At this point, iClone 6 & 7 are basically just going to sit on my computer as curios to mess around with occasionally, while I continue to use iClone 5 as my main program.  Am I the only one, or would other people have vastly preferred an updated version of iClone 5 with improved physics and resolution, but retaining the avatar compatibility and head creation from photos, to what ended up being released as iClone 6 & 7?

I wouldn't even go back to iclone 6 now, let alone 5

Same here.

There was a lot of criticism when the head creation was moved to CrazyTalk 8 and rightly so, but with practice the results can be vastly better than with iClone 5. In addition, the facial expression capabilities in IC7 finally put life in the iClone faces (and hopefully facial Mocap will improve on that further).

Also, the visual improvements place iClone at another level.

There is a learning curve obviously with the rearranged user interface of IC6 and 7, but I think after you get used to it works fine. When using IC5, as I do sometimes, I now find myself searching for things...

---

Many, many dittos -- can't even imagine using 6 anymore (and it's no longer on any of my machines).

GI to me is worth the price of admission -- SO many wonderful things can be done with it (it's amazing how crazy important lighting is, and I just can't understand anyone who wouldn't want to use the improvements 7 has in this regard).

---

Alienware Aurora R12, Win 10, i9-119000KF, 3.5GHz CPU, 128GB RAM, RTX 3090 (24GB), Samsung 960 Pro 4TB M-2 SSD, TB+ Disk space
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley

GI is awesome, makes lighting so much easier and natural, and combined with glow maps with hdr you can mal some really awesome energy rays and bursts! Only downside is the vram and gpu usage but it is worth it. Which leads me to this: Fuck you RL now i want a new gpu!!

The render continues to improve and my personal opinion is that the Character Creator is the biggest step forward for this software in possibly ever.  The ability for a non-modeler tech guy to create a character and set him up in multiple outfits easily is a boon.  Also have a feeling that the LUT in IC7 is something of an easy button for getting consistent moody vibes for your project.   The animation process is still difficult.  Hopefully the curve editor will be all some hope for.  If the motion side is "figured out" then the world is our oyster (the ability to create custom non-mocap animations seemingly is still in the land of the ultra professional).

No I don't yearn for the days of IC5/IC6

But creating custom mocap animations is squarely in the hands of us amateurs, so don't sit on the sidelines.  Heck, with Kinect and $99 iPisoftware you can create just about any custom stuff you want, easily and quickly.  Can't imagine why anyone would settle for less.

---

Alienware Aurora R12, Win 10, i9-119000KF, 3.5GHz CPU, 128GB RAM, RTX 3090 (24GB), Samsung 960 Pro 4TB M-2 SSD, TB+ Disk space
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley

I've been around since the It's Me software days and I think IC7 is the best to date. Once the curve editor drops i'm one very happy camper. I have no reason to use older version anymore Here are a couple of my latest renders, Oh and the speed... did I mention the speed..




Bluey Creative in the Marketplace

Nice work Jaffa

<Can't imagine why anyone would settle for less.>

I can Kelly. You got to have some qualifications to do certain things. Let aside floor dance, even simplest gestures or movements we see easily performed by professional actors require certain skills.
Now in addition to animation I got to learn how to act, or dance, or become a stuntman?

The heck, I spent 2 hours the other day trying to make a smooth transition between 2 clips.
We the armatures have to sit and wait for someone with great deal of experience to come up with a workaround for us? I just hate the word "workaround". Really!
Not a fine morning for me I suppose... need some coffee.

But I still love IC7 - no going back - not even for the "photoing" faces of the relatives

Well, yes, that's true.  If your movie requires folks to kick someone in the chin, it's unlikely that most of us could mocap that ourselves (heck, at my age if my movie required someone to kick someone in the KNEE I don't know I could manage it).

But I don't think that's the majority of custom motions needed.  The truly athletic stuff, like dancing and fighting, is readily available for purchase.  I thought the guy I was responding to was talking about custom motions that you could not buy.  Things like your characters making a speech and needing the right motions to go along with it.  Or, heck, any sort of custom movement that's just too time consuming to make manually.

Just this weekend I was putting together a test animation with two anchor folks talking to each other.  I have all KINDS of animations I've bought, and I own MixMoves communication and while I certainly could have used those tools it was just far easier to spend five minutes mocap myself performing both roles.  It was a 60 second spot, and I did a couple of takes, so five minutes max (my setup is always on and it takes only a minute to get it ready to use).  The processing time for the clips was about another five minutes but during that time I did other things.  But, even so, in less than 15 minutes I had custom animation for two characters for a 60 second spot, which is a lot less time than it would have taken for me to get it right with the animation tools.

I think you decide what your needs are and then get the tools to do what you want.  Just like with facial mocap (which I so DESPERATELY desire) I don't think you need to be Meryl Streep in order to get a good performance for what you want, and with most body mocap you don't have to be all that good to get it right.  But if you prefer to do it manually that's up to you -- I was just telling that guy he shouldn't settle, and I don't think anyone should.

---

Alienware Aurora R12, Win 10, i9-119000KF, 3.5GHz CPU, 128GB RAM, RTX 3090 (24GB), Samsung 960 Pro 4TB M-2 SSD, TB+ Disk space
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley