First there was iClone and then came Character Creator. Immediately I wondered why Reallusion chose not to integrate their Character Creator directly into the iClone software like other competitor software such as Daz Studio. I'm not sure why they chose this path but okay...(that is not the point of this post)

However, this "split personality" (as I call it) was deepened by the fact that Reallusion chose to create individual file formats for each of the two software...for seemingly similar things:
We have iCloth in iClone and ccCloth in CC.
We have iProp in iClone and ccAcc in CC.

We know that both software can convert to the other format (since you can move characters with clothing and accessories between CC and iClone) which begs the question: Why not stick with one file format in both software?

In my opinion, the fact that there are duplicate formats for seemingly same content makes it harder to sell content in the Marketplace. Consider something like a watch. In iClone this can easily be implemented as an iProp which is attached to the character's wrist. In CC it can be easily implemented as an CC Accessory. Some users will prefer to have an Accessory version of the prop because they like to dress their character in CC. Other user's will prefer the iProp version because they like to add accessories/prop in iClone. This means you either need to create two copies of the watch in the Marketplace (once iProp and one iAcc) or risk that the user may use another user's content just because it is in their preferred format.

If iClone and CC used the same file formats, this issue would not arise because you would not be making CC or iClone content...you would be making Reallusion content (i.e. content usable by both software).

Once again, because it is possible to take CC content to iClone and vice versa (without seemingly any functionality loss) it seems to me that both the iClone file formats and CC file formats are sufficient for both software. So why not use a common file format between the two?



"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

iClone has always had Props and Accessories available. You can change the "status" of each depending on how they are used with a character.

Let's use your watch example. When the watch is a prop it can be placed anywhere in a scene and any character movement/animation has no effect on it whatever - unless it is LINKED to a character, then it will follow the actions of the linked part, but it still remains a prop. When it is UNLINKED it reverts to a static state and the character motion has no effect on it again.

If however the watch is ATTACHED to the character and correctly positioned on the wrist then it will always remain there and it becomes an accessory. By selecting the watch in the Scene Manager it can be saved automatically as an accessory, that can be used with other characters. If the watch is later DETACHED from the character then it reverts to being a prop, and can be saved and used as such.

Used correctly props and accessories can prove to be a very valuable source of content. You can have an army of soldiers with swords - as accessories, while at the same time have an armoury filled with swords - as props.

I have been using iClone since version 2 and have never experienced any problems when using props and swords - or when "converting" one to the other. As for Character Creator, I use it for character and clothing - props and accessories are added as required when said characters are placed in a scene.

iClone, and Character Creator, users aren't as lazy, or stupid, as you seem to assume - we love clicking mice, opening menus and experimenting with the wonderful opportunities that Reallusion have provided us with to have fun and be creative.  


Gerry

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I don't really see the problem either. iClone is not DAZ, thank goodness...

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from a technical standpoint,  I'm not against this -   Iclone can do a lot of things,  and if you put them all together in one software,  we risk getting bloated...and having to use up more memory -  considering that iclone is a real time render engine, we need as many available resources as possible. So I'm ok with being able to unload the cc module when not in use and freeing up resources,  as opposed to reserving a portion of memory when it starts up with iclone.

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I think you may have missed my point...I am not against the difference between Accessories and Props. I understand the difference.

My point is that you can turn a Prop into an Accessory and you can turn a Accessory into a Prop...that means both the Prop file and the Accessory file basically need to have the same content. So why have two different file formats? Stick with one and when it is not ATTACHed to a character, it is a prop and when it is ATTACHed to a character it is an accessory.

As I said, the problem comes when developing content. When I look at the Marketplace it has filters such as "Character Creator | Accessory". So, if we continue with the watch example, a customer looking for a watch for her CC character. So she sets the Marketplace filter to "Character Creator | Accessory" because she wants an accessory watch for her character. However, in this process she just filtered out a number of possibilities just because they were implemented as a prop. Although it would be trivial to convert such a prop to a accessory, the customer bypassed the possibility by applying the "Character Creator | Accessory". If, on the other hand, both props and accessories were the same thing (just differed by the fact that Accessories are ATTACHed while props are not) then the Marketplace would not have a "Character Creator | Accessory" and "iClone | Prop" filters because the content would be the same thing.

Realistically, objects are not prop or accessory...they are both. Consider a scene where Jack gets out of bed and puts on the watch that was lying on his bedside table. The object starts as a Prop but then becomes an Accessory. So I would suggest making things simple. One file format differentiated by the fact that the content is or is not ATTACHed.

"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