Hello,

I am wondering if iClone has a plugin similar to PoserFusion or Vue xStream for 3ds Max. PoserFusion allows to open poser scenes inside 3ds max, giving Max the ability to render the poser scene, animations included. PoserFusion is also similar to Vue xStream, where an entire Vue scene can be brought into Max to be rendered by Max.

I stumbled across a developer 3ds max plugin from iClone, but that looks like it is strictly for making iClone content, and if this thinking is correct, that is not the same thing as PoserFusion or Vue xStream.

Thanks in advance to anyone who may know the answer to this.

Best

iClone is it's own rendering and movie making application, so it is highly unlikely there'll be a plugin to export an iClone scene for external rendering.  You can export objects and characters as static props (OBJs with 3DXchange) for rendering into stills, but that's probably it.

thanks for the reply wizaerd. I suspected this was the case.

In regards to you response, I guess that means exporting of animations (easily) is out of the question?

I am using 3ds Max, Vue xStream, and Poser Fusion to render animations inside of Max, and was interested in some of the animation capabilities of iClone, and was hoping there would be an easy way to bring iClone animations into 3ds Max. If you have any suggestions on how this can be achieved, I am all ears.

Best

There's always more involved in these matters than just technology, or some feature they haven't had time to implement!

I suspect this question of exporting character animation (which comes up often) runs profoundly contrary to Reallusion's business plan. Selling content is a major part of Reallusion's business--totally UNLIKE Autodesk. Haven't you noticed that Digital Rights Management is a cornerstone of the Reallusion experience? Well, the DRM magic works only as long as the content is safe inside iClone!

I obviously have no insider information, but my guess is that Reallusion NEVER intends to let character animations get exported to another package. Unfortunately, the question gets asked so often, the company really needs to come out and say so for themselves, and have it pinned prominently in the forum where people can see it.

You can, however, export character animations to greenscreen video and composite that into a 3D environment created in another program.

The problem with that is: Reallusion's technology is advancing so fast on so many fronts, sooner or later, you'd have to be an idiot, or a major studio (same thing?), to want to use anything else...

The one thing the pro packages will do that iClone will likely never do is support animation of very-high-poly characters--which is certainly a requirement for Hollywood-grade movies.

And, finally, there is this: why would you want to bring iClone's rather low-poly characters into a high-end 3D environment, anyway? They will never match the superhigh resolution of major studio productions!!

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

WELL.....one use for it would be to export animations created in
Iclone to daz, then apply the animation to a daz character
there, then decimate and import the daz character into
3dxchange then into iclone as a nonhuman character,
but with iclone animation applied to it. That would be useful!

That's my take on it.

__________________________________

"I am not a senior anything."

Hey Paumanok West,

Thanks for the information. Maybe I don't understand iClone yet, as I am beginning to investigate it's capabilities. I forgot to mention in my original post that I am currently considering purchasing iClone, and today is the first day I have taken a look at this software and it's features, so please forgive me if the questions seem extraordinary.



Thanks for sharing, as I was not aware of this. If you are familiar with Vue xStream (E-on software), a majority of their content is DRM too, but with the 3ds max plugin, you can open Vue inside of Max, and use all of Vue's capabilities inside Max, and E-on still has complete control over the DRM of their content. That is the value of a 3ds Max (Maya, Softimage, Lightwave, C4D) plugin, so I'm not sure if this would be worth while for Reallusion to consider a similar plugin approach. If there was one, iClone users would be able open their projects inside of a host program, which would still keep iClone content locked under their DRM, allowing people the freedom to integrate iClone content within their host program, along with other content that may not be easy to bring into iClone, such as Vue DRM content.

But as you mentioned


Not sure how low-poly we are talking, but I intend to use Daz and Poser content heavily inside of my projects. If iClone content is similar in poly count to Daz and Poser content, then this would be great for my needs. I also would say that it necessarily isn't about poly count, but about ease of animating characters for my specific use case.

Best

That's interesting. For myself, it's not the content I'm worried about.
I would just like to be able to use the animation tools in
Iclone on imported content, just as most programs allow.

This is starting to look like yet another way that
honest buyers suffer from DRM practices, and I have
been there a few times.

Btw, Iclone models are not the same as daz models;
they are much lower in poly count. The daz models
have to be reduced.

Anyway, people are accustomed to being able to use
*all* of the animation tools in a 3d software on whatever
format the software can import, so don't be surprised that
they keep asking about it.

Just sayin.....




__________________________________

"I am not a senior anything."

Well. That may be a very good point. Does reallusion feel that animations
made within their software are their property?

__________________________________

"I am not a senior anything."