Start off on the right foot and brush all frustration aside, by first reading up on our tutorials and help files to become a full-fledged Character Creator. 

Go to Online User manual: HERE

Download the FREE Character Head and Body Skin Texture Design Guide for Character Creator: HERE

Download the FREE Clothing and Fabrics Design Guide for Character Creator: HERE

See tutorial videos: HERE

Preview:

The Learning Reference is a good bonus to the Essentials Pack.  It made getting started very easy.

anything on how to import custom accessories and other assets?
such as hair, masks
into CC...?

I have lots of hair meshes, some purchased from RL and some custom..
Can they be imported and saved in CC?

Although some of the content in the tutorials describe base CC functionality, other parts are only applicable if you have the Essentials Pack. However, neither the past title nor the documentation seem to indicate what is basic functionality and what functionality is part of the Essential Pack.

I tried to follow the tutorials and found that some of the tree views and/or menu options seem to be a little different from the current version (guessing the tutorials are a bit out of date) but more importantly I came across features that did not at all appear in my version of CC. After spending some time trying to find them in CC, I checked the forum and discovered that some of the options aren't available unless you have purchased the Essentials Pack.

To avoid confusion, I would either make a Tutorial for the Base Functionality and one for Essential Pack Functionality or, at least, identify clearly functionality in the current tutorial which is only applicable to Essential Pack users.

"We often compare ourselves to the U.S. and often they come out the best, but they only have the right to bear arms while we have the right to bare breasts"
Bowser and Blue, Busting The Breast

Can someone explain to be why iClone differentiates between accessories and props? As far as I know there are actual accessories which have their own file format and there are props which also have a different format. Aren't accessories just props? This also leads me to wonder why people want to bring accessories into CC. Typically accessories (e.g. hats, glasses, watches, rings, etc) are static items which don't require any of the functionality that CC offers (e.g. morphs, etc). So why drag them into CC? Is it so that they can use the Materials editor? In the end your going to load your character in iClone anyway so why not just keep them in iClone and add them as iProps in iClone?

But I guess that goes back to the more primal question of why is CC a separate application in the first place? I love the convenience of having the character creator and editor in one as is the case, for example, with DAZ Studio. CC somewhat tries to pave over this dis-junction (between itself and iClone) by providing the "Edit In CC" and "Send To iClone" buttons but it still does not feel integrated. On my i7 opening up iClone or CC still takes some time and even when they are both open I still get the "Transferring Data" (or whatever the message is) for at least a few seconds and then I need to Alt-Tab to the other application.

I think this is also why RL has not (yet) officially introduce Dynamic Morphs. You can morph your character in CC and now these morphs can even be custom but once you move the character from the CC realm to iClone all the morphs are baked in (except those that you managed to bind to customs slots of Facial Expressions) and thus the morph cannot be changed in iClone at different key frames. If CC was actually a part of iClone, it would probably be easier to implement Dynamic Morphs. Having said that if RL expanded the existing Facial Expression morph functionality they could implement Dynamic Morphs fairly easily and most of the morphs from CC could actually be accessible in iClone (for those that need to change them at different key frames). This does not mean CC has to be replaced by this method. CC would still be the easier way to create new characters but if all the CC morphs were also available through the Facial Expression morphs then the option would be there for those that want to use it. I demonstrated this concept with G6 & CC characters (the G6 version is still being sold in my market place store under the name G6 Plus) but due to the current limit of (6x4) 24 custom Facial Expression slots the user can only gain access to 24 morphs at a time.    



"We often compare ourselves to the U.S. and often they come out the best, but they only have the right to bear arms while we have the right to bare breasts"
Bowser and Blue, Busting The Breast

As long as it's a easy as "Edit in CC" and "Sent To iClone" I am okay with some things being separate "modules."
I've been dong that exact thing a lot the last couple of days.
It's not so bad.  At least I don't have to save files, go find them, import them. Save them.  Go find them. Import them.  (And delete all the duplicates I made along the way.)

It allows large and complex user interfaces to each stay in their own domain without becoming a massive mess.

It's been working okay, and hopefully becomes even better and more seamless over time.

I am thankful for my Solid State "C:\" drive, which helps applications/modules launch more quickly.

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iClone 7... Character Creator... Substance Designer/Painter... Blender... Audacity...
Desktop (homebuilt) - Windows 10, Ryzen 9 3900x CPU, GTX 1080 GPU (8GB), 32GB RAM, Asus X570 Pro motherboard, 2TB SSD, terabytes of disk space, dual  monitors.
Laptop - Windows 10, MSI GS63VR STEALTH-252, 16GB RAM, GTX 1060 (6GB), 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD

Props are just that - props. They can be placed anywhere in a scene that the user desires, can be stationary or movable and can be just about anything. Accessories on the other hand are always attached to a character - hats, glasses, weapons, etc. and will always move with the character,

And this is where it really gets interesting in iClone. Props can be accessories, and accessories can be props - depending on the users needs. For example, a sword can be a prop placed on a table. Using "Reach For" and "Attach" a character can "pick up" the sword with it's hand and the object now becomes an accessory. Or the character can place the sword on a table by having it detached from the hand and it now reverts to a prop.

As to importing accessories into CC, many users are creating characters for use with other software - and won't even use them in iClone. If the character can be directly sent to 3DXchange with all needed accessories then the user has saved quite a bit of time to complete the task. 



Gerry

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System: Win 10 Pro (21H2), Asus X99-E WS, CPU i7-5930K -3,5 GHz, 32 GB DDR4 2666-16 RAM, NVidia GTX 1080 Ti GPU - 11 GB VRAM(Driver Studio-536.99), Samsung 850 Pro 512 GB SSD, 6 TB HD storage.

That was my point. Why make a whole other category of Accessories when Accessories are actually just props (i.e. props with an intended use). Especially if you might be removing/dropping the accessory then you want to have it, as I understand it, as a Prop anyway. So why not always make it a prop so that the end user has the option of attaching it or not? So my question was, is there something special that Accessory does that a Prop does not (besides the automatic attach)? 

wires (5/1/2016)

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As to importing accessories into CC, many users are creating characters for use with other software - and won't even use them in iClone. If the character can be directly sent to 3DXchange with all needed accessories then the user has saved quite a bit of time to complete the task.

First, there is no direct CC to 3DXChange (I suggested this as a wish item). You either need to "Send to iClone" and then "Edit in 3DXChange" or save the creation as an iAvatar and then open it in 3DXChange. Although exporting for non-iClone use could be a reason for wanting Accessories in iClone, I would think that typically the exported file is still going to some editing software (either one to set up the static image or to create animations) and thus the accessory should be added at that time. Otherwise, if you want to change the accessory, you need to do a whole character export again. Just my 2 cents. 



"We often compare ourselves to the U.S. and often they come out the best, but they only have the right to bear arms while we have the right to bare breasts"
Bowser and Blue, Busting The Breast

Sure, it works. But a product that users buy should work as well or better, in my opinion, than competitor products being offered for free. Or at least they should strive to do so.

In DAZ Studio (free software) the Character Creator is built into the core software. Similar to CC, all the adjustment are made with morphs (besides changing textures) but because these morphs are part of the core software, they can be adjusted on any key frame. This opens up a huge window to all kinds of effects from transformations (e.g. human to werewolf transformation) and body part transformations (e.g. Pinocchio's nose growing longer, glamour spell wearing and exposing a faeries pointy ears, curse turning a face ugly, rapid aging effect, etc). iClone does not have formal support for Dynamic Morphs like these which can be applied to key frames (probably because CC is not part of the iClone software). There is a work-around in iClone to achieve up to 24 morphs using the custom settings on Facial Expressions but it is not convenient.

Being able to morph inside your animation software also saves time when doing still shots or fine tuning character appearance. For example, you set up your shot but then notice that some facial feature looks a bit odd from this angle, so you want to adjust that facial feature a bit. In DAZ you select the character, go to the Morph section and adjust the desired morph. In iClone, you need to "Send To CC", select the desired facial morph, adjust it (without seeing how it looks in the scene) and then "Send To IClone". If it is not right, you need to repeat until correct. Having the Character Creator inside he core software means you can see the character changes in your seen as you make them.

justaviking (5/1/2016)
I am thankful for my Solid State "C:\" drive, which helps applications/modules launch more quickly.

Yea...I am thinking of getting myself one to see how much of a difference it makes.

"We often compare ourselves to the U.S. and often they come out the best, but they only have the right to bear arms while we have the right to bare breasts"
Bowser and Blue, Busting The Breast

I think the reason why a particular user does this or that is an open-ended debate. CC has the option to add accessories to a character, and I think it's a good thing, especially for certain clothing elements or jewelry.

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