In
the war for affordable 3D animation programs, there are
limitless contenders. Of course, there are many levels
of "affordable" in which these contenders slug
it out and most of these levels completely miss the microfilmmaker.
However,
Reallusion, the maker of CrazyTalk 4, has an idea
of affordable that gels with most of us: just $179.99
for an entire 3D animation software package. While that
only includes the basics, with add-ons and extra models
sold a la carte, what's included in that package will
turn quite a few heads--both literally and figuratively.
Originally
designed for the machinema society (filmmakers who reprogram
3D video games to create animated films from their characters)
and techno-geeks that wanted 3D avatars online, iClone
has grown to the point where it bears consideration for
many low budget filmmakers who might be interested in
doing 3D animation.
In
version 1.0, iClone allowed users to make
basic 3D avatars of themselves and offered basic facial
modeling, voice sync, and animation strings. However,
as a freshman 3D animation program, it was plagued by
the lack of a timeline for cameras, lights, and actual
motion, as well as the inability to re-texture items,
put more than 8 props in a scene, and have two digital
"actors" in the same scene. With version 1.5,
all of these issues are a fixed.
With
that said, let's delve more deeply into this software
package.
Ease
of Use
While it's nowhere near as simple to use as CrazyTalk
4--as it encompasses way more than talking heads--iClone1.5 is definitely the simplest 3D program I've
ever used (and I've used a lot of 3D programs, from Autodesk's
AutoCad and 3D Studio Max to Innoventive's
FrameForge 3D Studio!).
For
most of us who are familiar with timelines, the new inclusion
of an overarching timeline to go along with the program
makes it much easier to use than iClone1.0
was. It is a bit tricky to figure out at first, until
you figure out how to uncollapse the timeline so you can
see all the effected pieces; but once you do, it functions
pretty cleanly and easily.
Basically,
you have two timelines: the actual avatar motion timeline
and the movement timeline. Present in version 1.0,
the avatar motion timeline is controlled through a pop-out
program called the Motion Editor, and allows you to control
all the bodily motion of your avatar through a simple
geometric dummy that doesn't take up nearly as much CPU
power to move and animate. The movement of everything
else, from cameras, lights, props, and even your avatar's
body through 3D space is controlled by the movement timeline,
which is new in 1.5. (These terms actually aren't
referred to in the program as such. The motion timeline
isn't able to be adjusted from the main timeline, so it
isn't referenced in the main program. A little confusing
to describe, but it works pretty well, actually.)
For
mapping out the movement your avatar's body will undergo,
the actual manipulation of the 3D mannequin to create
motion in the Motion Editor is extremely clean and easy.
Unfortunately, it doesn't show you outlines of the props
you've chosen or the outline of the physical body you
possess around the poseable dummy, which leaves you with
lots of clipping issues when you leave the motion editor
and go back into the fully rendered world of iClone.
This, of course, requires that you must keep coming back
and forth between the main iClone program and the
Motion Editor. I would like to see simple wireframe prop-,
set-, and body-outlines in a future version, as that would
make this a much easier to use program. (Granted, it would
also make it a more CPU-hungry program.)
Control
of the 3D camera is done either via a quick-click menu,
or via holding different mouse buttons down and moving
the mouse. (By default, I believe, the left button moves
the camera in 3D X-Y-Z space, the scroll wheel dollies
in and out, and the right mouse button pans left/right
and tilts up/down.) This is a very simple and easy to
use system that will make 3D much less confusing for most
filmmakers.
I
would like to see some more in-depth how-to information
included with this software, as they haven't updated their
help menu since version 1.0, which isn't a lot
of help for the really important new features. You can
now download the updated manual from their website, although
it's still a bit on the sketchy side. As there is a bit
of a learning curve, a greater amount of tutorial and
how-to content from the company would be a big help. (After writing this, John C. Martin from Reallusion told me that a number of new how-to guides and tutorials will be coming out this month, which will be very helpful.)
