I'm the same.
I use iClone purely to bring my ideas to life and hopefully one day be able to entertain a few people along the way with my creations. I have no ambitions to be a professional animator, it will always just be a hobby for me.

And if RL can add some features that take some of the hard work out of animating and making the motions more lifelike, then I'm all for it :)

as for facial animation, yeah I've been playing around with it a fair bit lately. I've also noticed a lot of iClone productions seem to have botoxed actors. A bit of facial animation makes a big difference to making things more life-like

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I'm quite aware of that, and I didn't mean to imply that I considered it a hobby for myself...  There are, and have been for a long time, independent animated film makers. But, frankly, I have given up to educate on this forum in this area... I admire your efforts!

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I didn't quite mean it the way it sounded, aknzrdude. :)
I simply meant that it wouldn't let you make the epic "big screen" type LotR...but, to rephrase my previous statement, yes, you could probably do a very fun looking and well done (for the app's capabilities) LotR styled tale.

Just look at stuckon3d's imagery for an idea. :)




"Incompetence will always prevail so long as evil men stand by and do nothing."
-Martok2112

I use Facial Puppeteering extensively. Sometimes (perhaps most times) the subtleties it adds are lost, but I do it anyway. I actually kinda hope they boost what you can do in this department in the next version of iClone. It's a great feature.

https://marketplace.reallusion.com/iclone/author/biggstrek

this thread is too much fun reading i decide to jump in - here i disagree with Martok - iClone will definitely let me make Lord of the Rings - but perhaps as in my Hobbit parody - it might not be the version you would like but it would be a version i (and maybe 10 or 20 people) would love :)

Just to set the record straight: major Hollywood studios and hobbyists are by no means the only two alternatives for doing animation.

General Picture - animating now to life itself(tm)
Member of Content Wizards

I use iClone because I want to make my own films, not to get a job as an animator working on some one else's projects...  It doesn't pay enough to do those all-nighters. But you may have the satisfaction of seeing your name among hundreds in the credits of a Pixar movie...:P 

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LOL! Only for the challenge of seeing "how can I pull this off?" :)



"Incompetence will always prevail so long as evil men stand by and do nothing."
-Martok2112

The thing I love about iClone is its limitations, sometimes.
I like the challenge of thinking outside the box to try and pull certain animations or scenes off.
Granted, the big witch with a B sting of a lot of this is that you sometimes have to buy additional software (3DExchange for example) to import certain props or objects that you just can't make in iClone. (Thank God, Blender is FREE.....LOL!)

There are a ton of talented content and animation producers here...and I always manage to learn a little something from them when I see their great works.

No, I doubt iClone will allow us to make the next "Lord of the Rings" styled epic, but it sure is a nice stepping stone. It's a great entry level machinima animation tool that can whet one's appetitie for more advanced animation apps and techniques in the future.

I enjoy using the facial puppeteering in iClone. I think, for the most part, I get pretty decent results out of it for my purposes. :)



"Incompetence will always prevail so long as evil men stand by and do nothing."
-Martok2112

Blue,

Let's do that and get back on topic:)

sjonesdc :hehe:

STILL LEARNING!!!