Pitch & Produce | Reviving Historic Soldiers with iClone 8 and its Dynamic Wrinkle System

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Yarnhub, a popular historic YouTube channel, has been steadily gaining awareness and a growing fan base. Known for its meticulously crafted narratives and captivating animated stories, the channel garners an impressive 4 million monthly video views. To further expand its reach and maintain high visual standards, Yarnhub has once again chosen Reallusion’s top-notch tools, namely Character Creator and iClone, for their daily video production needs.

Yarnhub Animation Studios

Yarnhub is an entertainment company founded by industry veterans and employs talented young animators to produce history-related animated films. Led by David Webb and Manager Sergey Peresleni, the team consistently produces incredible, awe-inspiring true stories that give you goosebumps and make you feel something for the amazing people who lived them. They try to do these incredible yarn justice by animating them in an amusing and informative way and bringing them to a broad international audience.

Since its inception in 2019, Yarnhub has grown in experience and wrinkles, moving from 2D cartoons to excellent 3D graphics, with more than 30 animators, comparable to some modern video games. The team heavily adopts Reallusion’s software into their daily production.

Why choose Reallusion tools?

Yarnhub faced difficulties in creating captivating 3D animations featuring diverse characters from various historical periods and nations. However, the team has now upgraded their pipeline by incorporating the advanced features of iClone, Character Creator, and the Unreal Live Link Plugin. This enhancement allows them to efficiently produce high-quality historical animations with speed and precision.

Animating an authentic tank scene

Creating a realistic tank scene animation has been a thrilling collaboration between Yarnhub and Reallusion. In their recent video, titled “M26 Pershing vs T34-85“, Yarnhub found immense value in utilizing specific features from the latest iClone Unreal Live Link plugin update. This partnership has allowed them to bring their story to life and enhance the overall quality of the production.

Yarnhub began by implementing the two-way data link, which facilitated the transfer of mesh data from Unreal to iClone 8. Through this link, they were able to synchronize keyframe animations, aligning character positions with the surrounding environment. The following video demonstration showcases the seamless and accurate integration of their characters within the tank hull.

In their routine production, they frequently rely on the Curve Editor as a valuable tool. Within iClone 8, this integrated plugin proved instrumental in accomplishing fluid and lifelike animation.

They have integrated an additional Motion LIVE and Rokoko Mocap profile into their workflow, enabling them to directly capture motion data from a Rokoko suit into iClone 8. By utilizing a transferred static motion correction mesh as reference points, they can fine-tune character movements accordingly. Once the animation is completed and the character’s actions appropriately respond to the environment, they employ the bi-directional link to transfer all necessary elements from iClone to Unreal. The inclusion of the Timecode Sync feature addressed a long-standing request since iClone 7, allowing for seamless animation recording in the Unreal sequencer without frame drops. Lastly, they configured the lighting and camera setup to achieve the desired final shot.

Applying realistic wrinkles to aging soldiers

Known for its meticulous and comprehensive portrayal of historic military battles, Yarnhub caters to a vast audience of millions who appreciate the company’s commitment to objectivity and accuracy. However, they understand that war encompasses more than just the physical elements of planes, ships, guns, and bombs. Above all, YarnHub recognizes that war is fundamentally intertwined with human emotions.

“We are very happy to be the first to try a revolutionary new Dynamic Wrinkle System from our friends at Reallusion. It’s a fresh and powerful wrinkle-blending system for our character expression workflow.”
David Webb, YarnHub CEO

The Dynamic Wrinkle System proved to be remarkably advantageous and efficient when it comes to characters with both high and low polygon counts. Several shots featuring Yarnhub’s own characters were created and tested, showcasing the tool’s capabilities. Not only did it enable the addition of wrinkles and the creation of realistic emotions, but it also facilitated real-time triggering of subtle facial changes. Furthermore, they successfully applied the “Wrinkle Essential Pack” to optimize the appearance of certain soldiers.

And what was important for the pipeline was that with just a quick FBX export, the most complex wrinkles and facial expressions seen in Character Creator could be mirrored in the Unreal Engine, Unity, and Blender.