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By planetstardragon - 11 Years Ago
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So I found a game called space engineers - I haven't gotten it yet, but I've been searching a long time for software like this :D
http://store.steampowered.com/app/244850/?snr=1_7_7_151_150_1
Firstly - they allow footage from their game to be used in your videos on youtube - they even encourage it - this appeals to me because then I can focus on specific shots in iclone and leave the environmental space stuff, which can take a while, for space engineers - which procedurally generates asteroids as you explore
The next thing I like about it - is that you can export your models particularly for 3D printing, but you can also export the models you make in space engineers to obj :w00t: ....and from what I've been reading, your creation is your own.....so technically it's akin to a modeling software in the form of a game! The models themselve are a bit crude, at least in comparison to what you can do with them by tweaking them in modo and painting them in 3Dcoat or Mari :w00t:
Oh yes, and it's also a game, with physics enabled, so you can build your ship, go play a couple of battle games with your friends - and use that footage for your star wars movie.
Their renders aren't too shabby for space scenes ( will need post production to liven it up ) - but you can also mod the game itself to do things like add custom models and Nebulas!
In over view - this makes "creating movies" fun......something I don't have when on my 50th tutorial trying to understand the finer points of uv, rigging and polycounts! :pinch:
This is something I would also love reallusion to explore....
Making unique characters in Spore is fun, Making unique space ships AND Mechs :w00t: in Space engineers is fun .......no one has made creating houses, cars, and various other props Fun in a game like way with the intention for creating assets - not just technical and precise, but in an environment that inspires your imagination - it's way more inspirational for coming up with ideas when creating new stuff from an astronaut's view .....and not like some techie tweaking edge loops ...3D printing is getting popular fast - RL needs to look into that! - imagine being able to print a set you create in iclone! ...but back to the point!
And this is not a dis to techies ( being that i am half techie lol ) BUT the creative hat is a different head ......sometimes it's fun to play a video game while singing songs for your next track! It's just a dual process of being productive creating assets for your scene, while role playing your scene at the same time. A techies focus is accuracy, a writers focus is imagination.
It kills me that when I am gaming and I have all these crazy ideas for movies ....but that "feeling" vanishes when I fire up a software that focuses my spare thoughts on techniques and procedures than coming up with script ideas.
imo - this should be a natural part of the "machinima history" it exists, but weighs more on the gaming side, than story telling side - with the option to polish via fbx. Story telling tools. Iclone is the first step in polishing the story that you started in the game, and your gateway to the autowreck polish.
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By planetstardragon - 11 Years Ago
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doing more research on it ...
Just found this machinima made with it :w00t:
their story and voice acting really made up for the lack of cinema quality, and if anything brought life to the environment. this was a good one! I'm thinking if you took some of those shots to iclone or indigo, ( and a great sound track :cool: ) it would really intensify the whole short without having to make everything from scratch - spend more time telling stories.
The more I think of this, the more i like it, make a gaming /role play / story telling clan......then we can take our artistic battles to a new level!! :w00t:
you can't tell me that isn't a great idea! :pinch:
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By planetstardragon - 11 Years Ago
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not only does it work, it exports all the parts grouped, not as 1 solid mesh, so you can animate the guns and add the physics toolkit to it :Wow:
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By planetstardragon - 11 Years Ago
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it also exports the buildings! :w00t: but you have to make em small, I just exported a whole space station ( like 3 full sized areas and all the bridges connecting them with ship platforms - fully detailed inside and out ) - 990k faces made iclone crash very much! :w00t:
so I'd have to build sections! and get this, check out the next game he's making!
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By planetstardragon - 11 Years Ago
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and this is what the areas look like - the quallity is far better than the videos - it has 3 render quality options ...normal, high and extreme - this cap was in high.....you can film in the game and in iclone or indigo since you can pipeline the props!
and in the game itself, you can have up to 16 players fighting, peacefully building stuff together or just exploring space and building new space stations! :w00t:
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By 45thdiv - 11 Years Ago
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That is really cool. Thanks for posting it.
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By mtakerkart - 11 Years Ago
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Hi Planet , Thank's for sharing .
Because it's a 30$ tool, I want to know if it's interesting for me, I will certainely buy it only to export all mesh in .obj format to build things in iclone but I did'nt find any tutorial how to export in .obj format from this game...
Did you find one ?
Thank you
Marc
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By planetstardragon - 11 Years Ago
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Hey Marc, :D
you simply point the mouse on the item you want to export, then click - cntrl+alt+e , it will export an obj / mat / textures ...and a 2nd file for 3D Printing.
it builds way more than ships and docking stations btw ......I've been watching youtube videos, and these guys are having space bike races, mech fights , you can build tanks ...
there are a ton of mods too, i'm stocking up on lazer cannons myself! :w00t:
also, most of the information I had gotten on the export is in the Modding forums / documents and the 3D printing documents - not regular gaming documents.
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By planetstardragon - 11 Years Ago
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more info on this - part of the beauty of this pipeline is the set that already exists in the game for filming - you can change the mood of the entire set by changing the skybox. The amount of work and resources to create a set like this in iclone would be time consuming and tedious, especially considering everything being set to physics - add to this the interactivity of working with others to make a movie - that alone is priceless!
here is a tutorial on changing the skybox texture
@swoop, write some scripts for this geared for iclone with their mod toolkit, throw some of that swoop mojo on this kitten!!! :w00t:
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By 45thdiv - 11 Years Ago
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Very good looking tool. A lot of what he is saying is going over my head as I am new to 3D. But it looks useful for space scenes. It will be a while before I am comfortable modifying files. Still I can see the potential here and what folks with a lot of experience could do with this.
I had not even heard of the game before.
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By planetstardragon - 11 Years Ago
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the software is still in alpha - but it's running very stable ....they have a mod kit , and I'm just trying to focus on a few things - like importing textures to their models and changing the sky box ...so I can match scenes in iclone ... It's not too hard, but a little confusing I admit, since the software is in alpha and constantly being updated and changing .....once I get a better grip of how it works, I'll share what I find
For now , this is what I'm working with -
Their Wiki - http://www.spaceengineerswiki.com/Main_Page
the modding tools thread on their forum http://forums.keenswh.com/?forum=408069
Update - I think what's confusing me the most is I'm looking for the other steam mods I installed from the steam workshop....that are working, but I don't see anything ....so maybe steam puts those "published" mods elsewhere, and the folders I'm looking at are only for local mods (not shared on steam ), and that's why they are empty ? will have to experiment.
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By planetstardragon - 11 Years Ago
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Mechs!!
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By planetstardragon - 11 Years Ago
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ok, got the toolbox up and running.....so it looks like textures on the models are not an option, because they have none, they are just colors - apparently the textures are only generated on export after the model is converted from voxels to obj.
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By planetstardragon - 11 Years Ago
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and I just found this for the skybox -
http://skybox.xaelan.com/index.php?page=tool
also the format for DDS, can be done with gimp, photoshop and paintshop pro.
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By Peter Blood - 11 Years Ago
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Awesome PSD! :)
I am extremely interested in the Medieval Engineers as it has some great possibilities for my Ari videos. Thanks for the heads-up. :D
:cool: pete
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By planetstardragon - 11 Years Ago
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the medieval engineers game has me excited too - I had this roleplay idea that involves futuristic space travel, and medieval magic so this works!
Hit film is going to come in handy with it's mocha tracking too, so you can animate your characters in iclone, do the facial and motions, then track it to medieval or space engineers footage!! This particularly appeals to me, because I like mixing different types of footage / renders to create contrast and more depth on a cinematography level.
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By mtakerkart - 11 Years Ago
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Just bought it and very cool for me to export the mesh.
Thank you Planet!
Marc
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By planetstardragon - 11 Years Ago
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my pleasure bro, i hope stuff like this allows us to have more fun as a community making movies together.
If you ever need me to blow up your ships, just let me know!! ♥
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By mtakerkart - 11 Years Ago
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It's creazy to see how they achieve, in the Medieval engineers, a so realistic lighting!!!!
I don't know why it so difficult with Iclone....
But it will be very promising App!!!
Marc
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By planetstardragon - 11 Years Ago
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well, hopefully stuff like this will inspire them as well.....I think they spent more time transferring the old gui and workflow to direct x 11 - we haven't even begun to tap the surface of all they can do now that they are in direct x 11 , I think it's just a matter of first letting them finish polishing everything they transferred. don't want to add new stuff over old problems :x
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By planetstardragon - 11 Years Ago
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so i made my first tiny ship for exploring, i needed a little security vs those pesky roaming ships! the 2 smaller guns are lazers, anything like 2 miles way just evaporates when you aim the laser in it's direction lol :w00t:
I should also say, creating ships that fly away because you either forgot to put a jet in all directions and a gyroscope most certainly adds dimension to modeling and design! The first one I lost from getting out the ship to adjust the design, I didn't have my dampening on, and when I got out, I floated away faster than you can blink, by the time I figured out how to stabilize myself, there was nothing around nowhere heh! :w00t:
lost 2 ships already and literally in the middle of nowhere from trying to track one down hahah!! can you imagine modeling a horse in maya that just runs away on you ?! :cool:
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By planetstardragon - 11 Years Ago
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I'm starting a new game in creative mode on steam, up to 16 players can jump in at a time, so this could get interesting!!
basically we just create a world of ships and stations - share models, make stages for filming.
It will be a virtual space filming studio! :w00t:
I made it a friends only game - my name on steam is same as here, - we have to be friends for you to access it...
The name of the Game is "Realluison" - and I started it with completely empty space, and added a few of the mods like adding letters, faster vanilla speed and changing the skybox among others.
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By planetstardragon - 11 Years Ago
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this just in! :w00t:
"Dear Engineers!
We have good news for you!
Medieval Engineers is going to be available for purchase during a 24-hour pre-launch window. This is your chance to get the game before it officially launches on Steam! Early access to the early access!
When? Starting this Wednesday, February 11th at 14:00 CET (8 AM EST).
Where? Only at our eshop: https://shop.keenswh.com. You will be able to activate the game on Steam through a link which will be available upon purchasing.
Duration? The sale will last for 24 hours, but you can keep playing as long as you want"
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By Rampa - 11 Years Ago
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We're counting on you, PSD, to let us know if it also exports it's buildings and terrains.:)
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By planetstardragon - 11 Years Ago
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will do, but to be honest, for that one the export doesn't matter to me as much, what i want is the render of those physics effects, they look great!! :w00t:
I have a sweet new technique for making terrains though! been meaning to add them to the store , just been abusing my ears more with music production lately!! :P
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By planetstardragon - 11 Years Ago
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this would be a nice building tool to have in iclone ^.^
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By planetstardragon - 11 Years Ago
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I just got M.E. -
first impressions.....feels like a beta - as I see random parts of the mesh breaking up, ( like when you see something should be 2 sided ) and the graphics look a little gamish - granted it IS a game , but the look on space engineers was a bit more polished .....it still looks really rich though....and It's obvious it's gong to get much better.
No exporting models on this one that I see - further I don't see how it would be useful anyway as some of the Models you would export would run into some serious high poly because of the size of these things. You build stuff on the outside and inside, so there's more than meets the exterior with these models - if anything, it makes me wonder if I'll be able to import models from places like sketchup to blow up, will have to experiment with that when they put out the mod kit.
The environment is very rich for story telling ....just something about the music and feeling like you are in a forest, canyon or mountain really gets the creative mind going! - First thing I did was explore their pre-built castle .....and discovered a cave under the castle that lead to the woods! That alone is a story about the secret order of the schnitzel ! :w00t:
The structures are simply stunning - once you see the structures in place - it becomes less game-ish and much more convincing ....
The physics are spectacular - before I invested any time in building anything, I wanted to see if it was going to be worth it ....and Oh yeah!! The realism on how things break apart is very high!!!
this game looks very promising and even for an alpha ....it runs more stable and smooth, than what some sofwares call a final release, especially considering how many faces this would be in a regular 3D app. This kind of stunning real time physics performance, is simply not a practical thing in regular apps. I had my quality on high, and it ran very smooth, no lag at all....try this anywhere else and you wouldn't be able to move your mouse from all the tiny pieces the physics creates. The poly count would be insane.
For this app, I'm thinking, creating action footage that you can use to place green screens on and mocha tracking - very happy with it and considering it's in alpa....I really can't complain and it's very useable for my needs right now.
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By mtakerkart - 11 Years Ago
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I really love the idea of space engineers to build scifi props in a very fast way. It's wonderfull for me to implemente in Iclone 6 BUUUT the way to move in space to build your props is a Niiiiiiiiiiightmare!!!!! 80% of my time is to trying to figure out my point of vue for building....
Why they didn't implemente just regular navigation for the building part??
Buy the way I made this little platform just for testing and it is very convincing for me :)
Planet , do you have encounter this problem?
https://forum.reallusion.com/Topic224631-386-1.aspx
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By planetstardragon - 11 Years Ago
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Nice clip!!
Ya, it takes getting use to....it is after all a game that we are using for 3D modeling ....still though, you have to admit that even that issue adds to the 'game' feel of being in space ...
there's just something cool about flying around your model as an astronaut than just spinning around it in 3D that really gets the imagination going! Especially since the model can fly away from you.....add to that building a new ship to blow up old structures is just very cool! hahah
Have you checked out the models they've made in the workshop yet ? or for that matter,
have you blown anything up yet ? I almost blew up my main station from testing out my auto target missles on my ship hahaha!!
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By planetstardragon - 11 Years Ago
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IMO - Reallusion should get to know this company...what they are doing with real time 3D is pretty revolutionary! ( especially the fact it runs so smooth on my gtx 460 ^.^ )
example - "Real-time dynamic global illumination "
They are making their own in house engine....check out the specs
http://www.keenswh.com/vrage.html
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By mtakerkart - 11 Years Ago
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Can we export the mesh like Space engineers?
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By planetstardragon - 11 Years Ago
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no.
But i don't think i'd want to, to be honest - the game has global illumination and the size of the meshes would be too much for iclone in face count, they aren't doing this with polygons, they are doing it with voxels so it's much lighter on resources. when you convert voxels to polygons the face count would be very high to keep the detail. as a pure guess, the terrain alone would be 1 mil faces... I'd rather use hit film to track characters from iclone in an NLE or import more models to the game....
You have to see how things fall apart, like right out of a movie ...with global illumination in real time ...and this is alpha - they openly say there is a lot to polish....but as is now it's running so smooth on my system, it's crazy! Plus they issued 2 patches / updates since release - which was just like 10 hours ago lol.
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By planetstardragon - 11 Years Ago
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Just Discovered!
if you get the game, once it's registered in steam.....Go to your library....right click on Medieval Engineers - look for Available Downloads .....They gave us a Vrage Editor!!!! :w00t:
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By planetstardragon - 11 Years Ago
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Just discovered:
you can use the steam toolbox to import models to space engineers ....this is a very cool feature because it voxelizes your model into cubes you can move around, and enables the model to be integrated into the physics engine in space engineers for those spectacular dog fight / crash scenes! - I hope they do this for Medieval engineers too! :w00t:
Technically you can import your model, remodel it in a minecraft way and re-export it! :w00t:
also, since you can make your own voxel cubes for building, it doesn't have to have the minecraft look since you can import and use rounded edges for cubes - it just needs to fit within the size of their cube system to function correctly.
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By planetstardragon - 11 Years Ago
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so I made a quick let's play video of Medieval Engineers, the physics in this game are epic!! :w00t:
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By prabhatM - 11 Years Ago
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Very nice and impressive.
Do you want this feature in ICLONE ?
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By planetstardragon - 11 Years Ago
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only way that can happen is if they do voxels, it would be way too much on the pc with polygons.
I can definitely see the future of real time animation a hybrid of voxels and polygons.
The terrain modeling power in voxel mode is pretty intense, I just took one of their stock castles for brevity, but I have the tools to model my own, and adjust the terrain....so fast and powerful, plus it's real time global illumination! :w00t:
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By prabhatM - 11 Years Ago
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Is it possible to take an ICLONE character and do a 3rd party shot in this Programme? Is the HD Video out easy ?
And do you want this feature in ICLONE or not? YES / NO ?
{ Leave the programming issues to RL. }
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By planetstardragon - 11 Years Ago
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nah, you have to go at this gamer style, then do some compositing - at least that was my plan. They are like RL though, very open to suggestions ...so I've been making mine on their forum while they are young hehe!
Both their games are on alpha release - their other game Space engineers is just as fun..but in space and you can export the models....it's a top 100 game on steam actually.
It shows HD on my screen, but the key to getting good renders is using a software like http://www.fraps.com/ which is the gamers approach to HD screen capping.
The software I used for capping this was Hypercam 2, which is light and easy - but not as HD as Fraps http://www.hyperionics.com/hc/
They are also youtube video friendly and allow you to be an artist with their software in the sense that what you create ...is respected as your creation...so it's a great filming tool.
This has been my latest crusade - finding games that are youtube friendly, that I can mix with Iclone footage - it's a way to connect with gamers, the steam stats for gamers ...are the same demographics that my indie label is showing where I'm getting attention. :cool:
The game will be available again on Feb 19 - and it will eventually be multi player - so imagine the possibilities of joining like minds for making videos together on a virtual set! :w00t:
---
and to answer your question - no...not yet - we really need to get all these bugs sorted out first....i agree with many of your points, but I'd rather not rush through it just to have more bugs. This would need a new engine to make happen....possibly 2 engines running together... As much as I love the new iclone - I find it more time consuming now.....rather than complain, I'm supplementing my workflow so I can keep moving. You know those deadlines lol :p
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By animagic - 11 Years Ago
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Thanks for doing the research, Planet, much appreciated. I'm not into gaming myself, but I have the feeling that a lot of innovation is going on that will benefit independent filmmakers. I'm getting kind of sick of the mantra "you buy cheap you get cheap" that's being posted lately regarding the use of iClone, so your contributions are a breath of fresh air.
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By wendyluvscatz - 11 Years Ago
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I have Shadowplay on my card, would that work on this game?
apparently it does on Skyrim on my PC but I never play it
does not sadly on Facerig which is a shame as the movie export of that is limited to one character at a time and I like swapping them, not that I have checked the latest beta on Steam, they are adding stuff.
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By planetstardragon - 11 Years Ago
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@animagic - yeah, I know the feeling, I constantly get unique/ inexpensive / free toys for music that work out great, if anything the super expensive stuff can actually sound sterile and familiar to everything else out there, Originality is praised in music, I'm surprised to see the Borg mindset in 3D - Thank you.
@Wendy - with all the software you use now, You should be able to run this game fine - that's what is revolutionary about it....it's doing all these great graphics with compassion for non-gaming machines....runs like a charm on my computer on the highest settings.
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By planetstardragon - 11 Years Ago
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Medieval Engineers is officially out!
http://store.steampowered.com/app/333950/
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