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Pitch & Produce

Developer Studio leverages Character Creator for Transmedia Assets in Unity Game

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Michela Rimensberger – CEO, Producer, Co-founder

Michela is the CEO and co-founder of Sycoforge, a Swiss game dev studio working on a transmedia universe called ‘Arafinn’. Her affinity for stories and video games started at an early age, and by the time she first set foot on the hyrule fields in ‘Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time’, she knew that one day she was going to create her own fantasy world in a video game. As a logical consequence, she studied Computer Science at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences and added a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Business Administration to her degree. At Sycoforge, she wears many hats and works in different fields.

The studio’s first video game instalment set in the Arafinn universe is called “Return to Nangrim”, a dwarven adventure – and a highly ambitious production for a small indie team. To stem the workload of such a big project with few resources at hand, the team has gotten creative and developed streamlined workflows and pipelines using Reallusion’s ecosystem including Character Creator, iClone, AccuRIG and ActorCore assets.

“We stumbled upon Reallusion’s Character Creator and iClone and let me tell you, it was a game changer! At first, we were a little sceptical – could it really be that easy? Was it truly possible to simplify a workflow that much? It just seemed too good to be true, so we downloaded the test versions and deep-dived into them. By the end of our evaluation, we were amazed to find that it can be done!“

Michela Rimensberger – CEO, Producer, Co-founder at Sycoforge

Q: Greetings Michela, and welcome to the Reallusion Pitch & Produce program! Kindly introduce yourself, your background and Sycoforge Studios.

Thank you very much! We are incredibly excited to be part of this program and to share our game, Return to Nangrim, with the world.  My name is Michela and I have had a passion for video games since I was a child. I grew up playing games in the early days of the industry, where graphics were not as advanced, and Mario’s princess always was in another castle. However, it was when I first played Legend of Zelda – Ocarina of Time that I knew I wanted to create my own game one day. This dream stayed with me throughout my life and greatly influenced my career choices. I started learning programming and eventually went on to study Computer Sciences at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences. After completing my studies, I worked at various universities, including ETH Zurich. 

My co-founders and I began developing our idea and universe for Return to Nangrim while we were still students, and in 2017 we officially founded Sycoforge.

Q: Sycoforge is currently working on a transmedia universe called Arafinn. Could you go more in depth about this universe and the collection of assets behind it? How important is it for a small team like Sycoforge to be able to create and utilize transmedia assets to use across projects? Please elaborate on the effectiveness of generating shared content.

Our goal has always been to create not just a game, but a fully immersive world that players can truly feel a part of. We’ve been huge fans of J.R.R. Tolkien and his ability to create rich, alive worlds that have inspired us to spend around 9 years creating our own universe, complete with its own lore, history, and even four languages with its own grammar and vocabulary.

We understand that the stories we want to tell don’t fit into just one game, and that’s why we’ve created a shared content base that extends beyond the game itself. When you finish playing Return to Nangrim, there will still be books, comics, and short stories to dive into and explore the world of Arafinn. This shared content, including thousands of written pages that describe and define everything from units of measurement to family trees dating back to the gods that created Arafinn, has given us the freedom to think beyond the boundaries of just a video game and to choose the right medium for each story.

In short, we have put a lot of time and effort into creating a world that is rich and alive, and we can’t wait for players to experience it. We believe that the level of immersiveness we have created will truly transport players into the world of Arafinn and keep them engaged long after they put down the controller. And personally – I really love Easter Eggs, so the idea of having e.g. a talisman that was written about in a book, and that can be seen sitting on a table in a comic and then can be found in the game is something I’m very passionate about.

Q: Please share with us how your original manual workflow evolved into a highly streamlined pipeline, and how Reallusion software and assets contributed to this.

As a small indie team, creating humanoid characters for our animation pipeline was a real challenge. We don’t have the resources of bigger studios, so we tried to avoid having humanoid characters as much as possible. The workload generated by a process that involves so many steps, fine-tuning and creating everything by hand – (especially at the point where the whole animation process comes into play) was just not feasible and way beyond our project scope and budget. But as engineers, having a clearly and clean defined pipeline is a big urge that we have. It has to be 0 or 1. So when we evaluated possibilities for our animation pipeline we we’re not really confident to find a solution that would work out.

But we were in luck! We stumbled upon Reallusion’s Character Creator and iClone and let me tell you, it was a game changer! At first, we were a little skeptical – could it really be that easy? Was it truly possible to simplify a workflow that much? It just seemed too good to be true, so we downloaded the test versions and deep-dived into them. By the end of our evaluation, we were amazed to find that it can be done!

As Reallusion offers a variety of 3rd Party integrations, it was as easy as plug-and-play and we were really amazed! Together with the Rokoko Mocap Suit and the Unity Engine we found the perfect solution enabling us to produce high quality content that indie’s otherwise usually are withheld. We couldn’t be happier with our decision and we are excited to continue using this solution for our future projects.

Q: When first creating a character, could you share with us the process from conception, rigging, to base shape, sculpting, and texturing with all the different software you used?

As a first step, our artists create the concept art for the character. This is all done by hand, just as traditionally.

Whenever possible, we start with a base character in Character Creator (CC) and roughly form the character according to its concept. In case we need an already existing character, Reallusion’s AccuRig does an amazing job! It not only reduces the amount of time spent for rigging to MINUTES, it also allows to neatly integrate proprietary characters into the ecosystem!

https://actorcore.reallusion.com/auto-rig

As soon as we’re satisfied with the base version of the character, we export it from CC to ZBrush and sculpt the details there. When it comes to texturing, we usually export the highly detailed textures from CC and use them as a base in Substance Painter. As the Reallusion suite is compatible with all these softwares, feeding our character back into the system is no problem at all. And having a CC character as a base also means no manual rigging needed!

Q: Once your characters are ready, how do you go about searching, adding animations for your game? Please also share when you decide to create your own motion capture, and how the mocap cleaning and animation verification are done?

We begin by using the ActorCore library, which provides a wide range of high-quality motion capture animations. This library is also useful for creating prototypes of new animations if we choose to record them ourselves.

https://actorcore.reallusion.com/motion

Most of our humanoid animations are captured using a Rokoko suit, and the software, Rokoko Studio, includes built-in cleaning algorithms that produce great results with minimal additional editing. In some cases, we use iClone to blend or tweak our animations to achieve a final polished result.

Q: ‘Return to Nangrim’ is using the Unity Game Engine; once your characters and animations are ready how easily do you export them over to Unity to use their rig and retargeting system?

The process of integrating models into Unity and retargeting animations using Reallusion’s tools is incredibly simple and straightforward. Even without using the automatic setup tool provided by Reallusion, the process typically requires only a few clicks.

“The process of integrating models into Unity and retargeting animations using Reallusion’s tools is incredibly simple and straightforward. Even without using the automatic setup tool provided by Reallusion, the process typically requires only a few clicks. “

Michela Rimensberger – CEO, Producer, Co-founder at Sycoforge

I am particularly impressed by the compatibility of the Reallusion ecosystem with a wide range of third-party software. For instance, when recording animations using the Rokoko suit, I am able to livestream the motion data to my character in both Reallusion and Unity, allowing me to get a real-time preview of how the final animation will look on the character. This feature adds great value to our production pipeline and streamlines the animation process.

Q: Thank you so much for being part of the program. We are looking forward to the launch of ‘Return to Nangrim’. When can audiences expect to play the game, and where can they follow Sycoforge Studios’ progress?

Thank you for being a part of our community. To stay informed about the latest developments for ‘Return to Nangrim’, make sure to add the game to your wishlist on Steam (https://store.steampowered.com/app/860210/Return_to_Nangrim/) and subscribe to our newsletter on our website (https://sycoforge.com/en/).

This year is going to be filled with exciting new developments as we are putting all our effort to create a new demo that will showcase new features and content that you won’t want to miss! Join us on this journey to the world of Nangrim, and be the first to experience it!

Follow Sycoforge

Website:
https://sycoforge.com/en/

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9kdbE8r6fXzXmejo9y85xw

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/sycoforge

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/Sycoforge

LinkedIN:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/sycoforge/

Product Release

CC-to-MetaHuman Pipeline Available Now

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Reallusion is proud to announce that the long-awaited CC-to-MetaHuman pipeline is finally available. Now, you can effortlessly transfer your Character Creator (CC) faces and 4K hi-res textures to MetaHuman Creator, complete with all the texture details of the entire body. Finally say hello to a faithful representation of your unique head model and texture designs along with the original dynamic wrinkles.

With the Auto Setup tool for Unreal Engine, creating personalized MetaHuman characters is a breeze. Simply customize your character’s face with dynamic wrinkles, lifelike attributes such as moles, scars, and makeup, and transform them into a MetaHuman character with just one click. No coding required.

And there is more — The latest version of the iClone MetaHuman Live Link Kit allows for seamless expression control with facial nuances, body movements, and lip-syncing. Even if you’re new to iClone, you can still animate your UE characters with the MetaHuman control rigs. Download these essential tools now and experience the ease and fun of creating true-to-life MetaHumans.

Free Download:

>> Auto Setup for Unreal Engine

>> iClone MetaHuman Live Link Kit

>> Character Creator 4

>> iClone 8

Release note | Fully Controllable MetaHuman Creation | Fast Create and Animate MetaHumans (Portal page)

See the latest update  in CC-to-MetaHuman pipeline:

Customized MetaHumans with True Likeness

▪ Seamless transfer of head shapes, skin textures, and dynamic wrinkles.

CC Customized MetaHuman Faces

▪ Delivering a true-to-life look with one simple click in Character Creator.

Hi-Fi Textures for the Head & Body

▪ Giving MetaHumans a striking resemblance to your original design, including skin effects and dynamic wrinkles.

Full Ownership over Unmatched Likeness

▪ Turning CC avatars into MetaHumans in Unreal while indulging in cross-platform compatibility.

Enriched Animations with iClone & CC

▪ Featuring Data Link for enhanced FPS performance and MetaHumans that can talk, emote, and perform with Live Link.

1. Customized MetaHumans with True Likeness

Create unique digital actors with ease using the Character Creator asset ecosystem. From shaping, skin layer editing, hairstyling, outfiting, to adding accessories, designers can effortlessly bring their vision to life. With CC 4.2, the new CC-to-Metahuman pipeline allows for seamless transfer of head shape, skin textures, and dynamic wrinkles, delivering ultra-realistic results in Unreal engine.

2. Character Creator Customized MetaHuman Faces

Creating your MetaHuman avatars with realistic features has never been easier, thanks to CC’s latest Head Export feature. With just a push of a button, you can effortlessly transfer CC head shapes and 4K head and body textures. Elevate your MetaHumans to a new level of authenticity with CC’s unparalleled true-to-life features.

3. Hi-Fi Textures for the Head & Body

Head & Body Texture

Transferring textures from CC to Unreal allows you to create MetaHumans that have striking resemblance to your original character design. It also supplements skin details to MetaHuman body and hands.

Skin Effects & Dynamic Wrinkles

We provide advanced tools that surpass the basic MetaHuman skin editor, including the powerful SkinGen utility that effectively integrates Realistic Human Skin into the face, such as scars, acne, moles, face paint, and Makeup & SFX. The Dynamic Wrinkle System complements these utilities, making it effortless to create digital actors that are truly lifelike.

4. Full Ownership over Unmatched Likeness

MetaHumans that have evolved from CC avatars are completely compatible with face and body control rigs in Unreal. In addition to enjoying cross-platform compatibility, characters generated in this manner are solely owned by you.

5. Enrich Animations with iClone & Character Creator

Live Link

Having MetaHumans talk, emote, and perform on command remains a roadblock for most animators. Fortunately, iClone MetaHuman Live Link offers a comprehensive solution to animate bodies, faces, and lips within a single application.

>> Learn more

Data Link

iClone motions can be applied to both UE characters and MetaHumans through the standard IK rig-and-retargeting process. The Data Link function eliminates the need for time-consuming FBX export and import, thereby accelerating the process of updating Unreal animations with CC.

>> Learn more

The difference between Cahracter Creator and MetaHuman Creator

Reallusion has expended significant efforts to create the most accurate CC-to-MetaHuman conversion pipeline, aiming to provide the best of both worlds for MetaHuman and Character Creator. Nevertheless, differences may still persist due to variations in structure and the mechanics of animation between the two systems.

  • MetaHumans have limited support for body shapes, resulting in differences in neck thickness, body size, or height when converting CC characters to MetaHumans.

  • Wearing CC Smart Hair on MetaHumans is not possible at this time, as the highest LOD of MetaHumans are limited to Groom Hair.

  • Currently, MetaHumans have their own outfit system and cannot wear conformable CC outfits.

  • The CC head is optimized for real-time performance at 4,000 polygons in an effort to support subdivision levels for the Unreal Engine. The native highest LOD for the MetaHuman head has 80,000 polygons, allowing for improved mesh-level definition in certain facial expressions, particularly around the eyes. This may result in noticeable differences in some cases.

  • After the MetaHuman conversion, facial expressions are controlled by MetaHumans’ facial control curves, potentially resulting in subtle differences in expression nuances.

>> Learn more in-depth details of these two systems.

Website: Fully Controllable MetaHuman Creation | Fast Create and Animate MetaHumans

Forum: CC to MetaHuman Pipeline Discussion

Learning

How to Auto Rig Cyborgs with Character Creator AccuRIG – Part 1

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The Smart Way to Auto Rig Soft, Rigid, & Mixed Armor Pieces

José Antonio Tijerín

José Tijerín is a digital illustrator, 3D sculptor, and creator of video games such as “Dear Althea”  available on Steam. His content pack “We’re Besties” and “We’re Homies” are currently for sale in the Reallusion content store.

CC4 with AccuRIG: a gateway to new possibilities

AccuRIG in Character Creator 4 is the most important tool we’ll be using for this tutorial. This tool is designed to rig characters quickly and easily and lets us skip a lot of manual processing in 3D programs like Maya. To create this tutorial, I have divided the character into three categories: rigid armor, mixed structure, and rigid system. This makes it easy to understand and analyze the common mistakes for each category.

Type I: The rigid armor

Let’s explore several ways to correctly integrate different parts to make a suit of armor. For this tutorial, I’ll be working with the “Polish Hussar Armor” that can be found on the Tijerin Art Studio Sketchfab page. Let’s start with the simple minor parts of the armor, such as the tassets and vambraces.

First go to the Create to access the Accessories menu and import these armor parts. Since the armor is divided into parts, we will have to select them one by one to convert them into accessories using the namesake button. Now, we have to go to the lower part of the Modify window to find the Attach section and link the armor parts with their corresponding bones.

This method is the most optimal for attaching rigid parts to the character, but it is not always recommended. I suggest individually importing the armor parts so that each part can be given the necessary attention and independent problems can be corrected as they arise.

Thanks to the improvements in Character Creator, we can check for problems while the character moves without having to leave the program. There will be times when the armor pieces intersect with other models and in those instances you will need to edit the geometries right away so it doesn’t continue to happen.

Rigid elements, like the ones applied here, are widely used to complement cloth and leather clothing and give a striking touch of variety to our character. Let’s talk about the armor elements that are more complicated, so much so that they require hard surface rigging such as the helmet for this particular character.

1. Helmet armor

Helmets are usually composed of one or two pieces, but this particular helmet has several pieces at the back. This is an opportunity to take advantage of because the lower part collides with the armor that we have not yet placed. We can handle this problem by hard-surface rigging this part in a third party 3D application. This time, we are going to import it not as an accessory but as a 3D prop so that we can introduce the bone system without a hitch.

The rest of the process is the same as those used for previous armor parts. As you can see, we now have full control over the helmet and can prevent it from intercepting other armor pieces. We are going to further develop this solution for the animation phase so that it goes beyond just fixing problems and takes us a step further in the animation of the character.

2. Chest armor

Now is the time to place the chest armor, which presents a delicate challenge. In this case, we have a one-piece breastplate that will be placed in the same fashion as the first amor parts. This type of armor is very constrictive on the body, so we must refrain from animating the bones of the upper spine and raise the arms more than 180 degrees. The most popular method, due to its versatility, is to separate an upper part to protect the thorax and a lower part for the stomach.

3. Shoulder armor

For the shoulder pads, I attached the lower part of the arm in the same way I did the first parts of the armor. For the upper part, I added a couple of bones like I did for the helmet. The mobile parts of a traditional armor are usually joined together with leather straps, and normally, they are covered by metal. This armor, however, features straps that are visible and I’ll need to be careful to confine the flexible areas to the shoulders.

It’s worth mentioning that futuristic armor found in video games often contain rigid parts that are sewn onto flexible parts. This type of design can save on polygons and eliminate many of the problems mentioned before, but we will explore this later.

By attaching the bones to the armor, we get several possibilities for animation. We can correct the position of the shoulder pads as was done for the helmet. In addition, we can have those pieces jump while he is riding on his mount. It should be obvious by now that adding bones to the armor requires some forethought, especially about the character’s range of motions and how the armor will react in kind.

4. Scabbard of the sword and accessories

Let’s now examine the scabbard, which is usually a prop for decoration, but we can do more with it by rigging it to make it functional. To accomplish this, I add bones along the length of the leather scabbard to have it curve with the sword. Once set up, the sword, despite its curvature, can smoothly slide in and out of the sheath.

In the act of sheathing a sword, one hand holds the scabbard and the other hand inserts the sword. So we should consider adding a bone to attach with the hand. If we want to get fancy, we can export the props in FBX format along with its animation into Character Creator. On top of this, we can also add a spring effect so that the soldier can sway while he walks and have that momentum transfer to the sword while it is sheathed. Once completed, I continue to make some corrections and add the rest of the armor, accessories, and textures to make it ready for animation in iClone.

Now that we have seen what this system can do for us, I’ll explore two more techniques that mix rigid with soft elements in the second part of this tutorial series. Do visit the YouTube channel to continue watching and please subscribe for more great tutorials.

Read on ‘How to Auto Rig Cyborgs with Character Creator AccuRIG – Part 2‘

Learn more :

• Tijerín Art (José Antonio Tijerín) https://www.artstation.com/tijerinart 

• Tijerín Art Studio on Steam (video games) https://store.steampowered.com/app/2058230/The_Evil_Furry/

• Character Creator https://www.reallusion.com/character-creator/download.html

• iClone https://www.reallusion.com/iclone/download.html

• Reallusion https://www.reallusion.com/

Learning

How to Auto Rig Cyborgs with Character Creator AccuRIG – Part 2

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The Smart Way to Auto Rig Soft, Rigid, & Mixed Armor Pieces

José Antonio Tijerín

José Tijerín is a digital illustrator, 3D sculptor, and creator of video games such as “Dear Althea” and ” The Evil Furry” available on Steam. His content pack “We’re Besties” and “We’re Homies” are currently for sale in the Reallusion content store.

Type II: Mixed structure

In this tutorial, I’ll explore what I call a mixed structure for making a suit of armor with Reallusion‘s toolset. This type of structure is very suitable for making robots and cyborgs because it has a more modern or even futuristic aesthetic. We’ll be using the “Neo Robot” character which comes with this exact system of mixing rigid and flexible structures. You can download this character from Sketchfab.

How to use AcuRIG in Character Creator 4.1

First, import the character directly into an empty project in Character Creator. If you haven’t done so already, proceed to rename all the parts of the robot to make it easier to work with later. After that, we can ready to use a new tool that Reallusion has added into Character Creator.

AccuRIG is a tool that has opened new horizons for Reallusion products. Now, Character Creator is no longer a program entirely focused on realistic or stylized characters, it can actually load all types of characters. With this improvement, Character Creator is no longer limited to certain types of projects and has become an essential tool for any project that involves 3D models.

I’m going to select some of the rigid components and click on the AccuRIG button on the right. In the AccuRIG menu click on the Create Guides button. The system will proceed to place the joints in an arrangement that it deems best based on its algorithm.

Can we confirm if these are the best positions for the joints and modify it to better fit our model. Character Creator makes this easy by displaying a small help window every time a joint is selected. The system is usually pretty good at placing the joints into correct positions.

When we have verified the joint positions, click on the Generate Skeleton button. This is where the magic happens. In other programs, creating and adjusting a skeleton would undoubtedly take hours of your time.

The skeleton that the Character Creator generates is perfectly adjusted to fit the character’s anatomy. Yet, we can still adjust some parts that we are not satisfied with and use the Bind Skin button. As you can see in this example, the results are fantastic. It is even perfect for the fingers which are usually prone to errors due to their close proximity with one another.

Even the rigid parts of the model deform so slightly that it is almost imperceptible. That’s why for cases like these, it’s better to leave the rigid pieces as parts of the model rather than separating them into individual pieces.

Models with a lot of overlapping parts will likely encounter mesh penetration, but you can use the Skin Weights tool to quickly check the skinning. Another thing you have to take into account is that you can’t use the Transfer Skin Weights button to fix mistakes in your rigged characters, instead you will need to go back to the AccuRIG menu and use the Bind Skin button.

Animated add-ons in iClone 8

When dealing with robots in iClone, there is one factor that you should take into account, that is animated components. Electronic components are often tacked onto futuristic characters and they may even have their own motions.

Adding these elements is really easy in iClone. We simply need to import the pre-rigged components and position them in the right places. When they are all positioned, we have to use the Link option on the nearest bone of our character and we can animate this element independently without separating it from the body.

Furthermore, we can explore the use of robotic extensions as part of the character’s body.

The classic example is the articulated arm that is fully animated. Creating this setup is much easier than you might think, thanks to AccuRIG. We can simply import the mechanical arms into Character Creator and press the AccuRIG button to start the hard surface rigging process, just like before.

In this case, not all bones will be needed for this model, such as the leg bones. AccuRIG provides a practical solution to mask out these bones so that they don’t interfere with the hard surface rigging process. As mentioned a moment ago, we can just import the model into iClone and use the Link option to attach it to our character.

Type III: The rigid system

The rigid system is one traditionally used for classic robots. It is the most complicated system because we cannot use elastic elements and deformations, forcing us to think very carefully about the structure that makes up the character.

Use of spheres in the joints

As you can see, the whole system is based on using spheres as joints, but we also have some hydraulic parts that will need to be integrated into the rig.

Now check how well the sphere system works in Character Creator and let’s see just how useful it can be to incorporate the hydraulic tubes. These tubes have polygons at the top and bottom. In this way, the lower polygons can bind to the hips and the upper polygons can bind to the chest. When the character moves it gives the impression of the hydraulic tubes sliding to smoothly expand and contract. This method was used in practical production for my upcoming video game “The Evil Furry” on Steam. 

In this version, I wanted the robot to be more friendly, so I added light bulbs on the sides of the spheres that can move independently. I also added two antennae with spring effects to make the head more dynamic.

Facial expressions on a deadpan robot

I also wanted this robot to possess facial expressions and the ability to talk, despite it being a rigid robot. It occurred to me that the way to do this is to use a base character in Character Creator with all the expressions and lip-sync systems already set up with what the program has to offer.

To have all these features, I needed to work off of the base character and add the rest of the armor as clothes. It is a slower process, but it’s worth it for all the animations and expressions that the face has to offer.

That is all! I hope you like the final result and that the tutorial has helped you.

Read on ‘How to Auto Rig Cyborgs with Character Creator AccuRIG – Part 1‘

Learn more :

• Tijerín Art Studio (José Antonio Tijerín) https://sketchfab.com/tijerin_art

• Tijerín Art Studio on Steam (video games) https://store.steampowered.com/app/2058230/The_Evil_Furry/

• Character Creator https://www.reallusion.com/character-creator/download.html

• iClone https://www.reallusion.com/iclone/download.html

• Reallusion https://www.reallusion.com/

Learning

Revolutionary Mocap Animation Editing: Why iClone 8 is the Best Alternative to Maya and MotionBuilder

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iClone 8 Becomes a Tour de Force for Mocap Animation Editing

Featuring Trailblazing Mocap Animation Workflow

Mocap animation editing is an essential skill in digital entertainment, regardless of how the motion data is sourced. Although natural performances can be obtained via optical tracking, mocap suits, AI generation, or pre-made motion files, studios still struggle to refine animation data for their precise requirements. 

iClone has been used in major mocap productions for decades, proving itself as a top-tier solution for mocap animation editing. With the release of iClone 8, this cutting-edge software offers professional-grade animations at a fraction of the cost, time, and effort required by other applications. Know More >

Overview of the iClone Mocap Animation Workflow

Thanks to iClone 8’s new features, most of the previous tedious processes are now fun and streamlined.

– Nildo Essá, Founder of FX Animation Studios. 

Direct Support for Industry-Leading Motion Formats

iClone 8 is compatible with all industry-leading mocap formats. With a simple drag-and-drop application, anyone can import mocap data and retarget motions to different body shapes and sizes. It’s finally time to leave tedious bone mapping and characterization in the rear-view mirror.

Round-Trip Pipeline for Connecting with MotionBuilder and Maya

Thanks to iClone 8’s powerful round-trip FBX workflow, MotionBuilder and Maya productions can seamlessly integrate iClone and take advantage of its powerful native features. This translates to precise poses and finger gestures with motion transfer, making collaboration across different software solutions effortless and even enjoyable.

View the iClone-to-MotionBuilder and iClone-to-Maya workflow videos below:

See the benefits of iClone compared to MotionBuilder and Maya: Feature Comparison >

Unlock the Untold Secrets of Mocap Animation with Over 35 Battle-Tested Courses – All for Free!

Until now, there has never been a comprehensive and well-planned mocap animation course available. Reallusion takes up the challenge, offering 35 courses that cover every aspect of mocap production, from cleanup and editing to accurate interactions. These courses draw from decades of work on mocap projects with world-class studios featured in the ActorCore motion library, which is filled with difficult-to-capture motion sequences that range from paired interactions, parkour, and combat moves, to prop and accessory manipulation.

View the tutorials>

iClone does everything MOST people are using MotionBuilder to do, with a fast workflow and even a faster learning curve.

– Jeff Scheetz, Motion Capture Orlando

Conclusion

For iClone users, exploring the courses can help reinforce existing knowledge while also offering new tricks to enhance your animation skills. If you are new to iClone but have experience with Maya and MotionBuilder, give iClone a try to discover how the same quality results can be achieved with unmatched speed and convenience. And there’s more! Users of Maya and MotionBuilder can take advantage of our exclusive Welcome Offer to jump in and explore the possibilities.

Whether you’re an experienced pro or a newcomer to mocap animation, get ready to take your skills to the next level with iClone. Reallusion is dedicated to creating the next generation of animation solutions, making mocap work easier and more effective than ever before. We value your input and would love to hear your feedback as we continue to innovate and improve.

Check For more information on iClone and mocap animation editing: https://www.reallusion.com/iclone/maya-motionbuilder-alternative/default.html

Learn battle-tested mocap animation courses free now: https://www.reallusion.com/iclone/maya-motionbuilder-alternative/courses.html

Get the limited welcome offer of iClone with 40% off: https://www.reallusion.com/iclone/maya-motionbuilder-alternative/welcome-offer.html

Featured Story

Creating Hollywood-inspired Action Sequences for ActorCore

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Industry Veteran’s Professional Making of 3D Motions with Vicon mocap for Action Films and Games

Hollywood disaster movies have always topped the box office, from Independence Day in the ’90s to The Wandering Earth II this year. These blockbusters center on ordinary people dealing with catastrophic events, giving avid moviegoers like us the adrenaline rush we crave. Time after time, we are thrilled by apocalyptic scenes of airplane crashes, massive explosions, rampaging monsters, and, of course, people running amok on the big screen.

Creating chaotic scenes for disaster movies with real people and props on actual sites is extremely complicated and costly to produce, and many studios across the globe are turning to CGI for this very reason. Unfortunately, CGI isn’t a magic bullet as it presents its own set of challenges, especially when it comes to generating a large crowd of realistic digital actors in varying shapes and sizes. Animators must ensure that each character has a distinct personality while in action so that they don’t end up with repetitive animations that are a telltale sign of computer-generated rendering.

ActorCore was created specifically to address these issues in production. In fact, animating 3D characters in disaster scenes has never been easier, thanks to the latest 3D motion content pack, “Run for Your Life“. This pack consists of 68 motion-captured animation clips, including surprised encounters, panicked responses, dynamic runs, jumps, climbs, falls, and even heated interactions during moments of chaos. Combined with ActorCore’s collection of fully-rigged 3D characters, this pack can expand the cinematic scope of any project in Maya, Max, iClone, and Blender. It is even fully compatible with game engines like Unity and Unreal.

Behind the Scenes: Run for Your Life

Monkey Chow Animation Studios, a company based in Orlando with extensive experience in 3D motion capture and a wealth of creative ideas, developed the “Run for Your Life” 3D motion pack. The content pack underwent a rigorous design process to ensure the highest quality of motion editing and accessibility, making it suitable for any project theme while exceeding all expectations.

Take a look at the process behind creating these incredible 3D motions.

AAA Studio Production

Monkey Chow Animation Studios, with its sister company, Motion Capture Orlando, was founded by Jeff Scheetz, a veteran in 3D animations and the co-founder of The Digital Animation & Visual Effects (DAVE) School at Universal Studios Orlando in Florida.  Monkey Chow offers a full service for animation and VFX production.  Over the years the company has been involved with many projects for Universal Studios, Walt Disney World, and theme parks around the world.  They recently wrapped work on a new movie for Netflix and Season 2 of HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones. 

Copyright: Jesus Film Project 2021

Action-Oriented Content Inspired by Hollywood

As a fan of big-budget disaster movies, Jeff came up with an idea for an “action movie” series to sell on the ActorCore 3D asset store. The pack’s goal is to help users create chaotic scenes that match the style and production value of Hollywood’s most thrilling disaster flicks. These scenes typically feature hordes of people scrambling to escape malevolent robots, monsters, or catastrophic asteroids. The pack is also very versatile because it complements ActorCore’s diverse selection of 3D characters from all walks of life.

ActorCore 3D Motions “Run for Your Life”

Eye-Catching Killer Stunts

To enhance the realism of mocap animations for crowded and chaotic scenes, Monkey Chow enlisted the expertise of veteran stunt choreographer Joop Kanata from The Stunt Collective. With a track record of collaborating with top companies in the film, TV, and live broadcast industries, including Aascar Films, Renaissance Entertainment, Innovative Entertainment Services (IES), Resorts World, and CRU, The Stunt Collective is a highly renowned team. Joop works closely with his crew of professional stunt performers to capture runs, tumbles, falls, and near-misses, which are sure to keep audiences engaged and on the edge of their seats.

Motion captured with stunt choreographer Joop Kanata

Creating this ‘Run for Your Life’ motion pack was a great opportunity to test out our newest Vicon motion capture system while paying homage to Hollywood’s disaster movies. It is such a pleasure to partner with Reallusion on themed content creation.

Jeff Scheetz, CEO of Monkey Chow Animation Studios

Motion Data Optimization with iClone

Having become familiar with its powerful features, Monkey Chow chose iClone as their primary tool for refining raw mocap animation data due to its impressive capabilities in real-time 3D animation. The studio’s motion data optimization team was particularly impressed by the software’s user-friendly interface, which streamlined the process of applying motions to characters without the need for complex, multi-step procedures common in other programs. And, unlike these other programs, which often involve convoluted processes like importing data, matching poses, linking joints, characterizing target characters, and making intricate adjustments, iClone simplifies the process by providing high-speed real-time animations with fast motion correction, motion editing, smooth blending, and accurate interactions between the actor’s body and objects in the scene.

Achieve natural character interactions with the environment using iClone
Enhance the drama and excitement of your animations with iClone’s Time Warp

iClone won’t do everything Motion Builder does, but it does everything MOST people are using Motion Builder to do, with a fast workflow and even a faster learning curve.

Jeff Scheetz  

More Action Motions to Come for Quick Previz and Game

ActorCore offers a variety of motion packs for different scenarios, including daily life, common conversations, combat, historical reenactments, and fun-filled cartoons. And now with the “Run for Your Life” content pack, you can also create Hollywood-inspired blockbuster action scenes.  There are more content packs in the works by Monkey Chow Animation Studios which are perfectly suited to other popular themes like “Bank Heist” and “Street Riot”, and for users to create projects for game trailers, previsualization, or even big-budget movies. 

Visit ActorCore 3D Asset Store and check them out.

Learning

Animating Pixel Art with Vector Graphics Editor and Cartoon Animator 5

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Katherine Dallimore – KDSKETCH

Katherine, known as KD or KDSKETCH online, is a 2D digital animator from the UK making animated videos and tutorials on YouTube. With a focus on creating 2D animations, she talks about the production process including character design, storyboards, and various tips for making animation.

This is not the first time that Katherine has made a 2D animation with Cartoon Animator (CTA), after having experimented with CTA4 in 2019. She published two tutorial videos on YouTube, one introducing Cartoon Animator’s new features – with lip-sync being one of her favorites – and the other demonstrating motion capture animation with mocap plugins.

Vector Graphic Animation

In KD’s video, she introduces the benefits of vector animation as one of the most attractive features of Cartoon Animator 5, which supports the infinite resolution of artwork. Users can also choose their preferred vector tools for animation background creation or 2D character design, exporting SVG files into CTA for making animated videos; KD chose Affinity Designer as the vector tool for the scene design, which was inspired by platform games with a Pixel Art Style.

(Color adjustment tool for vector character design)
(Drag and drop motions on character)

Moreover, the video shows that Cartoon Animator provides pre-made 2D characters and 2D assets that enable users to change the colors of skin tones, hair, clothes, and others. The Free Form Deformation effects and embedded motions are very useful for users who like to make an efficient and high-quality 2D animation in minutes.

(Easily create 3D layering of the scene)

In order to present the layering of the animated scene, the 3D Camera System is the most accurate function to experience realistic 3D camera movements. The tutorial demonstrates detailed workflows when making a high-quality animated video with more CTA features and tips.

The upcoming tutorial videos will be related to Spring Dynamics and Free Form Deformation effects. Stay tuned for more tutorials!

Know more:

2D Animation Software for Cartoon Maker | Cartoon Animator

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2D Animation Software Download | Cartoon Animator

Product Release

Reallusion Releases ActorCore AccuRIG Share (Beta)

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Share Animated 3D Characters on PC and Mobile with the Best Viewing Experience

Reallusion announces brand-new features for ActorCore AccuRIG following its popular inauguration as a premium tool that is completely free of charge. In addition to uploading rigged characters to ActorCore, users can now share them on various social media platforms. The newly introduced Share feature, which is currently in its Beta phase, lets users share their rigged 3D models in a quick and effortless manner for personal and professional purposes.

What’s New with AccuRIG Share (Beta)

ActorCore AccuRIG is quickly gaining traction in the 3D community due to its user-friendly interface and ability to provide precise character rigging for 3D models at no cost. Rigged characters can be exported to all major 3D platforms and uploaded to the ActorCore 3D store. The asset store contains a vast library of professionally produced mocap animations that guarantee excellent quality for practical purchases.

In the latest version, users can upload and share their 3D characters via social media and email. Those who receive the models can explore them in ActorCore’s interactive 3D viewport, experiment with over 2,000 mocap animations, and directly download or re-share the model assets. AccuRIG Share is the perfect way to showcase creative work to family and friends, collaborate on projects, or review and deliver products.

Best Virtual Presentation with AccuRIG Share

Whether you’re part of a production or scan studio, content creator or marketing professional, AccuRIG Share allows you to effortlessly share your rigged models with others in remote locations. With an interactive 3D viewport and matching 3D motions, you can showcase your complete portfolio on ActorCore, enabling others to view and appreciate your work. For marketing professionals, this tool is ideal for spreading product and brand awareness by sharing 3D avatars on various websites and mobile devices, ultimately boosting potential sales.

We Want Your Feedback!

ActorCore AccuRIG Share is now in beta and comes with an array of new features. We invite all users to try out the program and give their valuable feedback through our beta survey. Your comments are crucial in helping Reallusion improve AccuRIG to meet your expectations. Additionally, if you use the software in a professional capacity, we urge you to fill in your professional information to qualify for project collaboration with Reallusion. This will give you access to additional free character upload slots and promotional opportunities. Don’t wait, take the survey now and let us know what you think. AccuRIG Share Beta Survey

Featured Story

Animating AI-generated Images in Cartoon Animator 5

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José Tijerín

Hi, I am José Tijerín, a digital illustrator, 3D sculptor, and videogame developer. My “Dear Althea” is a visual novel game that is available on Steam. Another game I am currently working on, called “From the Streets to the Script: A Carabanchel Story”, can also be added to your favorites list on Steam.

The information in this article is lifted from the AI with Cartoon Animator (CTA) tutorial video, which you are encouraged to watch for a comprehensive insight into my creative process. You can see an example of the final animation described in this article by watching the tutorial video.

The Use of Artificial Intelligence

AI is a revolutionary technology that gives artists like me the time to focus more of our efforts on creativity. Still, to get the most out of AI, we need to harness our imagination and hone the technical skills necessary to operate AI in the first place. It is equally important to be aware of the ethical and legal implications of relying on AI to generate artwork, especially regarding transparency around the way these tools are used in the creative process.

Tips on Creating AI-Generated Images

Getting the AI to generate the right images that we want can be difficult. The smart way to go about it is to give it consistently good prompts. But, what exactly is a prompt? Simply put, it is a set of words describing the image that we want to generate, and it is usually fed to the AI from a chatbox interface. By pulling data from what it has learned from its countless sessions with training models, the AI can analyze the given information to come up with an appropriate response. 

When writing prompts, I suggest only allowing the AI to derive results from images that are in the public domain. There is a high probability in the future that all AI will base their creations solely on publicly available images; But for now, we must manually direct it to do so. One way to do this is to include the name of an original creator whose works are already in the public domain. High-quality digitized images of their works are likely readily available in the AI’s database—take, for instance, the great works of John William Waterhouse. However, there is a method that gives us more control, and thereby, better results.

Creating & Optimizing Animation Drawings with AI Generators

The technique I’m about to mention can be used with almost any image-generating AI. That is the use of images to generate other images using a machine-learning model. To elaborate, if the AI is fed a sketch with the concepts we want our illustration to have, we can have it generate alternative images based on our original concept. In this way, AI can help with 2D character creation.

Personally, I prefer to put a few character sketches into the Artbreeder AI and let it quickly derive a few more character concepts. Out of the ideas that it gives me, I continue to refine my ideas based on what resonates. Admittedly, it’s a very fun way of working that I highly recommend you try. 

Whatever procedure you choose, a good rule of thumb is to master the tool rather than have it master you—that includes not losing sight of the goal. In this particular case, we are looking for a result that lends itself to painless animation in CTA, and that would require us to retouch the character—like furnishing the rest of my example image with the missing legs. For solutions to problems such as these, we can consult the AI community at https://huggingface.co/. On that website, we can explore all sorts of great AIs that can be used for free, right in the browser. 

Of particular interest is Stable Diffusion Infinity which is promoted for its ability to zoom into an image with great accuracy. It belongs to a broader family of tools under the Stable Diffusion technology. This AI is completely free and, unlike others, remains open source. It is also my favorite and I use it exclusively for its accuracy. That said, it does require copious amounts of prompts to get it there. The more prompts given, the better the final result will be and the closer the output image will match what you had in mind. Lastly, if you are using the Image-to-Image function, be cognizant of the input image resolution as that will affect the quality of the generated images. For high-quality results, be sure to feed it images with adequate resolution and detail. 

Tailoring the Illustration for Cartoon Animator

When our sketch has been turned into the desired illustration with the help of AI, we can start retouching it. Our initial instinct may start us off with refining the hands, but I recommend taking this opportunity to make the illustration more our own. Namely, we should modify the 2D character and decorative elements according to our tastes and bring them closer to the style of character we have in mind. This process is of vital importance if you are working on a project with multiple characters and they all need to complement each other in a cohesive style. Personally, I think it’s best to remove the whole inside of the face and make it individually. This way, all the faces of the characters will have a consistent style and lets us animate with ease in CTA.

Free Vector Templates for 2D Characters

When we have finished with the 2D character creation, it is time to visit the CTA website and download the free templates to animate our character. If we open them, we can see that they work by separating the joints of the body by layers and grouping them into folders. We will need to do the same with our character by separating it into parts. In the process, we must take into account the layers that go on top and those that go beneath. By imagining the poses that the character will assume during animation, we can make sure to not leave gaps in the design that will cause the character to look unsightly in the final animation. 

CTA allows us to import vector graphics for limitless resizing while keeping the resolution sharp and quality high for graphic animations. If we use a program to automatically vectorize the illustration, we can easily make use of this advantage.

Animating 2D Characters in the Simplest Way

Never before has it been so easy to create an animated 2D character of such high quality in such a short amount of time. Thanks to CTA, we can bring illustrations to life in a very simple way and without the need to have much knowledge of 2D animation. When the exported character is introduced in CTA, it comes pre-rigged, which saves us a ton of time. When a background scene is generated with AI, we can easily integrate it with our character with the help of the intuitive tools of the program. 

Giving life to our character is just a couple of clicks away when we use the large library of motions that CTA has to offer. The ones I like to use the most are the 3D motion effects. With them, I can control the animation on the 2D plane with precision. 

Learn More

2D Animation Software for Cartoon Maker | Cartoon Animator 5

FREE for 30 days, and get 1,700+ ready-made content:

2D Animation Software Download | Cartoon Animator 5

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The original article is written by José Tijerín and also featured on Creative Bloq.