Welcome to the world of iClone. I'll try and answer your questions for you.

"1. can you export the character object for texturing? I texture my models in Zbrush, which lets me paint or project photos onto the actual model itself. So I would need to be able to export a G2 character to an obj file."

Exporting iClone characters is not possible I'm afraid.

"2. can you export the face texture for tweaking in a paint program?"

You will need to prepare the face texture first. You can make some changes to the texture within iClone but can't fully edit the texture once the face has been created.

"3. can you add new morphs? I don't have 3d studio max, but being able to make fully body morphs for G2 characters would be a plus."

The iClone figures have six pre-defined shapes and changes can be made to body size, head, hands and feet within the program. You would require 3DS Max to create completely new body shapes.

"4. can you build your own facial morphs or phonemes? The NUMBER ONE PROBLEM with most facial animations is that it centers on the mouth. This is bad! You should be able to stretch and pull the face to make the character speaking more dynamic."

The program comes with a number of "Emotives" for changing facial expressions. You can also create custom scripts using Crazytalk and then imput them into iClone. Also the face shape can be altered into almost unlimited variations using the facial sliders within iClone.

"5. does 3d exchange let me convert a obj file into a Iclone character? I realize I would have to have my object grouped and named according to Iclone standards."

3DXchange only allows OBJ or 3DS models (Google SKP format also after the upgrade later this month) to be imported as Props, 3D Scenes or Accessories. You can't export OBJ models as standard iClone characters with 3DXchange. You would need 3DS Max for this because iClone uses its own custom bone system which would need to be rigged and skinned first.

 I hope this answers your questions. If not, don't hesitate to ask again and I'll try to explain more.

 

Peter Edwards
Forum Moderator

iClone Daily Blog

I think the facial morphability is being downplayed a bit here. The facility to adjust everything about the face, cheek bones(3 potential), jowl, ears, mouth thickness/width/pout/height/position on face, eye size/colour/eye models x24?/whites,pupils luminosity/contrast/colour hue and etc/slant/depth/ nose/chin/  eyebrows... and on and on means that even the basic commonly recognized faces that come as standard with iClone with a little tweaking in almost a hundred mannerisms transforms the face incredibly before you've even gone down the avenue of adding your own facial graphic.
As the face and eyes primarily are the sole focus point of recognition, the characteristics and psychologically receptive attitude decider of the viewer to the final result, the potentials are limitless already.

Just my tuppence.

Armstrong.

-www.iCloneTutorials.com- -1st Ever Stills Gallery- -Sexy Siouxie- -Digital Comics- -The iClone Journal-

All of these shortcomings joeed mentioned should be seriously considered in subsequent upgrades because they help to streamline one man or small group production productivity to a professional quality standard, in a reasonable amount of time considering the man power limitations, and they are all valid conflicts for all who can distinguish pro-am work.  Questions #4 & 2 are the only ones that have a definite answer and not an excuse, and that answer is CrazyTalk for question #4, although animatable facial and body morfs over a period of time in iClone would be a plus (ala Pinocchio nose, Dumbo ears, David Banner transforms into the Hulk).  As for question #2 pre texturing is good, but post texture exporting would be great.  Question #3 will hopefully be taken care of in V 3.0. although an individual and group face selection+scaling tool in a 3d Exchange upgrade would do the trick also.  Question #1 sounds like a great idea, but at this point isn't a priority, this may be a consideration for the next 3d Exchange upgrade, as well as a way to import/export procedurally textured models.  As for question #5, another consideration for implementing direct bone attachment and skinning and vertex weight assignment tools from within the 3d Exchange program, to take some of the burden off of iClone and help keep it focused on it's core movie making functions.  I hope this info is helpful to all who read it.     

Sifr Allah