I am concerned with some fundamental missing features and wanted to bring them up here in the hopes that they will be included soon or that there might be a workaround. What really bothers me is that these were features that I immediately wanted to use and very naively assumed would be in a mature software system now in its 3rd incarnation. After all, if they are fundamental things that I need after only using the program for a few hours then why aren't they in there?

The first feature is characters following the geometry of something other than the ground terrain. For example, I can plop in the dungeon scene with a nice stairway down the hall, but the character refuses to walk up the stairs. The character also refuses to walk up the ramp in the castle scene. So, can characters only follow terrain and not 3D sets? That seems like a terrible shortcoming that needs to be addressed. After all, your basic 3D video game has this ability and I don't think it's that difficult of a thing to do considering the level of technology in iClone.

The second feature I am having trouble with is simple gestures like waving. I would have thought I could easily have my characters wave and perform other simple animations such as that, but no.

Any ideas or suggestions? IS 3D geometry following going to be added soon? This is so fundamental I find it hard to believe it isn't in there. Maybe I'm missing something?

Thanks for the feedback. I think that this is just a case of needing a little more time to get used to iClone3 and its features.

You can make your avatar or iProp follow the geometry quite easily. You just have to make the prop a part of the Terrain.

So for example you can add the Dungeon Scene to the Terrain. Choose your avatar and then choose to make it follow the terrain. Your character will then walk up the stairs of the dungeon.

You can find full details on doing this in the online help guide in the section Set - Terrain. I would advise spending a little time with this and the online tutorials. These will ease you into iClone letting you see the many features available.

The other issue you mention about waving is easily solved too. iClone3 comes with a built in Motion Editor that allows you to create any type of motion you want like waving. If you don't like the idea of creating your own animations then there are numerous motion packs available that cover almost every scenario. You can find a large selection in the Content Store. iClone also comes with a selection of various animations to get you started in Animation - Motion. These can also be used as starting points for your own animations.

 

Peter Edwards
Forum Administrator

http://twitter.com/iclonedaily

Hmmm. I got the dungeon scene to work, but there doesn't seem to be an option to Add to Terrain for the castle. Are some objects not able to work like this?

Peter Edwards
Forum Administrator

http://twitter.com/iclonedaily