Dear iCloners

We here at Reallusion would like to thank you all for your extremely helpful and constructive feedback regarding iClone 5, especially with the Kinect Mocap. In undertaking the development of personal motion capture for your home or professional studio, Reallusion have now become pioneers at the forefront of real-time animation. We are dedicated to bringing forth the best possible product for our valued users, and will continue to strive toward continually improving the iClone experience.

iClone5 Mocap Enhancement

Reallusion is dedicated to improving and refining the motion capture experience within iClone, and in doing so are presently testing and developing future patches for improved usability and functionality. These patches will implement a host of improvements to the Mocap as well as other vital iClone features and tools. We would like to announce at the present time that we will be releasing the first iClone 5 patch (v5.02) in this month. In appreciation for your feedback from the forum, this time around we have specially developed a pre-release patch available only to forum users for an early look at what it has to offer. This patch will include the lock options for knee and foot to avoid unnatural foot flipping during Mocap (especially for projects without the requirement of heavy legs movement), as well as more precise head movement.

Download iClone 5.02 Pre-released Version
http://c3340667.r67.cf0.rackcdn.com/iClone502PRO_Patch_Enu.exe
(You can upgrade to the official 5.02 version by directly installing the final patch then)

iClone5 Kinect & Microsoft SDK (Beta)

The other exciting news is that Reallusion has officially become a Kinect TAP partner and currently developing the Mocap capabilities further via the Microsoft Kinect SDK, and will release the iClone 5.1 patch, which represents the culmination of these efforts, by the end of this year. The Microsoft Kinect SDK is an essential part of our Mocap development, and will provide improved motion stability, along with the ability to recognize end-point animation for body parts such as wrists, backbone, head, hips, and feet. We are also considering some abilities of device mocap to start/stop your motion capture with audio or motion commands, mirror capture, noise deduction, as well as other great features such as floor detection and auto-motor calibration.

3DXchange5 & Motion Pipeline

Last but certainly not least, we are looking to release the next version of our quintessential format conversion tool 3DXchange 5 in Q1 of 2012. One of the most significant features of the next version of 3DXchange will be the capability to bring in any bi-ped human character from other software and export that same character complete with embedded motions to other animation tools. This means that we will be providing a characterization panel to synchronize any character bone structure with those of iClone characters. This next version will also include the ability to export FBX and BVH format files, meaning that you will be able to bring your own unique motion editing to other 3D tools. This will open up a whole new world for iClone, and provide more animation freedom to users from the entire 3D animation community. We’re looking forward to it, and we hope you are too!

Best

Reallusion, Inc.

I keep getting a "HTTP 404 Not Found" error.

Is there a list of changes available anywhere for this pre-release?

Whilst understanding the limits to public reporting by a competitive business, your glimpse into on going Iclone developments was most interesting and much appreciated by this user.

Geoff.

Hi CookieKirwan

Most iClone users have already updated to 5.02 without any problems, so it sounds as though you have some computer issues here that are unrelated to the 5.02 update.

Patching your version of iClone would not cause you to lose internet or require you to use Safe mode. I would look for any error messages you receive when starting your computer as this may give a clue as to what is causing the problems.

Thanks for replying and thanks ESPECIALLY for fixing the WOO lips!

Frankly, I think its time RL did away with Generation 5 characters and make way for more realistic character customization. Should be and option for those who prefer that look of character than the gen 5, cartoony look, and those willing to pay extra for it. That way Iclone 5 can stay kid friendly with the Generation version of characters, while allowing the rest of us who want to import a more advance version of character customization who are not doing kid animations, but trying to make actual movies worthy of serious consideration for future productions. I mean why develope all the tools of a high end package for a better price, only to still be working with the same lackluster generation characters (my opinion) and not allow better ones in like DAZ that are compatible with the program in; or at the very least have some better way inside the program to customize the generation 5 characters whereby they can be morphed to look more like real people to some degree. RL should allow those of us who want to go further to do just that, import better characters and enviroments that work well with the program, including those of use who use Vue 10, even if we have to pay extra for that ability. Cleary Genectica makes textures on props, among other things... POP, adding a great level of realism, and RL had no problem marking that on their website. So clearly, the word "realism," is in their vocabulary. I'm just asking that it also be applied to characters as well, not just all the props. What good is all that realism in the enviroment, if the generation characters still look as though they don't quite fit in ICLONE, but better in 2D and in a CRAZY TAlK animation.

RL sells would go through the roof, if Iclone had that type of compatibilty with two of the leading programs on the market DAZ figures, ( everyone uses them...games, feature films, art, and so on to some degree, and Vue 10 or whatever version, terrain builder)for those who have these programs and striving for a bit more realism in their animations without any hangups or compatiblity issues. Iclone 5 is an amazing program, and the perfect pot to bring it all together, since almost everything you need is right there to get on with your project...except for allowing for better looking characters and terrains for those who want to go further with their animations than just the casual fooling around and making the next fart joke animated short.

    From my understanding in reading this post, 3D exchange 5 allows you to import a biped character into the program and animate it and then export it out to another program. Okay, thats fantastic. But what about the Iclone 5 program we are using? Seems backasswards to me to import a character in to a program such as Iclone with all its capabilities as an animating tool, but you can't use that character fully within the program itself; but you can export it out to another program totally animated. Huh???? Most of us would like to use that better character we've created, somewhere else and 9/10 Daz or Poser, in Iclone 5, (or at least have that option). There are only a handful of people who will actually model a biped character from scratch before animating it these days. Most will buy it from Daz, morph it, change it, texture it to what they want and then move on to animate it. RL should go ahead and bridge that gap. Why let another program steal that animating thunder, when Iclone 5 has all the goods right inside the program to get the job done to make movies, and clearly we just used a portion of that power with 3DXchange 5 to animated the character in the first place to export it.

If RL want to open themselves up to the 3D community, then embracing total compatibility with DAZ characters and beyond, and E-on software the makers Vue 10, if possible, is the way to go like everyone else, in my opinion. As soon as someone does a complete animation with a V4 and M4 with all the trimmings in Iclone 5, Gen 5 characters will be homeless hanging out under bridges doing animated crack. Nobody will want to animate with them again, unless in a storyboard compacity, to set up shots or the newbies who are still learning but can't wait to use better characters they are  now seeing in movies on RL website. There is a massive amount of content for Daz characters and room for anyone with talent to make more clothes and props for them. Its endless. I'm Just saying.