which is best to learn with ICLONE, Unreal Engine or Blender


https://forum.reallusion.com/Topic524973.aspx
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By genao87 - 3 Years Ago
I came to the conclusion that Iclone alone is not enough.  I see the power it has but for some things,  there are other applications better suited such as Ominverse which I want to learn as well.  I was trying to avoid using other applications due to the learning curve now higher since I have to learn another application.  Since I am looking for realism and special affects,  Im looking at Unreal Engine for visuals but it seems Blender is doing great for video animations.   Was wondering what you guys thinks.  I have only this Youtube video to go by

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2NA6uRBlxs


By yepkoo - 3 Years Ago
You can create a video the same way using Blender, UE or iClone.

The important thing is what you can produce using the programs or which one is easier for you.
I use CC and iClone to produce animations. Unreal Engine is my render engine.
But if I want to produce images I can use CC4 or iClone.

Creating scenes in iClone is easier than in UE.
But Unreal Engine has some great features, especially lumen.
You can still get quality images in Blender, but you may need to spend more learning time.

In fact, if you are going to deal with these things, it would be better to learn at least 2 programs. This will allow you to choose more comfortably according to your work.

If you are going to produce a video and you are not going to use programs like maya, even if you use an unreal engine, you still need a program like iClone to produce animation.
Of course, the iC8 may change your mind a little more.
I can say that there is a serious difference in convenience between the 2 versions.
By Data Juggler - 3 Years Ago
I've spent the last year learning Omniverse. I predict it will get even better in the years to come.
I also spent the last two month's learning Blender. Omniverse reminds me of IClone and was real easy to learn.
Blender was frustrating at first, but now that I learned the modifiers and arrays it is really powerful.

I made this plane with holes in Blender and imported it into Omniverse.
https://forum.reallusion.com/uploads/images/7db8aa16-a2a7-44e6-adc6-9244.png

The Physics in Omniverse is what I like about it. I created 6,000 spheres in Omniverse and dropped them through the holes. Once someone from Nvidia told me to turn on Flat cache extension, I was still getting 60+ FPS while 6,000 spheres were falling. I haven't tried this in IClone Physics, not sure what its capabilities are. The tools are getting better for sharing between apps, so if a feature exists in one software you like, add it to your pipeline.
Unreal spends too much time loading shaders for me to ever find it useful, but there are some cool free assets from Unreal. 

https://forum.reallusion.com/uploads/images/78f67f24-8f36-4647-a53f-940d.png



By bad_character - 3 Years Ago
I think Blender and Unreal are about equal, really comes down to your preference. Reallusion does have better tooling for Unreal, but it’s not really a decision maker difference if you get good with Blender. I think Omniverse is the best and easiest workflow, but it’s below both Blender and Unreal until auto hair and cloth physics is added.

Other than that last caveat, they are all great options. I could choose any of them happily. The only thing that would have me lean one way is if I was interested in intense, hi end ray traced animations that were very slow to render per frame. In that case, it’s really easy to rig up a command line Blender render farm on something like runpod.io and blast out renders fast for cheap vs using Omniverse. Even then, you could do something similar with Omniverse, but it’s more cumbersome and slow to setup and manage. If you denoise, I’m also not aware of how you can do it properly with temporal denoise across a home grown render farm (which is easy with Blender)
By jeffkirkland - 3 Years Ago
I think you really need to know something about both of those so I'd suggest going with whichever one will solve the biggest problem for you. I've spent the last year getting to grips with iClone and Character Creator, and now I'm moving on to learning Unreal because virtual production is where all the film and game industry interest (and therefore paid work) is in my area. 
By AutoDidact - 3 Years Ago
I have not installed UE and wont bother until I can afford a better computer.
I have already  acquired two GPU’s I just need a proper computer to house them in.
I definitely recommend Blender as companion app for Iclone.
Particularly if you invest in the Autorig pro add-on for Character animation inside Blender.
By Sunglass - 3 Years Ago
AutoDidact (10/8/2022)
I have not installed UE and wont bother until I can afford a better computer.
I have already  acquired two GPU’s I just need a proper computer to house them in.


This is the major problem in my vison, when you get a better computer RTX 3090, 64GB ram, i9 (for the best results) UE will going to version 6 in short of period of time and them you need to upgrade your machine again and again

By genao87 - 3 Years Ago
when is Unreal Engine 6 coming out???

very interesting on your posts.  so you are saying everything can be done with iclone.  looking at it, it seems Iclone when it comes processing polygons like Omniverse,  i dont see it come close.  also since there is now there is 8.1 with its new features that allows you to animate your work in Unreal Engine is pretty neat.   didnt know Blender had a FARM like that.   it is interesting just that the learning curve will be a bit much seeing as i have to learn Iclone, Character Creator, and now Unreal Engine.
By genao87 - 3 Years Ago
that is another question.  what is the recommended Computer for having ICLONE and other applications.  The recommendation that was said when buying ICLONE I have heard is not enough, especially if you going to house other 3D software in your pipeline.
By genao87 - 3 Years Ago
jeffkirkland (10/8/2022)
I think you really need to know something about both of those so I'd suggest going with whichever one will solve the biggest problem for you. I've spent the last year getting to grips with iClone and Character Creator, and now I'm moving on to learning Unreal because virtual production is where all the film and game industry interest (and therefore paid work) is in my area. 



yes that is what im after. im looking to make animations and movies.  seems like Unreal Engine is the one to go then??

By AverageJoe - 3 Years Ago
Unreal has lots of incredible, and free assets.  Unfortunately, I've not found a good way of getting those assets to iClone, so I may start using CC4 and IC8 for character creation and animation editing/creation, then attempt to make my movies in UE5.  But to make the best use of UE5, there's lots more to learn than there is in iClone, specifically particles and special effects.  But since I'm strictly a hobbyist, I find learning it slightly daunting.
By Wilby - 3 Years Ago
Depends on the budget, time, and required effort you want to put in your project. There will always be time spent on learning how to use a software and researching it's capability. Some are easier to learn more than others. But the quirks, you will only know when you are actually using/researching the product. To summarize, here's what I realized:

To Produce Animated Video/Films and Games
  • Big budget, More time = Character Creator, iClone, Blender, Unreal Engine and/or Unity + Other external tools (i.e. Zbrush, Marvelous Designer, Substance Painter, Blender add-ons, etc.)
  • Big budget, Less time = Character Creator, iClone, Unreal Engine and/or Unity + Other external tools (i.e. Zbrush, Marvelous Designer, Substance Painter, Blender add-ons, etc.)
  • Low budget, Less time = Character Creator, Blender (for basic stuff), Unreal Engine and/or Unity + Other low cost external tools
  • Low budget, More time = Blender, Unreal Engine and/or Unity + Other low cost external tools
But as you practice more and get to learn to use these software, you will spend less time on future projects. Therefore you can also save more money or even get to earn more as your skills grow in the long run. :rolleyes:
I still lack experience on this and I'm just sharing this simple realization so far in my pursuit to finally reach some of my related goals. :D
By michaelrbarton - 3 Years Ago
It does not matter how good your render looks, if your animation falls short. If you just want to render snapshots, you really don't have to
worry about animation. You could work on the thing you think is most important to your project, rendering or animation. If you work on half and half in
both, you may not get the results you want. Getting the scene how you want, takes the longest amount of time. 
I know I have more trouble with animating than getting a scene to look how I want it too. I can create a lot of different poses when combining 2 or 3 
animation poses using Motion Puppet. You can combine a phone call animation with a running or walking animation using Motion Puppet.
I like Motion Puppet a lot, because of all the different combinations I can get with it.
Your projects are based on how you set up a scene to render and animating a scene. Whatever you think you can do the best, try that first. Good luck.