I super super apologise for this. This is not an ideal first topic, and i'm going to be posting a few of them haha. 
Basically, i found iclone today, and i see it is on sale. specifically the package that includes this product. Now, 1300 dollerydoos plus a camera is a lot of money to me. But i'm also under the gun because i dont know how long this specific package will be available at this price.  There is a lot of general information and tutorials, but i have been cramming and cant find some specific answers. Under any other conditions i would just keep searching documentation, and i plan to. But i was hoping at same time i would get lucky and someone here would know the answers so i can make a call on whether to set the contents of bank account free XD. 

Q 1 
I know that data from faceware can be exported to ue4. 
i know that 3d exchange pipeline can convert iclone characters to work with the default ue4 skeleton.

However, specifically, can i export a character with facial mocap that can be converted to work with the default ue4 skeleton and be played in ue4. 

Q2 I know that at the very least faceware uses morph targets. But does it also use a custom bone structure? 

Q3  I noticed in the tutorial videos i have seen that the author is using head models that look wayyy better than the character creator models i have seen. He talks about the ability to import custom characters. Is there documentation on requirements for import of custom head models , how many morph targets do i need to create, what are the naming conventions.

Q4 Are there tools for mesh manipulation to create targets from a custom base imported into iclone or do i make the targets externally?


 Thanks in advance if anyone has quick answers or links. 

I'm so sick I won't even try to address anything other than your concern this deal will expire soon -- I know it's easy to say, but I *promise* you you don't need to worry about it for a while.  You have at least a few weeks, if not months (if I were a betting man I'd say easily until the end of this year).

Just... relax.  Get the answers you need and make the right decision.

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Alienware Aurora R16, Win 11, i9-149000KF, 3.20GHz CPU, 64GB RAM, RTX 4090 (24GB), Samsung 870 Pro 8TB, Gen3 MVNe M-2 SSD, 4TBx2, 39" Alienware Widescreen Monitor
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley

Let me just briefly talk about the characters you see in the tutorials; they are characters created with Character Creator. I wouldn't dismiss CC out of hand, because importing your own characters and making them suitable would be a lot of work.

The new version of CC has been updated so that the characters have the additional morphs to make optimal use of Faceware data, and having a plugin that feeds that data directly into iClone adds a lot of convenience. 

And, as Kelley mentions, RL has said that the reduced price of the Faceware plugin lasts till the and of the year.

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First off, thanks for the heads up with the sale. 

I was able to have a chat with a sales rep to confirm that facial mocap can be exported on a ue4 skeleton. Will be reading through the full documentation  and probably make the purchase by the end of the week. 

In terms of character creator 2  what i noticed was that in tutorial the texture fidelity and even head construction appears of a different standard, which made me think it was not a cc character. One thing that stands out to me is the presence of the tear line on the tutorial mesh, a small strip of geometry that bridges the eye lid and eye surface to allow for visual indication of the reflection from the liquid that occurs there in reality  https://imgur.com/a/yMi1D , though i do note the absence of a mesh hanging from the upper eyelid to fake AO which i would want to add. 

For non hero characters, grunts etc, the quality of the shot from the character creator website would be acceptable. But for hero characters a quality of the tutorial character would be necessary if not higher.  Now a lot of that can be in texture, and thats no problem i can do a custom high poly or work in substance painter to deal with that. It's even possible i can deal with the lack of tear line and ao faking mesh by importing them skinned to the same mesh like you would hair of clothing so that it would not interfere with vertex order and thus morphs, but if the image on the website is indicate of a previous version, of the tutorial head is indicative of a new standard would love to have details.