Hi all, first time posting, first time looking at iClone.  I'll try to be concise.

I've begun developing games in Unreal Engine 4.  I saw recently that iClone has plugins that support using their much higher detailed models in Unreal.  I build immersive games and the Character Creation tool is exactly what I need to bump up the quality of my game characters.  However, I've gone down the rabbit hole that is the iClone product website and found myself a bit lost and confused.  I know what I need it to do, but not sure what I need to do so.  So here is exactly what I'm looking for and hopefully, a kind and more educated soul can help me out.

I need to be able to create and animate high-quality characters that can be used in Unreal. As part of this, I want to be able to use facial motion capture so that my voice-over artists can provide not just the dialog but also facial capture to sync it up.  At this time I do not need any other body capture features. 

First, I've seen the Unreal Engine - iClone bundles. So I'm making the assumption (and please let me know if I'm mistaken) that at very least I will need their "Fundamental Package" for $1990.  But when I look at the motion capture software plugins I start to get a bit confused especially when there seems to be a major price discrepancy depending on the page I'm on.  I just want facial recognition and I don't need to use it live at all.

Any guidance is really appreciated.

Hi James

If you need facial motion capture then there are two options available. One is Faceware Realtime which uses a webcam or Live Face which uses an iPhone 10 or 11 series phone.

So looking at your requirements, you would need iClone 7, Character Creator 3 Pipeline, Motion LIVE Plugin and then either of the facial mocap gear profiles depending on which you plan to use.

So if you already have a compatible iPhone a great option would be the "Facial Mocap Solution" bundle found on the page below. Note: This only includes the basic version of Character Creator 3 but you can upgrade this to the Pipeline version to enable the export options to Unreal.

https://www.reallusion.com/store/product.html?l=1&p=ic


                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com

Thank you! That answered my question.

I don't have an iPhone and if I'm rading the page right using a webcam vs an iPhone is nearly a $1,200 difference.  Am I missing something? Why such a massive price difference?

Faceware Realtime is a third party product so the pricing is out of our hands unfortunately. Faceware is a professional level product and is used in many of the most popular AAA games currently on the market. Sadly this means that it comes at a premium price.

For sure the better value comes with the Live Face gear profile but only for those who already have a compatible iPhone. If you don't then the cost of the Live Face gear profile plus an iPhone 10/11 is going to put it in the same price range as Faceware.


                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com

I've hired a Z-Brush artist to create a character that I'd like to add facial mocap to for iClone. He can deliver it in FBX or OBJ format and probably any other format that would make it easiest for me to animate. Here's what we wrote to me related to his process, intending to "retopologizei it in the end and bake the maps for textures.
WIth all quad topology skin to bone rig shouldn't be a problem. I'll try to make necessary loops in areas that will be deformable.
I think IClone's rig is pretty much like Motionbuilder or Mixamo: naming dependant.

I guess OBJ or FBX are the most common 3d formats among 3d apps. Anyway, i'll prepare the mesh that could be skined and rigged and export it for you in any of this format.

If IClone supprts morph targets and animation doesn't require wide movements range then exporting several meshes as morphtargets make sense.cause rskinning and rigging sometimes is quite tedious and time consuming process.   

Do you have any suggestions that would allow me to use my Faceware live or  iPhone Motion live with this figure? Thank you!!!