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By djmulcahy - 14 Years Ago
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Just picked up iClone about a week ago, and up until today I've been having a blast.
Now I need to work on putting clothes on some of my characters, so I've watched about five or six clonecloth tutorials.
I think I've learned this so far about clonecloth:
I have to buy Photoshop.
I have to buy a bunch of templates.
Otherwise, my characters will all be naked, apparently. Included with iClone, there appears to be exactly one set of pants for male characters, and one set of pants for female. Nothing else. There appears to be exactly zero tools within iClone to customize anything regarding actor clothing.
This can't be right, can it? What am I missing? I have absolutely no problems purchasing extra content for this product, and I've done so already. But am I really to understand that I have no options to clothe my characters aside from buying Photoshop and dozens of clonecloth templates?
Someone, set me straight here. :w00t:
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By Paumanok West - 14 Years Ago
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djmulcahy (5/25/2011)
I have to buy Photoshop... There appears to be exactly zero tools within iClone to customize anything regarding actor clothing.... Someone, set me straight here. :w00t:
Errr, I'm powerless to make anybody straight, but the alternatives are not so bad.
You do not need to buy Photoshop. You can use GIMP, which is free. Or you can use Paint.NET, which is free. Or you can use ArtRage, which those crazy Brits like, and which is cheap. You might even be able to use Inkscape, which is free, even though it's a vector program, because it will make bitmaps.
You can radically customize the clothing on the "embedded"(included) characters by
loading bitmap pictures into the Diffuse, Opacity, Bump, and other channels for the Upper and Lower segments of the character. Using any of the programs just mentioned. Go into the Settings and give iClone the path to the graphics editor of your choice.
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By colour - 14 Years Ago
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Yes - Yet another aspect of Reallusion's Marketing methods that I find extremely distasteful. I was in the same boat - Having purchased some beautifully dressed Characters from one of the Forum's Content Developers, I found I had to also purchase the relevant Cloth bases from Reallusion. Which I did, as individual items via Backstage. Cheaper in the long-run to purchase the Complete packages if you plan to Dress a number of different Characters over a long period of time but expensive.. Props - You can make your own & Texture from within iClone Program, using 3D Blocks - But very time-consuming. Otherwise it's Google Warehouse - Free. Sketchup - Free, but you need Reallusion's 3DExchange for those - Not Free & expensive.
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By martok2112 - 14 Years Ago
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Some of the Clone Cloth templates are free, and others cost around 500 to 1000 points to purchase at the store. (Equating I think, to about 5 to 10 bucks a piece.)
In the end, purchasing the templates are well worth it, because it will generally mean you can create whatever costumes you can dream up.
Another nice thing about the creation of clothes in iClone is you can actually take photographs of clothes and/or patterns, and apply them to the clothing meshes, resulting in some fairly photorealistic looking clothing. Ok....maybe not photorealistic, but very close.
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By Peter (RL) - 14 Years Ago
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djmulcahy (5/25/2011)
I think I've learned this so far about clonecloth:
I have to buy Photoshop.
I have to buy a bunch of templates.No and No is the answer to your questions above. You don't need Photoshop and can use any image editor you like, including the free ones mentioned in the previous posts. iClone4 itself comes with G3 CloneCloth Casual for both male and female avatars. Using this you can create many, many different outfits and styles. This is a great way to learn CloneCloth without needing to shell out any further money. Once you are familiar with designing clothes for iClone4 you then have the option to purchase further clothing templates (like dresses, overcoats etc) to build up your wardrobe. A complete combo pack is available as well as the individual templates if you only want certain styles. You can find the basics of using CloneCloth HERE to get you started.
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By Keith_MPS - 14 Years Ago
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djmulcahy (5/25/2011)Included with iClone, there appears to be exactly one set of pants for male characters, and one set of pants for female. Nothing else.
You can save the lower, upper, and shoes off of any character. If you have an Avatar selected, and you're on the "Lower" tab, click on the plus sign at the bottom of the panel where all of the pants are listed (left-side of the screen). This will add the current avatar's lower body to the Custom tab. That lower half can then be applied to another avatar (of the same generation (G1/G2/G3)).
Your selection of clothes is expanded with every new avatar that you have.
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By djmulcahy - 14 Years Ago
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I appreciate the replies.
I grabbed GIMP immediately, as suggested, and thanks for that Paumanok, because I didn't even know that existed. :D
If I may, and this will sound bad coming from a new member of the forums, but I'm a bit disheartened by the lack of free content produced by the community.
What do I mean by that? Well, I used to do a lot of modding for games, like Neverwinter Nights, Morrowind, Oblivion, etc., as a method to tell stories. There was always an enormous supply of community produced content, free of charge. Someone would make a sword, or a set of armor, or a jungle landscape, or a dragon model, and would make it available for the community to use. As a modder, you could take those assets, produce a mod, and provide that, also free of charge, to the community. We all kind of worked together, in one way or another, to produce good content.
I don't see that a whole lot here in the iClone community. I see a lot of stuff up for sale, which is cool, but doesn't really further the community much.
I'm not trying to sound like a leech, but that's how creative communities work. I have no experience in Photoshop or with modelling or animation, but if I did, and I had stuff to produce, I'd sure have it out for everyone to use, and I'd be proud to see it in a movie someone made.
Right now, to complete my current iClone experiment, I either have to drop $100+ dollars to get the few assets I'd probably need, or learn how to design everything myself, from animations to clothing to props to landscapes.
That's a mighty steep learning curve before you even really get your feet wet.
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By djmulcahy - 14 Years Ago
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[/quote]No and No is the answer to your questions above.[quote]
Thank you for your response, Peter. :)
It does seem to me though, that if your creation involves winter coats, or summer dresses, or something outlandish like a spacesuit, you're kind of out of luck. You basically have to make sure your story revolves solely around summer casual wear to avoid dropping a lot of extra money.
I was told by someone to avoid iClone, even though it was an excellent product, and the reason for this was that content to use within it was... sparse, at best, unless you had very deep pockets.
I'm loving iClone, but I'm beginning to understand where that concern was coming from. ;)
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By djmulcahy - 14 Years Ago
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[/quote]If RL ADDED Every Single Tool That Photoshop has....
You Would most likey Create "FLAT, Platic" looking clothes...[quote]
Hello, sw00000p!
Yes, you're absolutely right.
However, unless I learn how to do it myself, I'll end up broke and living in your basement by spending all my money on props and clothes!
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By Keith_MPS - 14 Years Ago
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djmulcahy (5/27/2011)I'm a bit disheartened by the lack of free content produced by the community
Have you looked in the "Forum Freebies" forum?
https://forum.reallusion.com/Forum33-1.aspx
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By namunger - 14 Years Ago
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I felt the dame way for about 2 days when I got iClone, but then I realized just how easy ad expansive that one CC base is! Messing around with making custom clothing has really taught me about how this whole 3D thing works. Does it take time? Yes. Do I frequently come up with crap? Yes! But I learn a LOT every time I try something.
And as for free, yes, make the investment to get 3D exchange, and you can import any prop that's in Sketchup, .obj, or .fbx into iClone - that includes the huge stockpiles from users of Google Sketchup, Daz, Blender, etc. 3dx ends up paying for itself with all that out there.
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By djmulcahy - 14 Years Ago
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[/quote]You Come With No Skill-Set and Want Everything Free?
WHAT! I JUST WAnT eVERybOdy tO: GIMMMEEE THIS, GIMMMEE THAT!!
GIMME, GIMME, GIMME! [quote]
Lol...
It's not quite like that.
Like I said in a previous post, I come from a background of game modding, where we all kind of contributed to a thriving community of content. For instance, in one community I found I was able to do some basic scripting better than most of the others, so I provided a lot of scripting resources to the community... like spell scripts, prop scripts, etc. On the other hand, I don't have the artistic ability to make nice armor sets, but there were others who could do that exceptionally well.
I provided my scripts to the community, the people who made the armors provided theirs, other folks did landscapes... and in total we had a ton of content to draw upon when we wanted to make a mod.
The alternative is that we all have to try to become experts at everything, which isn't likely to happen. Or we have to drop large sums to complete our vision.
For instance, I need just a handful of items to finish up a very, very modest story. Right now, it looks like it'll run me about $60-$80 to get this done. That's for some basic (non-casual) clothing, some haircuts, a military uniform, and some interior props I can't find elsewhere.
That's a lot for a very minor work which I'll end up uploading for free. I can't imagine the costs for something more complex.
I can't help but think this is a big kick in the pants to newcomers to iClone who just want to provide the community with some groovy movies to watch. :D
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By djmulcahy - 14 Years Ago
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[/quote]Have you looked in the "Forum Freebies" forum?
https://forum.reallusion.com/Forum33-1.aspx
- Keith[quote]
Yes, I have, thank you.
And I gobbled up everything I could there! :laugh:
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By Alley - 14 Years Ago
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Just wanted to add that on the Marketplace, there are hundreds of freebies. You just have to look for them. I think almost all the developers around here do what they do because they are passionate about it - not because they want to get rich. The disheartening thing about doing freebies, is that very few people ever acknowledge it. Additionally, if you ever need something specific - and you post about it - my bet is that someone in the community will step up and create it for you. This group of people on this forum are extremely generous people as you will discover. :) (thanks Kurzal again - :P) You can always check out cool clones for freebies as well, you can get there following the link for C3 in my signature.
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By Darren01 - 14 Years Ago
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I'm not a content developer myself, so no bias here
problem with developers giving away their work for free, is unfortunately it usually ends up the same people doing all the work and the same people utilising other people's work, yet never giving back to the community.....
I've got no problem purchasing from our fellow members here, I've purchased several items from the marketplace. I've tried to make clothing myself with little success. There is, as swoooop correctly pointed out, a lot of skill and time involved in creating good quality outfits & props. If you understood the amount of time and effort these people put into creating outfits, it may not seem so unreasonable that they aren't willing just to give their creations away for free.
Iclone is a relatively cheap product compared to similar packages out there. You can get started with the basic package, however if you want to go further, you need to purchase additional items like Clonecloth, 3D Exchange etc. If Iclone were to include ALL of these features in the one package,the price would be MUCH higher, which would probably be beyond the reach of the average hobbyist. So if you don't want to spend the additional money, then you need to spend the time. I suspect that high quality developers like Alley didn't get to the level that they are now without spending many hundreds of hours developing their skills. There is nothing stopping you from doing the same. And if you aren't willing to do that, then just like the rest of us, you have to pay for somebody else to do the hard work for you.
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By colour - 14 Years Ago
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I agree with Darren's succinct Post:) I've recently purchased several of Alley's beautifully created Characters for a particular completed Project. Those same Characters clothes & Accessories can be used over & over again in future projects on a "mix & match" basis.
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By animagic - 14 Years Ago
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Likewise for me and very useful when you're in a time crunch! Market Place and Backstage allows you to purchuse individual items or parts of packs, which helps control the budget.
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