Talented African Animator aims to create fully-animated iClone Movie

The Real BennyDee

My name is Benjamin Sokomba Dazhi. I am from Nigeria. I have been doing animations since 2014, and I am always developing myself in it.

I am an animator and I mostly use iClone as my main animation software tool. I am very passionate about animation and I am creating a fully animated movie using iClone. In my country Nigeria, there are very few animation studios but we are beginning to grow in numbers. For now I am working alone as an indie animator, but thanks to Reallusion tools I am slowly building my team and making my animation studios dream come true!

Q: Hello there Benny! And welcome to our Reallusion Feature Stories. Please tell us a bit about your background and your work. 

Hello, and thank you for doing a story on me. I am a Nigerian animator and I mostly use iClone as my main animation tool or software. I am very passionate about animation and I am looking to soon create a fully-animated movie using iClone. I  appreciate everyone that has supported since 2014. I will soon be doing large scale animation movies as I am really impressed by the recent improvement in iClone 7

Since 2014 I have been doing animations, and I’ve always been developing myself in it. In my country Nigeria, there are very few animation studios but we are beginning to grow in numbers. Recently I have introduced several of my friends in Nigeria to iClone and they are very excited to be using it as it brings the excitement of animation production in real-time. On top of that iClone is so easy to use that anyone can quickly learn this amazing tool. So I am seriously looking forward to future developments in iClone.

“I will continue to use iClone for a very long time as I am very comfortable with its user-friendly approach. With this in mind, I can see how iClone is going to go all the way to the top! ” – 
Benjamin Dazhi / 3D Animator

Q: You’ve gotten really good at iClone. Could you tell us how you discovered iClone and why you chose to use it? What other programs do you use?

I heard about iClone a while back through a friend in Nigeria. I was passionate about animation, so he mentioned that I should check it out. He gave me the website, and I soon feel in love with what I saw!

Since then I started practicing with the software, slowly improving my animation skills while using other software like DAZ 3D and Unreal Engine. I have been using iClone since version 5, and all along I have seen and followed its fantastic journey while seeing the improvements that it has brought.

Q: In your channel you have some pretty cool PopcornFX and dancing animations under the tag – JustART. Where do you get the inspiration for videos like these?

Well, I chose iClone because it saves time, and it’s easy to use. The results are wonderful as it really is a powerful tool for animators so it only made sense to further use its like like the PopcornFX plugin. Usually, I get my inspiration from movies, especially sci-fi movies and animations like Overwatch.

Q: Your use of textures, material channels, and lighting skills are superb! What advice can you give to other iCloners that want to be as good as you? Can you outline a few suggestions.

My suggestion for other iClone users that wish to achieve good quality is that they should take their time to understand the fundamentals of what brings out the beauty in a scene, which is primarily lighting!

I recommend to carefully place the light intensity and colour at the right place in the scene. This will play a major role in bringing out the mood you are trying to give your viewers.

Textures are also very important; making sure that the textures are rightfully placed and positioned appropriately. One other major factor to note is to always have a picture of what you have in mind. Put that idea into a drawing, writing, or any kind of reference to fall back on as you go along.

 Q: What future plans do you have for your channel and animation in general?

My future plans for animation and my channel are to produce an animated series using iClone entirely. All while  continuing to make cool animations for people to be inspired from. I would also to give writers an opportunity to tell their stories through animation.

Lastly, I want more Nigerians to know more about the simplicity of animation by using powerful tools like iClone which can give them great results. As time goes by, I look forward to having an all-star animation team in Nigeria that will produce a major animated movie with iClone. Thank you all very much!

===========================================================================

To see more of Benny’s work, please visit >>

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ8aa9y8s52q90DvV3yI1OA

Instagram: @therealbennydee