Hi there,

I'm posting this message 'cause I'm a little (read: completely) confused about whether I have to buy this plugin or not for my purposes.

I've purchased CC3+ Pipeline last week just for creating characters. I'm at this point of buying iClone 7 for creating facial text-to-speech animations on these characters.
I don't render anything in iClone. I just want to be able to export this mocap data/animation to Blender on this character created in CC3.

I've red something about it on this post, which is pretty 'old' by now  https://forum.reallusion.com/435492/Iclone-7-Export-to-FBX-is-broken--cannot-get-mocap-character-to-Unity#bm435498
From what I understand I can export this animation from iClone to CC3, which then can be exported to FBX. (Which is exactly what I need, I guess)
On the other hand I found this on the 3DXchange-page: "With 3DXchange Pipeline, you can import and export all types of 3D assets, including static objects, animated props, skin-bone rigged characters, and motion files."
As you can probably guess, this is making it really confusing for me.

Long story short: Do I need 3DXhange?
This is all fairly new to me and I'm hoping someone is able to clarify this as I've must decide whether I need this (or not) at our office.

Thank you very much.
Teun

If you only want to export CC characters with their motions then Character Creator Pipeline is sufficient. You still need to animate in iClone but the export goes via CC Pipeline.

3DXchange Pipeline is an older product that lets you export other types of characters as well as props, but you don't need that in your case.

There has been discussion in this forum on the best way to get things in Blender via FBX.

One extensive thread is here: https://forum.reallusion.com/456500/Attention-Blender-usersWe-Dont-Need-Unity-or-UE4.

It has a lot of useful information in it.

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Hi Animagic,

Thank you for your quick reply!

I will keep that in mind, because maybe in the future I actually gonna need external models (or props).
I'm quite limited for using only internal characters imo.

So eventually I will need the plugin if I understand you correctly.

Informative thread btw. Food for thought.

Thanks again,

To only import external props, 3DXchange Pro would be sufficient. Pipeline is only needed for exporting.

I think there is also a way to do this via Character Creator (OBJ and FBX format only). You would import the prop as accessory, so it will be attached to the character.

Export to iClone, where you can separate it from the character. That should work. 

I know this is confusing. In the past importing external objects was only possible with 3DXchange, but the lines have been blurred a bit.

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Hi afm.claassen


there is a trail version for 30 days you can use to make your mind up

see link below

https://www.reallusion.com/iclone/pipeline.html#3DX-7-compare

from Alan

Hi,

@animagic Yes, It kinda is. But I've downloaded the trial for iClone (with and without) Xchange so I now know little of what the limitations are.
@r78zj99 As mentioned, I've downloaded the Trial.

Thank you

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

here's some extra information on 3dxchange

see picture below




from Alan

Hi Autodidact,

Thanks for your reply. I've red the discussion and comments in the post Animagic mentioned.
That's some nice discussion about Blender.

I don't think you understand me (or maybe is the other way around). Its the animation/facial data on a character that I need in Blender from iClone, not only the mesh itself.

After using the trial of iClone I couldn't get those animation data in Blender. Not via export fbx, Animation was greyed out, only mesh.
And also I couldn't export it back to CC3 without losing the animation.

That's making me think it isn't possible to export the character including animation from iClone.
Nor via direct export from iClone nor via CC3 Pipeline.

I guess I've got to dive deeper into this.

Thanks

Thanks for handing over the overview, r78zj99.

But I need to get this straight. What applications do I need for my practical use?
Don't like suprises which cost me that much, that's all.