I've spent about six hours previewing, reading, and generally looking the iClone stuff over and before I go any further was wondering is someone could answer a question....

 it appears to me that there is no real way to generate one's own complete custom character/avatar unless its built out of imported props (humanoid-ish), or a transformation of the rather limited and pricey iClone store content. Is this so? If so, what is the use of a product that will never be able to really show individuality? I mean you can only 'modify' the look so far, but never get original. (and BTW, iClone avatar's are about as well done proportionally as if I'd let some fifth grade kids do it.)

 It looked interesting at first, but if it is as locked, content wise as I now seem to be seeing it.. I'll stick to Poser/3D Studio, Maya, and 3DS where at the least I can use my own creative hand.

Hope I'm just seeing that iClone documenters and PR types put out a weak showing, and it allows truly original content to be made...

so how about it? Someone 'in the know' wanna help land a prospective customer?

YannosB

Hi

You do have some options , you can export the character mesh from Iclone using 3Dexchange then in another program remodel the mesh (though I think you need to be careful how you do this to make sure they still fit the Iclone bone system).

Iclone can import FBX characters via 3dexchange but the characters need to be animated by hand (no Iclone motions will work on them ) and this is easier said than done..

I am hoping Iclone 5 makes this easier ...

Also Reallusion offer characters in 3Dmax format and bone system aswell as a Iclone exporter for these for 3Dstudio Max.



I Make My Mates Do The CanCan For The Amusement Of Killer Robots

Hi Yannos

If you have 3DS Max already then you can create entirely new avatars for use in iClone. After purchase of iClone4 you will gain access to the Developer Center where there are a number of tools and resources available to download for free including an iClone plugin for Max.

It is also worth remembering that there are also a number of ways you can create your own characters within iClone itself (with or without the help of 3DXchange). You can add a facial photo to change the way a character looks. You can alter the shape of the head to something more unique. The body shape can also be altered, and with CloneCloth you can create almost any type of clothing you can think of.

iClone is not designed to be a high end 3D modeller. It's primary use is in movie making and all this can be accomplished in real time so what you see on screen while you are working is what you will see in your final rendered video.

Why not download the non-expiring iClone4 EX. With this you can try out the software with no time contstraints and see if it is for you. You can download the EX version HERE.

                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com

Generally speaking, iClone's avatar proportions are determined by the user.
I haven't had any experience playing around with non-human avatars, but I have spent a fair bit of time playing around with customising human avatars entirely within the program.

I do find the standard supplied avatars aren't overly well proportioned, but as the user you can change the individual body part proportions to make them more realistic. I spent a bit of time customising a 'celebrity' avatar that I am extremely pleased with. As Peter said you can import a face from a photo and if you spend the time fitting the face properly it's amazing how lifelike it looks. There are limitations of course, but most body proportions are scalable.

You can't really compare the likes of Poser with iClone. Poser is primarily a 3D modelling program, whereas iClone is a realtime animated movie production program. If you want to create highly detailed & customised characters then iClone won't compare to the likes of Poser or even Daz3D. However, if you are planning on making animated movie productions, iClone is the program with all the tools to do it. From my (albeit limited) experience with Poser, it isn't overly well equipped with tools for creating entire animated movie productions.
As for Maya.... well if you can afford to buy Maya, I don't know why you'd be looking at anything else. Peter is welcome to correct me here, but from what I understand, iClone doesn't pretend to compete with high end animation production packages such as Maya. We are talking about software that costs a couple of hundred $$ vs a package that costs many thousands of $$. Also from what I can gather, iClone is a lot easier to use & learn for those of us who aren't overly experienced in 3D animation.

In regards to the realism of the avatars, I do find the standard supplied avatars aren't overly realistically proportioned, so I've customised some of my own (all within iClone). I based one particular avatar on a celebrity that I wanted to replicate. I was able import the face from a picture, adjust it to fit the facial points, adjust scale of legs, arms, upper body/bust size & shape, lower body and head proportions to match. Then with the facial editor I could fine tune the shape of the face and facial features such as chin, cheeks, eyes, nose. There are some limitations, especially if you are dealing with odd body shapes. But at the end of it all, I now have an instantly recognisable (for those familiar with the celebrity), correctly proportioned iClone replica of the person I have modelled it on.

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sw00000p... DAMN! Well said!

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I LIVE to anymate, irritate and machinamate. Not necessarily in that order.

Hi Yannos

This is not a brilliant example but you can create a mesh in any 3d modelling software export as obj then I brought it into Max used the CS Bones to skin it to put a walk motion on it then exported as a Non Human Character into Iclone.My skills are not the best but it is just to show that what I think you want to do is possible.

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