Relatively inexpensive? I have to call BS on that. You try making a film that incorporates hundreds of different animations from IClone content, with tons of different characters and clothing and see how much all those export licenses cost you. Thousands!

The logic behind using Iclone only assets is simple. Long time users of IClone bought into this software to use it, not export out content to other programs. Sure there are some that have done that, but a majority of long time users of this software generally want to use IClone to make films.

And we're rightfully pissed, because of developments pushing people away from using their software into spending more money and using something else to render with.

Again, not saying this partnership with Unreal is bad. No it's a good thing for sure and will perhaps spark new things. But a lot of us want Reallusion to continue improving their own Renderer so we can get better quality out of their own software.

IMDB: James Muia
Aviticus Dragon on YouTube

Computer Specs:
Intel® Core™ i7-7820X Processor (8x 4.30GHz/11MB L3 Cache)
Corsair Hydro Series H115i 280mm
Liquid CPU CoolerASUS ROG STRIX X299-E Gaming Motherboard
32 GB DDR4-3200 GSKILL Ripjaws V Memory
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti - 11GB - EVGA FTW3

What  of the people using Daz content via  CC3?

can they  freely send to unreal??.
Just curious as I don't import to Iclone only export  of motion  to  external  rigs.

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

I have very good information, believe me, but you are not listening.
First, define "we". On my side I'm part of the "FEAR" "camp" (Fixe/Enhance nAtive Renderer).

So, as "we" from FEAR:
1) We don't need external renderers. Not sure in which language(s) we will have to repeat that. Indigo, iRay, Octane, etc.. are useless to us (to slow). Unreal, Unity, CryEngine, Lumberyard, etc.. are useless to us as external renderers. First because they need us to have the "Pipeline" version of every application plus the "Export" version of every content, which can cost a fortune ultimately. Second because it has been reported the Live Link can take a while to stream assets, and sometimes there are issues, which is a waste of time for a single hobbyist filmmaker iCloner.
2) We need the native renderer to be "fast enough" so it can render from realtime to a few seconds per frame so there is room to implement features (and I'm not talking about pathtracing) that neither Unreal nor Unity could use because too costly in time. This is what should make the iClone native renderer unique and wonderful, but we are not there yet. We want wysiwyg but it does not need to be in realtime.
3) We need realtime for animating of course, if possible, but while animating we don't need full quality rendering. So we need iClone and its native renderer to be smart enough to be able to switch to an efficient "animation mode" running at least at 30fps no matter what. Perhaps degrading visuals progressively depending on the "weight" of our scene.

ccCreator (1/17/2020)

---

That's irrelevant, Houdini, Motion Builder, etc.. are used in TV and Film that does not mean iCloners should learn and master them all. Using Unreal in TV and Film require much more technical knowledge and resources than one iCloner alone can usually support.

I said nothing about needing to learn MotionBuilder or Houdini.  I said that Unreal and Unity are being used to render for TV and Film, at an extremely high quality.  iClone would act as MotionBuilder in this equation. 

No but in another message you prone the use of a multitude of applications altogether with iClone. My point is saying that ideally the less we need to use the better (including external renderer).


--
guy rabiller | GOETZIWOOD STUDIOS
"N.O.E." (Nations Of Earth) Sci-Fi TV Show, Showrunner.

You don't need an export license with LiveLink.  This is if you want to export FBX to each and every 3D engine out there directly from iClone.
Animagic brought up this point initially as a broad question, but somehow it spun out that you need export license with LiveLink.  Nobody said you do.

The real question you need to ask yourself is this - how do you render once you have your animation in Unreal....??!!!

No one said you didn't need an export license either. I don't even have pipeline so it's not like I can test it out. Good to know at least you don't need an export license for everything to use Livelink.

IMDB: James Muia
Aviticus Dragon on YouTube

Computer Specs:
Intel® Core™ i7-7820X Processor (8x 4.30GHz/11MB L3 Cache)
Corsair Hydro Series H115i 280mm
Liquid CPU CoolerASUS ROG STRIX X299-E Gaming Motherboard
32 GB DDR4-3200 GSKILL Ripjaws V Memory
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti - 11GB - EVGA FTW3

No disrespect meant to anyone's opinion but I've used these products for almost as long as anyone. Since V1 on iClone but not the preceding app it came from. Reallusion will continue to improve the native render as they've done all along. Giving us other options is not a bad thing. They HAVE the resources to develop several products at once and have done so for over a decade. 

Reallusion does not freely give out information that is not publicly posted. Maybe if you are involved in one of their projects you get to see a little of what they are doing but unless you are an employee, contracted to them or your last name is Martin... it's speculation. 

Athos can make the native render look great without Unreal... just have to learn lighting and all the things that go with it (plus the Look is subjective to whomever is looking). There will be some disappointment from those that jump over and see that you have to learn the same things or buy them to get good renders in Unreal. Using iClone doesn't make any of us a shader expert.

This will open it up for more experts to come in and maybe help us all.

Speaking only for myself mouse pointing is a lot more productive than hand wringing. 

Retired Digital Freelancer, Author, and Die Hard Animator No Longer Under Adult Supervision.
Doing what I want to do... instead of what someone else's script forces me to do.
Writer and reviewer at Reallusion Magazine


                                                                                                                     

For exports, if you are trying to export a character or character wearing clothing you do not have an export license for, you need to purchase the export license. You’ll get an error when you try to animate dating you don’t have the export license. Huge drawback if you are tying to convert older projects with clothing or accessories that don’t have an export license. I had this headache recently converting an older project. I had to find out which items were giving the “you don’t have an export license error.”

IMO it’s way easier to start a new project either with a character or clothing you know you have the export license for, or just convert a Daz character with Daz clothing. No license errors that way. The biggest drawback with Unreal is losing cloth simulation and hair physics. The learning curve is big, but if you follow a basic unreal tutorial to learn how to move around in Unreal and the UI, Reallusions tutorials are fantastic to teach you how to use the Unreal plugin. They have an Unreal Playlist on their YouTube channel. That’s all I used and was able to redo a ~9min project from iclone to Unreal. I was really happy with the results aside from the loss of hair dynamics. The project was only animals so I didn’t have any clothing dynamics. It was recently accepted as an official selection to a film festival. It was made in either iclone 5 or 6. The visuals showed their age for sure.

My "NEWEST" Latest  Movie Made With Amaaaazing iClone


—> High Noon”ish” in Narrow Valley<—

If there was a requirement, it would be stipulated somewhere, otherwise there is no requirement.  I mean otherwise 'not saying' could be the basis for any argument -
ie - Do I have to buy a dog in order to use iClone, because it doesn't anywhere say that I don't have to buy a dog to use iClone...

Part of the reason they originally had it as a paid plugin before was so that RL could cover its own compensation for such incidents where assets were moved outside of pipeline for rendering to UE4. 
But it's not like there was some overriding external law or governing code, it was just a policy protocol they had in place. 
Likewise, now you see that Indies have a different cost structure (FREE) vs professionals (PAID).  This is because RL likely views that the # of incidents outside of pipeline of Indies to be inconsequential compared to # of incidents involving professionals.  RL just wants to be compensated for its content when $ is made off of it by someone else.  And they have had policies where they want to earn income for tools which allow assets to be transferred out, and/or to be utilized in another platform for rendering (ie Indigo, Iray) , but only after a threshold with the way they have it now in Unreal's case with Live Link.

And you can test it out:
(1) download the plugin and
(2) use UE4 for rendering. 

RL is stating they will allow it Free.  RL is allowed to do this if they wish to.  And, it will benefit them economically, as we have been discussing. 
More so, it will benefit them economically if we go to the UE4 forums and discuss the positives of iClone as a character creation and cinematic tool for UE4 game-dev pipeline.

IMDB: James Muia
Aviticus Dragon on YouTube

Computer Specs:
Intel® Core™ i7-7820X Processor (8x 4.30GHz/11MB L3 Cache)
Corsair Hydro Series H115i 280mm
Liquid CPU CoolerASUS ROG STRIX X299-E Gaming Motherboard
32 GB DDR4-3200 GSKILL Ripjaws V Memory
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti - 11GB - EVGA FTW3

You hit the point to the core !!!