I'm working on episode 4 of my animated Sci-Fi series. I upgraded to iClone 8 in the middle of the project and I've been learning how to use the new animation tools at my disposal. I have not mastered any of them yet, but I did notice something very interesting.
In the past when I animated a character in my animations it was a comparatively labor intensive process. I really feel that the level of effort to re-work or improve an animation was such that it may have prevented me from really getting the animation I could imagine.
In the past couple of days, I've carried that preconception  with me as I went back to scenes I had animated in iClone 7 and re-animated them using iClone 8. It is SO MUCH EASIER now than it used to be, even as a neophyte to these new animation tools. Motion Director, animation layers, pose mixer, Digital Soul and the oft overlooked, but wonderful tool: AccuLips all work together to really bring a character to life.
My next episode wont be perfect. I still have much to learn with these new tools. But now I don't hesitate to delete all animations from a character in a scene if I'm not happy with them. I can re-do the animations so quickly, and usually with better results that animation is no longer the barrier that it used to be.

Well done, Reallusion team!

- Jeff
The Adventures of Capt Sanchez
Cybernautic Studios

Thank you for the kind words Jeff. I will pass them on to the iClone team. :)

                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com

I was used to be routinely amazed by the earliest, now crude, versions of iClone and its animation content.
By the time we got to V 5, I abandoned iClone and animation because I couldn't hack it to turn out acceptable footage.
I returned after V 7 appeared and the software had finally matured enough so that a simpleton like me could actually turn out watchable sequences.
People need to realize now how much of an advance 8 is over V 7.
And then, there's the new content: Digital Soul is the most amazing (and useful) thing I've seen since I returned.
Next up: looking forward to REAL character interactions like the demo sequence of Manny picking up Martha and whirling her around.
Need a tutorial on it, but perhaps iClone may still need further refinement before this sort of contact is easy.

Animating now to life itself --Walt Whitman