anyone used iClone to animate in Daz?
Drekkan
Posts: 460
in The Commons
I am considering purchasing the animation program iClone which works with Daz with animation. From what I can tell its pretty efficient and effective in making animations but I was wondering if its really a whole lot better than just regular animate2.
Has anyone used it? how did you get on with it? is it easier to animate using it rather than animate2?
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What really makes IClone easier is you can buy premade animations. Those animations when applied to the Genesis character in IClone then exported out as .bvh and imported into Daz.
(However to export and use in Daz Studio you need to buy an export licease which is expensive AND you have to also buy IClone 3DExchange, a lot of money in software too). But bear in mind that they work great on Genesis, but not so well on any other character with-out a lot of tweaking.
Hope that helps!
I see. So would these animations work on any character model in Daz as I plan to use V4 and M4. Also how much would an export license be please?
Would you say the animations were very different from the ones obtainable on animate2? primarily I am trying to find something that makes animations in daz as realistic as possible and am not sure what the limits are with animate2 or iClone and if one is potentially more smoother and realer at animating than the other. I feel maybe the investment might not be worth it if the differences in animation quality from animate2 to iClone are not particularly better or are just slightly better.
I used to do animation in DS - not to much any more after getting iClone and 3dxchange .
I move my DS models ( most any v4,m4 , Genesis , etc ) over to iClone and do my animation in it .
I think its are better and easer .
Non genesis non human you are better off applying bvh export in Poser I find, DS does odd stuff with root node rotation, AM's fox was one example, it walked fine in iClone but crablike in DS but OK in Poser and the saved pz2 worked in DS.
So iClone is generally better?
iClone is great for creating animations.
The visual quality of iClone mostly hurts my eyes, except you are heading for comics. Kinect mocap is crap, rendering animations with Indigo for iClone takes ages and all your hdd space, so this is crap as well. Substances from Allegorithmic are kind of supported, but almost all free substances available at Allegorithmic are not working in iClone.
If you use it as a 1000$ replacement for animate2 and render the exported animation in DS it is a great, but expensive tool.
You get what your system can handle, I can do stuff with high quality shadows and IBL in iClone but its slow often way slower than iray
I tried it out; even bought the expensive versions to export back to Daz. TBH, it was way too time-consuming to learn at that time, and so considering the expense, I returned. Fair to iClone the refunds were manage very well. I may consider again at some later stage - when more time.
Or I might try out Marvelous Designer, as I'm looking for dynamics.
Hi if you are serious about creating alot of character animation
very quickly to be retargeted to a variety of figures
genesis 1,2,3
all poser figure from Mike& Vicky 2-4 , P6 jessie & james etc.
Then Iclone+ 3D exchange is head and shoulders above aniMate2 ( I have both)
Dont make the mistake of looking at the, frankly crappy looking, Iclone figures
They are game resolution to be optimized for realtime performance while creating
realistic motion in the viewport.
The true power is in the motion retargeting capabilities of the 3D exchange application
I am about 19 minutes into a feature length animated film
based in the marvel universe.
All of the body animation is generated in in Iclone pro
and retargeted to Daz genesis 1& 2 as well as Daz M4 V4 ,even Mike 2.
The entire project is being rendered in Maxon Cinema4D Via the obj>MDD feature
of aniMate 2 as well as a C4D plugin that support native poser figure& formats.
more stills from the film
as wlf359 says
The true power is in the motion retargeting capabilities of the 3D exchange application
I use the 3d Exchange application, works very well, But I like other software for animation
@cherrygirlchic_bdc8474f75, I like your website very cool stuff!!!!
in fact After i finish this current film project, I would be very
interested in your vendor opportunities.
Wolf359, your movie sounds and looks cool. Anyplace to see a clip? Your pipeline has elements of what I am exploring now--using MDD and (I'm assuming) Riptide in C4D. Can you describe how iClone fits into this? Can you export facial motion/lip sync from iClone to Daz/Poser? Does iClone import bvh/mocap files and retarget them to characters? Sorry, lots of questions!
Greetings Tim,
First Thanks for the comment about my current project.
I have 19 minutes of finished/post produced footage
sitting in Editing project files but have decided to wait until
I have the official trailer ready before any release to the public.
Now on to your queries;
I am one who believes in harvesting character motion data from
a variety of sources dictated by the kind of motion required for the shot.
Anything involving major body acting&locomotion is created in Iclone Pro
with native realtime Iclone Characters and saved as custom motion to my Iclone library.
I then import a one frame/T-pose BVH skeleton into the 3D Xchange.
this skeleton can be exported from any poser/ Daz biped ranging from Mike& vicky 2 to poser 6 james & jessie all the way up the the latest Genesis Figures.
There is a one click "convert to non standard" template in 3D exchange
that has a Daz genesis preset.
This preset also works for all of the aformentioned poser figures.
( unofficially)
Once converted you may then apply/retarget any saved Iclone created motion to the skeleton
and export as BVH for poser.
**Note** for poser figures the BVH will require Global adjustments in poser such as lowering
the figure to the ground by the hip in poser.
and other usual adjustments that experienced animators like yourself have done many times
I am sure.
Now as you may have read, Iclone Supports direct import of genesis figures
(base resolution subD recommended).
And you can apply Imotion to them directly and even create lipsyinc for them in Iclone
.
This is not the pipeline I use as I prefer the raw motion Data at the "bone level"
But there are many video tuorials online that detail it fully.
I am using Natural Motions Endorphin (Discontinued)
for my Dynamic/catastrophic ragdoll animation
as it exports directly to poser compatible BVH files
On the matter of Genesis MDD via Riptide Pro for C4D.
Frankly Tim,
This option basicly Saved my current film project
from likely abandonment as it made it posssible
for me to access the Extraordinary & Diverse Genesis Character
Platform&content for use as animated actors in Maxon Cinema4D
as our beloved Interposer Pro was restricting me to aging and frankly sub-par poser native figures only.
The process is "simple".
Create your genesis Character in Daz studio
Dress,morph & animate them by your personal, prefered method.
( Iclone,aniMate+, BVH, poser Pz2,Daz Mimic, Graphmate,puppeteer etc.)
Export as object file with Collect textures option checked.
use the poser scale preset.
Now with the genesis figure selected in the Daz scene manager Export again except
choose the "aniMate MDD"format and export your MDD data file.
In Maxon Cinema4D
use the Riptide pro Importer and set a scale of about 4
(note your mileage may vary but this gets me a genesis figure in C4D at the same height as poser 6 james),
In the texture tab of Riptide direct it to the "maps"
folder that DAZ studio created with its obj export
and choose the "always create new textures" option.
Import your genesis figure..fully textured.
(note any transmaps may have to be moved to the
alpha channel blah ,blah ,blah you know about all this
stuff for C4D.. LOL)
Load a riptide MDD Deformer and put its XYZ cooridates the same
as your genesis obj/mesh.
(this will avoid him suddenly moving 1200 meters to the west or wherever
in the scene ,riptide arbitrarily dropped in your MDD deformer)
Make the MDD deformer a child of the genesis obj/mesh
Load MDD Data and watch your figure come to life.
**known Issues AFAIK***
Daz studio has never updated is mimic lip sinc plugin for 64 bit.
If you make use of the lipsinc in the 32 bit version of Daz studio
you MUST Export your MDD file from the 32BIT version of Daz studio
and use it on a genesis mesh exported from the 32 bit version.
I have confirmed that a MDD Data File from 32 bit
Applied to a figure exported from the 64 bit studio
will fail in, my old version of C4D at least, ( R11.5) OSX
( Again your milage may vary based on your hardware/OS etc.)
Additionaly, I seem to have run up against a ten second/
300 Frame Limit with My MDD data files and anything
longer gives an import error with Riptide.
Not a show stopper as any filmmaker knows
the camera rarely stays on one actor more than ten seconds
in a single shot.
(no matter as riptide pro can switch/toggle between multiple MDD files over time Just as our Stage object does with camera's for example)
but.. ( Again your milage may vary based on your hardware/OS etc. ware)
Obviously any Changes to the animation will require making/applying them
in DS and exporting a new MDD file for C4D
Also C4D Hair be used on a MDD animated mesh as well as
Hypers nurbs modifiers for low res meshes.
sorry for the lengthy post Tim
but These motion retargeting options
are very exciting for me as a digital Filmaker
Feel welcome to Email me directly
at: [email protected] with any more questions
as I dont always get Daz forum notifications about new posts
Cheers
.