Xsens is firmly in the indie game/studio and professional territory. For those making money using iClone for game development and content and frustrated by the QC on the neuron suits the Xsens deal is a bargain. You get the best inertial suit out there and you don't have to buy the most expensive part of the setup like I did, the $20K USD MVN Pro license. I do not expect Reallusion will sell a lot of Xsens plugins and Xsens won't be selling suits left and right, but for those using iClone for performance capture and weighting buying 2+ PN suits and dealing with that workflow or 1 Xsens it will give them a solid choice to think about. I think a lot of those studios will lean towards the Xsens, plus it is well supported in every other mocap setup out there.
So it is a good deal but only for a certain market of the users and for Reallusion that is the market they are growing into rather than existing. Expect this to grow a lot after 7.1.
For many people 7.1 will really be v1 as the workflow had to many limitations before this to fit into all but the most niche pipelines. Having iClone as a pipeline tool brings it into a market that has a ton of growth potential, this is the future of all 3D content creation.
As far as Faceware goes it is simple there is no other cheaper option they can offer. Reallusion can't force Faceware to sell their software at a loss. If you are a hobbyist and it comes out and you feel you need it you will save and buy it. Tons of hobbyist spend WAY more on their hobbies than what Faceware costs. People are just trying to force it into an arbitrary number for a product that does not exist. I want reliable and good body capture for $300, Reallusion should sell me Xsens for $300 because that is how much I want to pay. Sorry, doesn't work that way. Also there is nothing stopping them from adding one in the future when this mythical $300 face capture software finally gets made. That is the beauty of an open platform. Faceware is what is available now, it is the cheapest working solution out now, and Faceware were willing to work with Reallusion. It is as simple as that, it isn't really an argument and it fits in exactly with what John said in the video. The people who are complaining probably could buy it, they might having to make sacrifices in other areas of their life to buy it, but they chose not to because it does not fit their unrealistic expectations. Maybe just maybe with Faceware and the updated animation tools those same hobbyist could actually leverage their hobby into a little revenue doing small local projects that help cover the hobby.
Meanwhile I just renewed my yearly support with Faceware for Live and plan on using the heck out of it ;)
Like I said before, best bet for people on the fence instead of wringing your hands over the price (you are not being forced to buy) is wait till it is out, check out the reviews when it is and make a value judgment at that time if it is worthwhile to you. Simple as that.
If something does come out that is cheaper and looks like it would be worth Reallusion's attention (Facerig is not, but might be worth an enterprising users time to tap into the streaming data using python) then bring it to their attention.
illusionLAB (8/18/2017)
It's interesting how nobody is even discussing Xsens - probably because they're firmly priced "out of reach", or "unjustifiable", for most of us. iClone users have been desperate for face capture for ages, so maybe it just feels a little frustrating that it's first offering isn't a budget version to have fun with. Back to the Yugo with the gold rims analogy... what if you love your Yugo and you really want 18" wheels on it? - but the ONLY rims available were the gold ones?
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