Guys,  a lot of people here are confused.   

Folks want to know:  what goes into making a pro film?

They think ,  or hope,  they're going to make there pro film in Iclone.    Wrong!     Pro films are not made solely in Iclone,  nor 3DS Max,  nor Maya,  nor even Houdini.  

  Nope

They're made in COMPOSITING.    This is where you take your Iclone renders + other assets.  You send them
to compositing.   That's where you fine tweak everything.   No one makes pro films in a 3D app!    Movies that
come straight from Iclone make me shudder!

That's why you want the best renders possible.   Because you want the best raw shots possible to MAKE your final movie.

You want a renderer used in pro productions.

Thats why you want  OCTANE 4 >>>> directly In Iclone!

I saw a few posts of you concerning iClone + Octane.
I have no experience with Octane (any third party render, cause i hesitate to leave iClone for render) but what i saw was optical very nice and what i read (render speed) was deeply interesting...
So, if your connections to Octane developers could open the door for an Octane plug-in for iClone, that would be great...


Toystorylab on Vimeo :     Crassitudes (my "Alter Ego") on Youtube: 

Once IC7 allow you to pipeline out, your request seem already clear. Repeat again the 3rd mistake after indigo & iray plugin only a nightmare, no point.

Movies that

come straight from Iclone make me shudder! come straight from Iclone make me shudder! 

RAG DOLL COLLISION ANIMATIONS FOR ICLONE 8 & 7
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ghost Origins

My latest Feature length film created with Iclone.

My IMDB listing
Anabran Abdhul Quarnain - IMDb

Toystory >>> I have no experience with Octane (any third party render, cause i hesitate to leave iClone for render) <<<
I have the same hesitation ...
To create an animation in an environment like iClone with existing 'sets' already surrounding the animated action is - yes - perhaps 'old school'.
Creating films from the ground up by 'composting' acquisitions from other software - sure I can see that that's the way it's done these days. (In front of screens, not out on location sets) ... It does take a 'stretch' mentally, to get your head around the fact that 3d assets come from 'A' but the 'animation' comes from 'B' - yet they will work together in 'C' - and it's all just 'DATA' representing different 'components' but are brought together to mesh as one..
This is where some of the mystery is ....... Industry 'insiders' get to see this happening - possibly daily - so they get a profound understanding of how it goes together. For those not in that situation, it's a lot less clear ....
Like anything, it all comes down to learning. But when you're 'doing it ' as part of a team on a production, the learning is fast-tracked compared to the sole creator. And that makes some solo film makers tread a bit more 'cautiously' because obstacles and pitfalls will certainly be encountered and are arguably harder for the individual to overcome. Whereas with a team - you can 'brainstorm' your way out of any situation.... So yes, some hesitation for the indie - not because they don't want to try, or do better, or try new things ..... but they just need a lot of 'clues' along the way to work it all out.

But - hey .... the last thing I want to be is any sort of 'wet rag' .... lol ..... so I'm 'all ears' - to whatever's talked up on this thread - it has a great title !!!
'How to make a Movie' ....

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Please be patient with me ..... I don't always 'get it' the first time 'round - not even the 2nd time!   - yikes! ... 

● MSI GT72VR Laptop, i7 7700HQ 4-Core 3.8 GHz 16GB RAM; Nvidia 1070, 8GB Vram ● iClone-7.93 ● 3DXChange Pipeline 7.81 ● CC-3 Pipeline 3.44 ● Live Face ● HeadShot ● Brekel Pro-Body ● Popcorn FX ● iRAY ● Kinect V2 ● DaVinci Resolve17 ● Mixcraft 8.1

I saw a few posts of you concerning iClone + Octane.

........yeah I have Octane now,  so very familiar with it.

. if your connections to Octane developers could open the door for an Octane plug-in for iClone, that would be great...

..........RL just has to give the OK.    Then it's smooth sailing.

 .........major benefits of Octane are:

1  Highest quality.
2. In every major app.   Development is on going.  They are a leader. It's not going away like lots or renderers seem to.
3  For a smaller price,  you can get plugins for EVERY app you own.

 You get consistency.

  Octane in after effects. { compositor}
  Octane in Max,  Houdini,  etc. etc.
 

4   IN the app - opens in a pane IN the app.  No exporting.
5   IN the app - not a shaky, time consuming, pipeline.
6   Pro level.   { you don't need any more excuses }

RAG DOLL COLLISION ANIMATIONS FOR ICLONE 8 & 7
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ghost Origins

My latest Feature length film created with Iclone.

My IMDB listing
Anabran Abdhul Quarnain - IMDb

AutoDidact said     

First: some people here, who only render from Iclone, may find the above quoted statement  a bit Disparaging/insulting of their works.

............well apologies to anyone insulted.

............However,  I titled this thread -  HOW TO MAKE A MOVIE.

    I didn't title it how to make a home video,  how to make a youtube video,  or how to impress your friends.   

I said several times  PRO MOVIE.

.............I've talked about separating the forum before:   serious filmakers in one area.   Hobbyists,  students in another.  Unfortunately they apparently prefer this one size fits all approach.

------------------------------------
SCRIPT

SHORT SCRIPT [DESCRIBING overconfidence,  and lack of training.]

JIM FINISHES HIS PROJECT - INT BEDROOM - DAY

He uploads his work.   

Jim shows his hard work iclone project to forum members.

JIM
Guys here's my new iclone movie.    I had problems, that's
why scene 3, and scene 4 don't look right.   etc.   We ran out
of money,  so we couldn't ___________ { fill in the blank }.
I'm not sure the renderer really looks good,  either.......but..
Also I didn't have a compositor -- I didn't know what that even
was......

Al  { vibing }
Hey it's cool man   I dig it.

OTHERS
Yeah man!   It's cool.   It's awesome!

NOW JIM IS CONFIDENT .    HE HAS A RELATIVE WITH CONNECTIONS TO GET THE MOVIE SEEN BY TOP STUDIO BRASS.  He  confidently sends it off.

INT.  EXECUTIVE OFFICE - DAY

STUDIO EXECUTIVE GRABS PHONE
{ after watching 2 minutes of Jim's movie}

ON PHONE AGITATED
Get me Hanson!     Hanson -   what is this freaking garbage you sent me!!!?? . Don't ever waste my time again!

SLAMS PHONE DOWN.

EXECUTIVE TRIES TO COMPOSE HIMSELF.  HE TAKES A DEEP BREATH.   HE HAS AN IMPORTANT MEETING IN 10 MINUTES WITH A TOP HOLLYWOOD DIRECTOR.

BACK TO POOR JIM --  UNFORTUNATELY JIM HAS NOW BLOWN HIS RARE CHANCE TO ENTER THE BIG LEAGUES.    HE IS VERY DEPRESSED.  HE IS FORGETTING HIS IDEA TO SUBMIT TO FESTIVALS NOW TOO.   HE MAY FORGET FILMMAKING ALTOGETHER,  AND GO INTO BASEBALL.

THE END
---------------------

Guys to you want to make home videos?   Or Pro movies?

I love Octane, it's incredible technology.  As for "industry standard" rendering... nobody wears that crown - as always, it's about picking the right tool for the job... and the "big" studios always have proprietary tweaks (or proprietary renderers) that they've made for rendering - that is, there are few major studios using "off the shelf" renderers in their pipelines.  GPU rendering, as cool as it is, does not cut the mustard for film VFX or feature animation as scenes can easily have 50 or 60GB of geometry and a terabyte (or more) of textures.  They already have huge CPU based render farms, and when pushed, will also use "cloud based" render services - which are also CPU based.

As for iClone getting Octane... I wouldn't hold my breath ;-)  When Octane 4 is finally released the 2 GPU version will be free - the plugins to make it work with the host 3D software are OTOY plugins, so no (or very little) money to be made for RL - ie. not much motivation   Also, as iClone loads everything onto your GPU in order to get real time performance, I can't see how Octane would have enough resources to be able to give the immediate feedback it does with other 'traditional' 3D software.  The 'preview' and 'send to render' nature of Iray's "integration" is probably the best you could hope for.

Personally, I only use CC3 for character ideas (refined elsewhere... primarily 3D Coat) and iClone for 'first pass' character animation.  I export the characters to C4D (and lately Blender 2.8) for cloth/hair dynamics, sets, lighting, camera and rendering (with Octane of course!).

Forgot to say, AD, that Octane conversion of iClone materials is painless  and accurate as iC is all texture based (ie. no procedural materials).  The only trouble I've had is with 'transparency' channels... almost always as easy as inverting the alpha.  The conversion is two steps... select all your iC textures and click on "convert materials" - which is virtually instant... there is also a button in Octane to "remove unused textures".