, and other "non-people" characters.  Even the human characters look cartoonish.  Plus, you would be wasting your company's money if you do not have a video editing and compositing suite to go with this purchase.

 

kelly i use iclone in my work environment for sales, marketing and even equipment training - unfortunately my work is company property so can't share it - but it is very effective for these usages.

You can make the people as human and convincing as you are willing to invest your time and energy in.  Some people are apparently dissatisfied with the results they get, but I wonder if they spend actually any time trying.  There is a learning curve, obviously. I personally don't do wizards and fairies and I have had no complaints regarding my characters in a longer film I recently finished (not yet online).

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My company has approved the purchase of iClone and Crazy Talk and...a new equipment that meets the hardware requirements.. So hopefully, after some training and my learning curve, I will be able to produce some great corporate training.

Wizards are definately out, but cartoon characters or other (human) animated images will work fine. 

The objective is to entertain while educating and this is the future to meeting those objectives.

Hopefully, I will return to this post in a few months with a link to share on what I've created.  Thank you very much for your assistance.

Hi Kelly,

Great to hear your company supported your plans for iClone and Crazytalk. I'm sure you will find the possibilities pretty much limitless.

You might also like to take a look at the new popVideo Converter 2.0 which now allows one click chromakeying. This allows you to do in seconds what could have taken hours previously, and required the use of expensive video editors.

Please share with us anything you produce with iClone or Crazytalk. We would love to see it. :)

                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com

I currently use Sony Vegas Movie Studio Pro for editing so I'm going to stay with that unless I encounter problems with editing videos produced with iCLONE.  Thanks again.

Kelly,

I would advise you that even the pro version has a limited number of default animations and characters that you may not be aware of. Included clothing and hairstyles are also very limited without further purchases. 

Many people find this upsetting that the unstated expectation is to purchase much more additional content in the content store.  Animating characters outside of the default movements can be very frustating and time-consuming.  Often times, when users ask for assistance here, they are referred to purchasing additional content.  They will even try to sell you a smile, as opposed to just showing you...  https://forum.reallusion.com/FindPost44067.aspx

I also recommend you review the issues thread to understand the buggy-ness of the program, which could cause delays in your production; especially, when you could be facing tight deadlines for producing results.

https://forum.reallusion.com/FindPost27563.aspx

You should also browse the Wishful Features thread to understand what isn't included in the software that causes some frustrations and requires work-arounds:

https://forum.reallusion.com/Forum87-1.aspx

I think the programs are a fun set of tools for hobbyist and I would highly recommend it for such a purpose, but I would warn you of the hidden costs; especially, if you are not a 3d artists and you are placing your neck and professional reputation out on the line for this.  There is a reason you cannot find examples of corporate training on the web using iclone...

If you are able to share with us examples of what you produce, I would be very interested to see how the software is used in a training environment.

Best wishes, and good luck.

Thank you so much for your additional feedback and warnings.

I'm very fortunate that my company is aware that the costs to produce a product will increase as I learn the product more and begin to 'purchase' additional content.  So, I'm lucky there.

They have also agreed to purchase additional training for me as I request to assist with my learning curve.

I promise to post an example of my first project once I've purchased what I need and can figure out what I'm doing. 

I'll check back with this post in the next few months.  Thanks again.

Regarding content, one option that iClone provides is BackStage which allows you to try out single items from a content pack within the program. If you like it you can just buy that item instead of the complete pack. I also would encourage you to look into using online resources such as Google 3D Warehouse for props, furniture, and other things to dress your set. It does require an external program, 3DXchange. I would probably wait for version 4, which has additional features.

If you have additional questions along the way, by all means ask. There are many helpful and knowledgeable forum members willing to give advice. 

    

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Kelly - test01 provided good advice regarding checking out the threads where iClone issues are highlighted but i would temper that by saying as in any product, people come to support forums for help so you would expect many more "help me" type posts than "i did it" type posts

go to any software support site and if you just look at the complaints, you would think the product is failure - people who use the software successfully do not always post