iClone 4.31 3D Animation Beginner's Guide - Mike D McCallum - E-Book

iClone 4.31 3D Animation Beginner's Guide E-Book

Mike D McCallum

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Beschreibung

Reallusion’s iClone is an animated movie making application that allows hobbyists, machinimators, home-based animators, and professionals to visualize their story or an idea by seeing it in action. Years ago, creating animations and single images would require a team of trained artists to accomplish. Now, iClone real time rending engine empowers its users to instantly view what is loaded into the 3D workspace or preview it as an animation, if you have the precise instructions.The iClone 3D Animation Beginner’s Guide will walk you through the building and animating of a complete scene and several one-off projects. First we create a scene with sky, terrain , water, props and other assets. Then add two characters and manipulate their features and animate their movement. We will also use particles to create the effect of a realistic torch and animate cameras to give different views to the scene. Finally we will see how to quickly import images to enhance the scene with a mountain, barn, and water tank. It will cover some fun stuff such as playing with props, characters, and other scene assets. It will also demonstrate some advanced topics such as screen resolution, formats and codecs but mostly it will deal with doing hands on animation with precise instructions.Starting with a blank project using stock and downloadable assets you will learn to lay out and animate a scene and export that scene to both a single image and a movie. The main project will demonstrate many common and undocumented techniques, while each project introduces and examines tools and techniques for successful and fun animation of ideas or scripts.Each project of the book including the main project is designed to cover the aspects of 3D animation in a manner which anyone with basic computer skills can follow. You will discover the importance of lighting a scene including daytime scenes. The concept of the timeline and key frames will be covered in detail and other topics such as rendering (exporting), character modification and prop placement all have their own sections with step by step instructions followed by an explanation of what just happened. Good animation habits and project basics are stressed throughout the book interspersed with time saving tips and techniques gained from years of experience with iClone.When you have finished The iClone 3D Animation Beginner’s Guide you will have a solid foundation in the basics of iClone by having animated a scene with multiple characters and props that involves dialog and interaction with other characters. You will have the knowledge to create new animation projects to hone your skills, tell your story, educate students or sell your product.

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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

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Table of Contents

iClone 4.31 3D Animation
Credits
Foreword
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Support files, eBooks, discount offers and more
Why Subscribe?
Free Access for Packt account holders
Preface
What this book covers
What you need for this book
Who this book is for
Conventions
Time for action - heading
What just happened?
Pop quiz - heading
Have a go hero - heading
Reader feedback
Customer support
Downloading the example code
Downloading the color images of this book
Errata
Piracy
Questions
1. Installing and Configuring iClone
Installing the program
Time for action - installing iClone 4 pro
What just happened
Time for action - installing related iClone content
What just happened?
Time for action - exploring iClone options
What just happened?
Configuring work environment
Setting up the 3D grid
Controlling display information
Exploring real-time render options
Choosing the shader
Manipulating objects
Locating Custom Content folder
Installing new content
Using drag-and-drop
Importing new content
Working with zipped files
Welcome to iClone
Interacting with the iClone community
Free iClone assets
Exploring the Reallusion Content Store
Discovering the Reallusion Marketplace
Downloading your trial and purchased items
Time for action - download and installation steps
What just happened?
Exploring the iClone user interface
Exploring the workspace
Selecting objects in the workspace
Pop quiz
Summary
2. Creating Your First Scene
Let the animation begin!
Exploring your virtual studio
Exploring the 3D workspace
Time for action - creating the outdoors
What just happened?
Working with Live Plants
Time for action - creating virtual foliage
What just happened?
Have a go hero - clear the meadow
Adding props to the scene
Placing props
Time for action - house building
What just happened?
Have a go hero - modifying the scene
Manipulating props
Selecting the tools
Manipulating objects directly
Manipulating with precision using gizmos
Handling direct input
Working with iProps (interactive props)
Time for action - placing the iProp
What just happened?
What just happened?
Animated props
Time for action - importing animated props
What just happened?
Creating props from building blocks
What do you see in a primitive?
Time for action - building a gazebo without hand tools!
What just happened?
Diffusing opacity and other maps.
Exploring the mapping channels
Time for action - painting the gazebo
What just happened?
Time for action - correcting the texture mapping
What just happened?
Painting option
Time for action - adding fire effects to the grill
What just happened?
Creating see through material
Turning nothing into something
Lighting in 3D animation
Light types and shadows
Understanding ambient light
Manipulating the lights in the 3D workspace
Setting the mood with lighting and atmosphere
Time for action - setting the ambient light
What just happened?
Time for action - working with shadows
What just happened?
Time for action - manipulating the atmosphere
What just happened?
Time for action - lighting up the grill
What just happened?
Summary
Pop quiz - face-off
3. Adding and Customizing Characters
Developing unique characters
Time for action - loading characters
What just happened?
Customizing character features
Time for action - loading a face image
What just happened?
Time for action - correct the lighting
What just happened
Time for action - customizing our character
What just happened?
Time for action - customizing the head of the avatar
What just happened?
Have a go hero - customizing the avatar's face
Experimenting with model detail
Time for action - giving your character a new do!
What just happened?
Time for action - customizing the eyes and mouth
What just happened?
Skin
Have a go hero - loading and customizing a female character
Positioning the characters
Using character accessories and attaching props
Time for action - can't be cool without shades!
What just happened?
Time for action - shading the glasses
What just happened?
Time for action - attaching the fork prop
What just happened?
Interacting with the iProps
Time for action - grabbing a beer
What just happened?
Altering the characters' clothing
Time for action - altering female avatar clothing
What just happened?
Altering clothing using color
Time for action - altering the male avatar's clothing
What just happened?
Time for action - modifying the avatar's pants
What just happened?
Basics of character dialog
Lip-sync
Adding dialog
Creating dialog using the interface
Recording dialog using a microphone
Inserting audio files
Finding voice actors
Summary
4. Animating the Characters
Using motions versus animations
Introducing the timeline
Controlling action on the timeline
Time for action - the timeline concept … A mini-tutorial
What just happened?
Time for action - adding basic camera movement
What just happened?
Time for action - changing the speed of the animation
What just happened?
Adding motions to characters
Applying motion clips
Adjusting the motion
Controlling facial expressions
Invoking hand motions
Manipulating character's fingers
Using paths to move objects
Time for action - adjusting the starting frame
What just happened?
Time for action - animating the hands
What just happened?
Customizing animation using the motion editor
Time for action - animating the male character
What just happened?
Turn the character
Time for action - animating the turn
What just happened?
Time for action - closing the grill cover
What just happened?
Animating the limbs
Setting the starting point key frame
What just happened?
Time for action - animating the arm movement
What just happened?
Time for action - scaling and moving the grill
What just happened?
Time for action - copying and pasting the key frame
What just happened?
Time for action - closing the grill
What just happened?
Time for action - finishing out the movement
What just happened?
Blending motions
Time for action - animating the female avatar
What just happened?
Time for action - add more time to the animation
What just happened?
Adding more motion to the female avatar
What just happened?
Time for action - creating new motions
What just happened?
Building our custom motion library
Saving custom animations as motions
Time for action - saving single clips
What just happened?
Time for action - collecting and saving multiple clips
What just happened?
Time for action - using the Absolute Bone method
What just happened?
Manipulating transitions
Time for action - polishing character moves
What just happened?
Have a go hero - experimenting with curves
Animating paths for smooth movement
Time for action - using a path to animate Benny's walk
What just happened?
Using alternative methods of character movement
Time for action - point and click movement
What just happened?
Time for action - using director mode
What just happened?
Have a go hero - using the alternatives
Animating character dialog
Time for action - using dialog with characters
What just happened?
Have a go hero - adjusting the conversation timing
Summary
5. Enhancing Animation with Particles
Using special effects (FX) wisely
Exploring iClone particles
Breaking down an iClone particle
Extending particle usage
Using iClone particles
Time for action - cueing mother nature
What just happened?
Time for action - configuring particle settings
What just happened?
Time for action - coloring mother nature
What just happened?
Attaching iClone particles to props
Creating a torch
Time for action - creating the torch handle
What just happened?
Time for action - loading and manipulating the particle
What just happened?
Time for action - adjusting and texturing the torch
What just happened?
Have a go hero - save the torch!
Time for action - setting up the smoke and fire particles
What just happened?
Time for action - adding the fire particle
What just happened?
Adjusting iClone particles
Time for action - controlling the fire
What just happened?
Time for action - adding a smoke particle to the smoke stack
What just happened?
Time for action - positioning the smoke stack particle
What just happened?
Using visibility with particles
Time for action - setting the timing for the emitter
What just happened?
Using particles with paths
Time for action - creating a magical swirling effect
What just happened?
Have a go hero - creating a fireball
Summary
Pop quiz - particles
Pop quiz - attaching particles
6. Working with Cameras
Creating cameras
Time for action - creating our first camera
What just happened?
Renaming your cameras
Time for action - naming the camera
What just happened?
Time for action - creating and renaming another camera
What just happened?
Have a go hero - creating and renaming more cameras
Using character/object cameras (Follow Cam)
Using the Actor Cam
Time for action - setting up the Actor Cam
What just happened?
Time for action - converting Follow Cam to a permanent camera
What just happened?
Time for action - setting up the Face Cam
What just happened?
Time for action - viewing the character from above
What just happened?
Pop quiz - using follow cams
Understanding the camera lens
Time for action - creating new cameras and picking the lens
What just happened?
Time for action - setting up our main camera angle
What just happened?
Time for action - setting up a lens only camera close up
What just happened?
Have a go hero - creating a lens only pullback shot
Pop quiz - testing our lens knowledge
Focusing with depth of field
Time for action - creating a depth of field camera
What just happened?
Have a go hero - exploring depth of field
Creating more cameras
Time for action - creating the Benny cams
What just happened?
Time for action - creating a wide angle camera shot
What just happened?
Selecting cameras for filming
Creating a shot list
Understanding camera cuts and timing
Time for action - setting up the camera switch
What just happened?
Have a go hero - adjusting the camera switch settings
Filming through walls and objects with camera clipping
Time for action - Using camera clipping
What just happened?
Summary
7. Enhancing Scenes with Images and Videos
Using the 2D drag-and-drop menu
Adding details with planes
Time for action - creating an image plane
What just happened?
Have a go hero - adding another mountain
Billboards
Time for action - working with billboards to add an old barn
What just happened?
Time for action - working with billboards to add a water tower
What just happened?
Pop quiz
Have a go hero - adding the wishing well
Image layers
Time for action - driving down the street
What just happened?
Time for action - using multiple image layers
What just happened?
Have a go hero - adding more clouds
Using 2D with special effects
Time for action - using planes to mimic volume effects
What just happened?
Time for action - adding mountains
What just happened?
Using video to enhance scenes
Time for action - adding video to props
What just happened?
Creating and using popVideo
Time for action - playing with popVideo
What just happened?
Summary
8. Rendering our Work
Understanding rendering
Rendering in iClone
Exporting single images
Time for action - rendering our first image
What just happened?
Time for action - rendering an action shot
What just happened?
Have a go hero - rendering more images
Exporting image sequences
Time for action - exporting our first image sequence
What just happened?
Exporting videos
Understanding video
Codecs versus formats
Formats available in iClone
AVI
RM
WMV
MP4 for PC
Flash video
Using good video rendering habits
Determining end usage
Setting screen resolution as soon as possible
Time for action - rendering our main project video
What just happened?
Rendering popVideo
3D rendering… got glasses?
Understanding 3D stereoscopic rendering
Anaglyph
Time for action - setting up the scene
What just happened?
Time for action - rendering the scene
What just happened?
Have a go hero - experimenting with the convergence distance
Side X Side
Top Down
Two Files
Summary
Pop quiz
9. Animating Outer Space
Reviewing the project assets
Laying out and planning the scene
Determining the purpose of the scene
Determining render resolution
Time for action - setting the resolution
What just happened?
Determining the scene animation
Determining the particle effects required
Laying out the scene tasks
Tweaking the project assets
Time for action - adjusting the existing scene
What just happened?
Time for action - turning outer space into live space
What just happened?
Time for action - lighting the scene
What just happened?
Time for action - importing scene assets
What just happened?
Storyboarding with iClone
Time for action - creating our initial storyboard frame
What just happened?
Time for action - storyboarding the action at mid-scene
What just happened?
Time for action - storyboarding the shuttle escape
What just happened?
Time for action - storyboarding the explosion
What just happened?
Time for action - storyboarding the shuttle leaving
What just happened?
Analyzing our storyboard
Time for action - setting up the animated shuttle path
What just happened?
Have a go hero
Time for action - adding particles
What just happened?
Have a go hero - adding more particles
Setting up the shot list
Time for action - deleting an existing camera
What just happened?
Creating cameras for the shot list
Time for action - creating cameras
What just happened?
Setting up the camera switch
Time for action - setting the camera order
What just happened?
Last minute tweaks
Time for action - adjust the movie length
What just happened?
Have a go hero - making the scene your own
Rendering our scene
Time for action
What just happened?
Have a go hero - promotional stills
Summary
A. Using Personas, iProps, and Helpers
Understanding AML
Exploring personas to animate a character
Time for action - loading a Persona
What just happened?
Have a go hero - experimenting with perform motions
Using AML templates
Implementing character interaction
Time for action - placing and using character interaction dummies
What just happened?
Time for action - applying the kick me AML template
What just happened?
Have a go hero - using the hit me template
Using operate dummy props
Time for action - Using the character interaction templates
What just happened?
Time for action - using the grab it AML template prop
What just happened?
Have a go hero - using the other operate dummy props
Working with iProps
Exploring the home iProps folder
Time for action - getting in and out of bed
What just happened?
Have a go hero - sitting down on the iprop chair
Time for action - using the iprop door
What just happened?
Working with vehicle dummies
Summary
B. Animating with iClone Physics
Understanding iClone physics
Working with simulations
Baking the physics
Testing versus saving simulations
Touring the physics menu
Understanding soft bodies versus rigid bodies
Rigid bodies
Setting the state of the object
Object properties
Bounding settings
Soft bodies
Preset
Property
Collision settings
Time for action - dropping the ball
What just happened?
Have a go hero - setting up the physics
Time for action - setting up the wall
What just happened?
Time for action - knocking down the wall first run
What just happened?
Time for action - fine tuning the first run
What just happened?
Have a go hero - finish the scene
Time for action - batting the ball
What just happened?
Time for action - setting up the physics
What just happened?
Have a go hero - experimenting with the settings
Time for action - changing the impact object angle
What just happened?
Time for action - adding the aiming site
What just happened?
Time for action - crashing the jeep
What just happened?
Time for action - duplicating rows of boxes
What just happened?
Have a go hero - driving through again
Time for action - setting up an ejection sequence
What just happened?
Time for action - setting up the eject physics
What just happened?
Time for action - attaching the character
What just happened?
Have a go hero
Time for action - creating a chain action
What just happened?
Colliding with characters
Attaching dummies
Time for action - preparing a character collision
What just happened?
Summary
C. Exploring New Features
Discovering new visual enhancements
Understanding ambient occlusion
Time for action - using ambient occlusion
What just happened?
Have a go hero - experimenting with ambient occlusion
Exploring the toon shader
Time for action - enhancing the existing scene
What just happened?
Time for action - setting up the toon shader
What just happened?
Time for action - - exploring the NPR post effect
What just happened?
Time for action - exploring the toon shader
What just happened?
Removing skin color
Time for action - tooning the characters
What just happened?
Time for action - skinning the character for tuning
What just happened?
Using post effects
Time for action - applying blur
What just happened?
Time for action - testing the other post effects
What just happened?
Time for action - adjusting the overall post effect
What just happened?
Have a go hero - experimenting with the scene
Setting the light with the multiplier
Time for action - using directional versus spotlight
What just happened?
Pop quiz
Discovering the performance enhancements
Improving usability features
Using the tree brush
Time for action - planting and felling trees
What just happened?
Have a go hero - cutting paths in the forest
Using soft cloth
Time for action - testing a cloth
What just happened?
Time for action - creating a ghost effect
What just happened?
Have a go hero
Exploring soft cloth options
Summary
D. Discovering New Animation Tools
Exploring the modified timeline
Mixing moves the easy way
Time for action - using MixMoves
What just happened?
Using the motion puppet
Time for action - animating Gwynn
What just happened?
Time for action - smoothing the transition between motions
What just happened?
Have a go hero - adjusting the presets
Time for action - walking with the motion puppet
What just happened?
Time for action - stopping the foot sliding
What just happened?
Understanding Human IK (pose and reach target)
Time for action - setting up a two-handed rig with Human IK
What just happened?
Time for action - hooking up the dummies
What just happened?
Time for action - using the two handed rig for movement
What just happened?
Time for action - using locking dummies
What just happened?
Have a go hero - experimenting with the three way rig
Time for action - setting up the unicycle
What just happened?
Have a go hero - operating the unicycle
Manipulating Direct Puppet
Time for action - puppeteering the character's movements
What Just Happened?
Have a go hero - experimenting with Direct Puppet
Time for action - climbing with Human IK
What Just Happened?
Have a go hero - moving the character further up the pipe
Pop quiz - Pinning versus Lock To
Understanding device Mocap (Kinect)
Time for action - installing the Kinect plugin
What just happened?
Time for action - starting the Mocap Device Plug-in
What just happened?
Time for action - cleaning up the Mocap
What just happened?
Using motion capture effectively
Using the Prop Puppet
Time for action - building the tank turret
What just happened?
Time for action - animating the radar
What just happened?
Time for action - animating the turret
What just happened?
Customizing the transition and time warp
Have a go hero - using the transition and time warp curves
Using the Prop Look At
Time for action - grasping the basics of Prop Look At
What just happened?
Time for action - using a practical example of the Prop Look At
What just happened?
Applying iClone 5 techniques to Chapter 4, Animating the Characters
Time for action - animating the grill with new features
What just happened?
Have a go hero - - adjusting the hand position
Summary
E. Pop quiz - Answers
Chapter 5, Enhancing Animation with Particles
Chapter 6, Working with Cameras
Chapter 7, Enhancing Scenes with Images and Videos
Chapter 8, Rendering our Work
Appendix C, Exploring New Features
Appendix D, Discovering New Animation Tools
Index

iClone 4.31 3D Animation Beginner's Guide

iClone 4.31 3D Animation

Copyright © 2011 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: October 2011

Production Reference: 1171011

Livery Place 35 Livery Street Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-84969-178-9

www.packtpub.com

Cover Image by Rakesh Shejwal (<[email protected]>)

Credits

Author

M.D. McCallum

Reviewer(s)

Guy Langlois

Susanne and Joe Pass

Acquisition Editor

Chaitanya Apte

Development Editor

Reshma Sundaresan

Technical Editor

Pramila Balan

Project Coordinator

Shubhanjan Chatterjee

Proofreader(s)

Kevin McGowan

Linda Morris

Aaron Nash

Indexer

Rekha Nair

Production Coordinator

Arvindkumar Gupta

Cover Work

Arvindkumar Gupta

Foreword

First and foremost, I would like to thank Mike (M.D. McCallum) for the idea and inspiration that has taken to create such an endeavor. This is truly a noble cause that will undoubtedly inspire many throughout the years.

This all started a while back when Mike contacted me about his idea of writing a book about iClone. From the get-go, we were completely ecstatic that iClone would finally get the personal treatment direct from the mind and hands of a true production industry veteran.

From its inception, iClone has been an untamed breed of 3D software designed especially for creative users without prior 3D backgrounds. A software that, even though was jam-packed with the latest features and technology, was always missing something. Apart from its heavy feature-based manuals and tutorial videos, iClone always lacked a proper guide to personally lead and inspire users to nurture an entire project from scratch.

I am deeply grateful that M.D. McCallum, the author who has contributed so much of his enthusiasm to the iClone community, has now volunteered to make this book. M.D. McCallum is the first featured iClone professional who is honored with several iClone movie awards, along with being one of the first users to set up the iClone Wikipedia page. His kindness and generosity has always permitted him to share his knowledge through the iClone Revolution website, which he started as a need to address so many iClone inquiries. Being a senior iClone Content Developer has also allowed him to push the limits of creativity not just of himself, but also of the entire animation community.

As most of you know already, iClone is not just a collection of years of heartbeats and oceans of fervor from the Reallusion team, but it is also a chest of dreams and collaborated efforts from dozens of worldwide content contributors who over time have made the world of 3D production so much more accessible and inspiring to all of us.

Thanks to Mike's gamut of iClone animation knowledge, readers can now get a comprehensive view of what an iClone production platform is, including, how to master tools, access fast growing content libraries from talented developers, and how to make the most of being a community member. His work not only holds the hands of beginners who yearn to explore iClone in a structural way, but it also lends itself as an enjoyable must-read for any iClone veteran.

This galvanized book has been long overdue and awaited by many users who have spent hundreds of thousands of man-hours figuring out how to get the most out of their iClone, not to mention those who have hungered to enter the world of independent film making with a great self-taught companion.

This piece of work is also a great reward and humbling reminder to the iClone development team that has witnessed their software being used across every continent and industry on the planet. There is so much that our words cannot express… Thank you.

Charles Chen CEO and Founding Partner of Reallusion, Inc.

About the Author

M D. McCallum, aka WarLord in the iClone community, is an international award winning Commercial Graphics Artist, 3D Animator, Project Director, and Webmaster with a freelance career that spans over 20 years and includes over one hundred individual and team-based awards. M.D. has worked as a freelancer for animation companies, 3D application companies, game development studios, indie film and animation studios. His experience with computers dates back to home-built kits in the late 1970s.

M.D. is the author of eleven whitepapers for the Reallusion iClone Developers Center and has been selected two times as a Reallusion Featured Developer. M.D. has been a loyal user of iClone since version one and is a Certified Content Developer and Reallusion Director. M.D. was previously published as an outdoor writer in national magazines before turning his attention to full time digital freelancing.

M.D. operates a freelance production studio in partnership with other highly skilled freelancers across the world to provide web and television-based commercials, product presentations and visualization. He also creates and provides quality iClone props including his innovative Destructible line of props and iClone freebies and tips at www.iclonerevolution.com.

I would like to thank Charles Chen and Jason Lin at Reallusion for their unwavering support of the book project. I would also like to thank Shirley Martin who helped me work out the kinks early on and the technical reviewers for their time and generosity. I particularly want to thank Guy Langlois (BigBoss) for taking the time out of a very busy schedule to help. And of course, I want to thank the incredibly patient team at Packt Publishing for guiding me through the writing and shaping this book in a way that no words could adequately describe. And last, but certainly not least, my wife Rosemary and stepson Zac. Two people that go out of their way every day to make sure I have the time to complete my various projects, meet my deadlines, and otherwise get to have fun doing what I love all day and long into the night.

About the Reviewers

Guy Langlois is a Computer Engineer with a Master's degree in Business and Administration (MBA). He works as an Executive in an engineering firm specialized in the development of high-end audio/video and 3D equipment and authoring tools for the Film and Broadcasting industry. Aside from work, Guy plays in a rock band and is a recognized Reallusion Certified Content Developer, Director, and Trainer who excels in the creation of specialized iClone characters and other derived iClone products.

Guy is known in the iClone industry as "Bigboss". He also manages the "Bigboss's Treasures" Theme Store in Reallusion City, which features his personal work as well as the work of other excellent Certified Content Developers, each with their own special aptitude for creation and design; http://city.reallusion.com/store/BigbossTreasures

I would like to thank the iClone community who so gracefully support my work! Cheers!

Susanne and Joe Pass discovered their passion for animation, 3D modelling, and image editing. Susanne and Joe Pass worked in different jobs, she came from the social sector and he was a workman.

Joe concerned himself more and more with graphic art. His work has been presented in several exhibitions. Susanne was interested in photography.

The couple began to learn how to work with image editing programs like Photoshop and made their first flash animations. In 2006, they completely switched and offered, under the name digiMagic, services in the field of Animation and Web Design, shortly after they bought the first Reallusion products: CrazyTalk5 and iClone3.

They were directly thrilled by the new possibilities that opened. They expanded their service by content development and training courses for iClone or CrazyTalk Animator in Germany.

Susanne and Joe are Reallusion Certified Content Developers, Trainers, and Directors. You can find their content packs in Reallusion Content Store and Marketplace.

They count themselves lucky that they found a job they enjoy and can work together.

www.PacktPub.com

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Preface

Reallusion's iClone is an animated movie making application that allows hobbyists, machinimators, home-based animators, and professionals to visualize their story or an idea by seeing it in action. Years ago, creating animations and single images would require a team of trained artists to accomplish. Now, iClone real time rending engine empowers its users to instantly view what is loaded into the 3D workspace or preview it as an animation, if you have the precise instructions.

The iClone 3D Animation Beginner's Guide will walk you through the building and animating of a complete scene and several one-off projects. First we create a scene with sky, terrain, water, props, and other assets. Then add two characters and manipulate their features and animate their movement. We will also use particles to create the effect of a realistic torch and animate cameras to give different views to the scene. Finally, we will see how to quickly import images to enhance the scene with a mountain, barn, and water tank. It will cover some fun stuff such as playing with props, characters, and other scene assets. It will also demonstrate some advanced topics such as screen resolution, formats and codecs but mostly, it will deal with doing hands on animation with precise instructions.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Installing and Configuring iClone, goes through the installation and configuration process for iClone and discusses the Reallusion iClone community, where to get more assets, how to use the Content Store and City Marketplace, bringing outside content into iClone with import and drag-and-drop features, and exploring the iClone interface.

Chapter 2, Creating Your First Scene, we will explore the 3D workspace, create a basic scene with sky, terrain, water, and props, use Live Plants to create vegetation, work with standard, animated, and interactive props. We will build a gazebo prop from 3D building blocks and texture it, then we'll light the scene to get the mood right.

Chapter 3, Adding and Customizing Characters, we will add characters to the scene and customize these characters by altering their clothing and type of hair. While doing this, we will learn how iClone works with external image editors to modify the characters' clothing.

Chapter 4, Animating the Characters, this is a very important chapter in which the timeline will be discussed using key frames to animate our characters. We will work with interactive props, load and time the dialog between the characters, how to use paths, point-and-click and director mode for movement, and finally blending and editing motions on the timeline, which can create custom motions from existing motions.

Chapter 5, Enhancing Animation with Particles, this chapter is devoted to fun and eye candy. We will explore iClone's particle system. We will learn how to deploy the particles, attach or link them, and modify their settings. Each particle effect such as fire, rain, and dust have their own control panel with settings that can be modified for a variety of uses.

Chapter 6, Working with Cameras, a critical chapter in the iClone learning curve. This chapter devotes itself to the iClone camera system. We'll create cameras, name them, and deploy them as both animated and static to suit our needs. We will discuss clipping, depth of field, and the important camera switch that allows us to setup a long running shot between cameras of our choice as the scene plays out.

Chapter 7, Enhancing Scenes with Images and Videos, this is another fun and exciting chapter in which we will discover how we can use two dimensional planes, billboards, and objects with channel maps to create low poly backdrops and props for our scenes. We will learn to drag-and-drop video onto objects and why some objects don't want to work properly when dropping video or an image on them. We'll learn to enhance our scenes with imagery using opacity maps and other channels.

Chapter 8, Rendering our Work, an often overlooked but extremely important aspect of our journey in animation. We will discuss various types of renders for both still images and video. We will cover what video works best for our needs. We will learn what a codec is in comparison to a container file like AVI, WMV, or MP4, and what container files might fit our needs.

Chapter 9, Animating Outer Space, this exciting space scene challenges our skills and puts to use what we have covered in previous chapters. We will learn to plot a path for our spaceship that explodes as it crosses the screen, but not before we learn to animate a shuttle craft escaping from the exploding debris. We also learn to setup two dimensional planes to create a scene that is alive compared to flat background only starfields.

Appendix A, Using Personas, iProps, and Helpers, takes a close look at the Actionscript driven personas, AML templates and helpers. The section starts with a basic overview of AML after which we explore character Personas, AML driven templates, such as Sit Here and Grab It, along with helper objects like cars and planes.

Appendix B, Animating with iClone Physics, covers the basics of iClone physics, discusses rigid and soft body objects, their parameters and how to use them. Knock down, over or drop objects. Set up impact between objects. Impart energy to start a simulation and discusses physics as a simulation tool that enhances and helps our animation.

Appendix C, Exploring New Features, explores and discusses new visual enhancements, such as ambient occlusion and toon rendering. Looks at new performance improving features. Explores the new range of Post Effects such as Blur and Color Adjust. Also, takes a look at time saving features, such as the Multi-Duplicate dialog box.

Appendix D, Discovering New Animation Tools, discusses the MixMoves animation library along with the Motion Puppet and Direct Puppet features introduced in version 5. We will install and use the new Mocap Plug-in that allows us to use the Kinect sensor to pass simple motion data directly into iClone for animation. We will also be cleaning up that data for use, discuss and use the new Prop Puppet and Prop Look-At features, explore the newly licensed Human IK technology and its impact on animation with its bone control system.

What you need for this book

For this book, you will need the following:

iClone 4.31 or iClone 5 for Appendices.Downloadable code bundle from http://www.PacktPub.com.

Who this book is for

This book is aimed at film makers, video producers/compositors, vxf artists or 3D artists/designers that have no previous experience with iClone. If you have that drive inside you to entertain people via the internet on sites like YouTube or Vimeo, create a superb presentation video, showcase a product or create a movie, or get a fast start on the iClone program, this Beginner's guide was written with you in mind.

Conventions

In this book, you will find several headings appearing frequently.

To give clear instructions of how to complete a procedure or task, we use:

Time for action - heading

Action 1Action 2Action 3

Instructions often need some extra explanation so that they make sense, so they are followed with:

What just happened?

This heading explains the working of tasks or instructions that you have just completed.

You will also find some other learning aids in the book, including:

Pop quiz - heading

These are short multiple choice questions intended to help you test your own understanding.

Have a go hero - heading

These set practical challenges and give you ideas for experimenting with what you have learned.

You will also find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an explanation of their meaning.

Code words in text are shown as follows: "For Windows XP, it is C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\Reallusion\Custom\iClone 4 Custom\".

New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, in menus or dialog boxes for example, appear in the text like this: "Click on the OK button to exit the Preference window".

Note

Warnings or important notes appear in a box like this.

Tip

Tips and tricks appear like this.

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Downloading the example code

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Downloading the color images of this book

We also provide you a PDF file that has color images of the screenshots used in this book. The color images will help you better understand the changes in the output. You can download this file from https://www.packtpub.com/sites/default/files/1789EXP.pdf.

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Questions

You can contact us at <[email protected]> if you are having a problem with any aspect of the book, and we will do our best to address it.

Chapter 1. Installing and Configuring iClone

You always knew it and reading this somewhat proves it. You want to be an animator but have no experience with animating. Maybe like a lot of us you can't draw a straight line with a ruler or perhaps you have no clue what 3D animation is, but you know what you want to do. Maybe you are an experienced 3D artist wanting to get a quick grasp of the program. You are not only reading the right book, you are also among friends here. As long as you have the desire and know your mouse from a monitor, then you have as good a chance as anyone at creating fun animated videos of family, friends, stories, ideas, concepts, or whatever it is that you have a desire to share while having fun in the process.

The concept of this beginner's guide focuses on often used tools and features in an on-going project as well as several one-off projects for a hands-on learning experience with step-by-step instructions. Upon completion you will have animated an outdoor scene and space scene that covers the basics of the software. Plus you get to work with custom props including a "destructible" spaceship prop with built-in explosion animation. That's right… we're going to blow something up! With special effects too!

Before we can start creating any masterpieces or blowing anything up, we have to install the software and the extras that come with it.

In this chapter we shall do the following:

Install the software and bonus packConfigure user preferencesLocate the template and Custom Content foldersInstall new contentIntroduce you to the iClone communityList free content websitesLearn to use the Reallusion Marketplace and the Reallusion Content StoreExplore the iClone Interface

So let's get on with it...

Installing the program

Installation of the software is a simple task as iClone is packaged in a professional installer.

Time for action - installing iClone 4 pro

Start the installation and follow the onscreen instructions:

Click through the opening screen and select the appropriate answer to the license screen. The following image shows a partial screenshot from the install routine:Enter User Name, Company Name, and your iClone Serial Number on the Customer Information Screen as shown in the following partial screenshot:Choose the destination location for the install. It is recommended that you use the default location unless you have a specific reason to use another location. The partial screenshot in the following image shows the default location:Specify a folder for iClone to hold your custom content. It's recommended you use the default location as it helps Reallusion to give you support if you have a problem. If, however, you want to use a different drive location or folder you will need to enter that location on this screen, as shown in the following screenshot:Choose the destination location where the stock iClone content is to be stored. This is referring to the content that is included in the iClone installation:The program will install and configure itself for basic operations on the computer.

What just happened

We installed iClone and set the location for where the iClone content will be installed. Now we need to install the Bonus Resource pack.

Time for action - installing related iClone content

The bonus content is also packaged in a professional installer:

Sign in to your account at www.reallusion.com to access your Bonus Resource Pack and other related iClone content:Follow the directions in steps 1 and 3 performed earlier to install the bonus content.

When complete you should get the message shown in the following screenshot:

Tip

Examine the resource page for other downloadable content that may be available.

What just happened?

We installed the extra bonus content that comes with iClone so we can have all the stock assets such as props, characters, and other items available for use.

Time for action - exploring iClone options

This section allows you to configure your working environment and preferred auxiliary tools. Setting the proper preferences will go a long way in helping you get the most out of iClone and your computer:

Click on the hammer icon in the upper-right corner of the interface to open the preference settings window.Make the selections that are appropriate to your system. We will discuss the preferences next but you will have to experiment with the various settings to see what works best for your particular computer setup.Click on the OK button to exit the Preference window.

The following is a screenshot of the preferences as set up on the author's computer:

What just happened?

We opened the preferences window to configure iClone to work better with our system and select external editors. The following sections will cover the more pertinent features of the available settings.

Configuring work environment

System: In this section, the editor you wish to use can be set by clicking on the folder icon then browsing to the application of your choice to select it. All of these slots will be empty upon initial installation of iClone as referenced by the XML slot in this example, for which no choice of editor has been selected.Temp Folder: This is the folder where iClone stores its temporary data including texture images.Texture Editor: This is an image editing program such as Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, Gimp, or Paint.net that iClone opens to alter clothing and other image based assets.XML Editor: An XML editor is used to edit the Actionscript Markup Language (AML) that works with character and prop interaction. No selection has been made yet to choose an XML editor in this example. The XML Notepad from Microsoft is a very capable free XML editor.

Setting up the 3D grid

This section sets up the 3D grid for use in the viewport if so desired. The grid can help in getting acquainted with the 3D workspace in iClone and speed up scene building.

Show Grid, Grid Color, Grid Spacing, and Grid size are self-explanatory; they control the look, color, and spacing of the grid in the 3D workspace.

Snap to Grid is one of the most important features of the grid system when creating large scenes such as cities or villages. The props will snap to the grid allowing the easy creation of house and shop lined streets and complicated interior scenes.

Snap is something that most users either love or hate. If snap annoys you with its function then return to the preference panel and toggle it off until you need it again. Some users never turn the Snap to Grid off while others use it sparingly and some don't use it at all. Having the grid onscreen may help with your visualization of the workspace even if you never toggle on the Snap to Grid feature.

Tip

Grid shortcut

Use the Ctrl + G key combination to toggle the grid on and off.

Angle Snap is another great grid feature that can be set to numbers such as 45 or 90 degrees which will snap-turn the object selected by the set amount with each turn of the mouse. This is another feature that may need to be toggled on and off from the preference panel depending on how you use it.

Controlling display information

This section allows control over what information is displayed in the iClone workspace:

FPS (Ctrl + F): FPS stands for Frames Per Second, the speed at which iClone is working based on how many frames per second it can achieve during its realtime operation.Editor/Director On-screen Display This toggles the Editor/Director icon on or off at the bottom-left of the iClone workspace. It shows the user which mode the software is operating in. It can be any one of the following:
Editor mode is the default mode of the iClone editor. It allows you to use point-and-click to move actors and work with interactive props (iProps). This is the mode in which you will build a scene. You can control actor and iProp movement with a point-and-click of the mouse to the location you want the actor or iProp to go to.
Director mode allows you to use keys on the keyboard to move the character or iProp (such as an iProp automobile) in certain directions. This type of movement is optional and moves the character/iProp as it would in a game. The following keys control the direction of movement for the actors and iProps: W (forward), S (backward), A (left), D (right), E (up), and Q (down).
Pointer in Director Mode: This places a large point designator above the character that is being animated with director mode. It simplifies working with multiple characters to show which character in the scene is being manipulated by director mode.World Axis (Ctrl + A): This is a three dimensional icon that shows various axes of the 3D workspace. Traditionally, in 3D applications these axis are defined by red, green, and blue which represent the X, Y, and Z axis of 3D space, respectively.Dummy Object (Ctrl + D): A dummy is a primitive prop that can be used as a reference when other props or characters are linked to it. You set the prop as a dummy by checking the Set as Dummy checkbox under the Prop menu on upper-right side of the workspace.

Tip

Downloading the color images of this book

We also provide you a PDF file that has color images of the screenshots used in this book. The color images will help you better understand the changes in the output. You can download this file from https://www.packtpub.com/sites/default/files/1789EXP.pdf.

Exploring real-time render options

Quality: In most cases this is set to Custom due to the choices made within this section. The render options are some of the most confusing and technical parts a 3D animator has to deal with.

It's all about your video card and its capabilities. If your video card doesn't support shadows or pixel shading then you will not be able to use those features. Most users turn on what is available to see how that works with iClone . If the feature is not supported then it is not available for use in the user interface and its option will be greyed out.

Choosing the shader

Some shaders are better than others. The Pixel Shader gives the best overall result in terms of reproducing the lighting and other aspects of the scene. This is followed closely by the Vertex Shader, which does a good job but not up to the pixel shader standard. Lighting is weaker in the Vertex shader.

Finally, there is the Quick Shader which turns off a lot of bells and whistles in terms of render quality. The lighting is basic and shadows may be non-existent or very poor. It is usually desirable to do your final render in Pixel Shader, if available. There are two other shader modes available in the workspace: Smooth Shading and Wireframe. These are draft-only shaders and should be used when the workspace slows down due to the load on the 3D iClone engine.

Note

The iClone workspace typically uses assets with 30,000 or less faces. This doesn't mean you can't use more complex assets with more faces but it will slow iClone down, sometimes to a crawl, and the render shader you have set while working can spell the difference between slogging along or working at a faster clip. When the workspace slows down, go to the QUICK SHADER or WIRE FRAME to reduce the load on the iClone engine and you will find the workspace responds much faster. Set the shader back to Pixel Render for your final render or to preview items that can only be seen with a higher level shader.

Anti-alias: While turned off in this image, anti-alias is a very important feature of iClone that eliminates those ragged edges or artifacts on characters or props. Artifacts appear when a higher resolution asset is used in lower resolution engines.

Mip Maps and Anisotropic Filtering: According to Wikipedia, Mip Maps are a group of images combined with the main texture that speed up rendering. Check this selection to take advantage of any content that uses Mip Mapping.

Anisotropic Filtering improves the quality of textures on surfaces that are at oblique viewing angles. This is a bandwidth intensive setting. While an 8X setting will make oblique surfaces render better there will a trade-off in system performance. I usually leave this setting at 4X.

Enable Spring/Flex Effect: Check this to turn on this feature as it allows for props built with spring technology to work properly. Content such as flags and capes use the flex feature to give those props an animated effect.

Max Real-time Map Size: This determines the maximum size of texture map iClone can use. It ranges from 256X256 to 8192X8192. The larger the map allowed, the better the texture will look, but it will also use more resources from the iClone engine. I keep my settings at the maximum range of 8192X8192.

Manipulating objects

Transform Gizmo: This handles manipulation of characters, props, and other 3D assets. You can drag or rotate assets without the transform gizmo but the gizmo will give greater control over precise movement of assets.

To use a gizmo, you set your mouse cursor on one of the colors, hold down the left button and move, scale, or rotate the object. This can also be done without gizmos via direct manipulation with the mouse and the proper menu choice.

Note

There are advantages to both direct and gizmo manipulation. Use Ctrl + Q to toggle back and forth between the modes.

Drag and Drop Automatic External Files: This is a real time saver. If you have iClone assets scattered around your computer you can open an explorer window showing those assets and simply drag-and-drop props and other assets into the iClone workspace with your mouse.

You can also drag-and-drop image textures and video! If you have a television in a scene that has a separate surface for the screen, then you can drag-and-drop a video onto that screen surface to emulate a broadcasting television.

Locating Custom Content folder

Content (props, accessories, scenes, and characters) that you create, download, or modify can be stored in the Custom Content folder, which makes the props available to the iClone content menu for viewing and selection.

In most cases, for Microsoft Windows® the default location of the custom folder is as follows:

For Windows XP, it is C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\Reallusion\Custom\iClone 4 Custom\For Windows Vista/Windows 7, it is C:\Users\Public\Documents\Reallusion\Custom\iClone 4 Custom

Note

Since the custom content folder will hold a lot of custom made content that you can reuse in other productions and project files, it is suggested that you routinely back up this folder to a safe place.

Installing new content

New content comes in many sizes, shapes, and flavors. They can be in a self-extracting installer, zipped files, or native format, even drag-and-drop.

Let's take a look at the easiest method to get new content into iClone that is not packaged with an installer.

Using drag-and-drop

The following method is for general drag-and-drop usage of assets into the workspace:

Open iClone and open an Explorer window.Navigate to the iClone content you wish to install in the Explorer window.Choose the proper tab in iClone, that is, prop if it's a prop, accessory if it's an accessory, and so forth.Grab the asset file with a left-click in the Explorer window and drag it over to the iClone workspace, then release your mouse button to "drop" the file into the workspace. For an accessory or motion you would drop it onto the character.To store the asset for future usage, go to the custom tab on the left menu in the Content Manager of the appropriate type of assets (prop, accessory, and so on) then press the Plus button at the bottom of the Content Manager section to add the asset.

Tip

Asset management

The new folder option is located on the content management toolbar. You can create subfolders, if desired. After you use iClone for an extended time period, taking time to create a good file structure for your content will help to save time and frustration when looking for props and other assets. Use common sense folder names like transportation, weapons, aircraft, and so forth to define your file structure.

Importing new content

iClone provides an asset import feature for new content. This content must be in an acceptable iClone format before it can be imported. Click on the Import button under the Modify menu on the upper-right side of the screen for various tabs such as Set, Actor, or Animation.

The following table shows the asset type followed by the asset file extension:

Prop

iProp

Face

iFace

Accessory

iAcc

Particle

iParticle

Hand

iHand

Scene

iScene

Atmosphere

iAtm

Camera

iCam

Avatar

iAvatar

Grass

iGrass

Hair

iHair

Animation

iAnim

ImageLayer

iImgLayer

Light

iLight

Material

iMtl

Motion

iMotion

Path

iPath

Teeth

iOral

Shoe

iShoe

Skin

iSkin

Terrain

iTerrain

Tree

iTree

Water

iWater

Upper

iUpper

Lower

iLower

Legacy

vns

Working with zipped files

Most third-party assets, free and commercial, come in the form of a zip file. Double-click on the file to open the unzip dialog. Follow the steps for the pertinent zip application and save the contents to the custom content folder that was discussed earlier.

There are many zip file applications including the native Windows® zip file, WinZip, WinRAR, 7Zip, and others that share the same basic functionality. You can also unzip the file contents to a folder of your choice then copy and paste the files into the custom content folder.

Welcome to iClone

iClone is as simple or complicated as you want it to be and the interface design places lots of choices right in front of you where you won't miss anything or forget what features are available, and you don't have to use all of them either.

You add a character, a couple of props, apply drag-and-drop, or double-click on prepackaged animations for your character. What's this? There are dancing motions mixed in with other animations! You find your favorite song and add it to the project, apply the dance animations to the character, and sit back for a preview.