Blog 4 | The new concept of iClone 3D tools

In the past few years, iClone is already improving from time to time with their character creation, animation, directing which include in 3D scene & prop, lighting, camera system and also rendering. The latest update was iClone 7 as I shown the video below.

iClone 7 Demo 

From some new features that have been improved, i will be adding and improved some new other features to achieve a new concept of iClone Software. 

Storyboard section example

As we know, in the making of previz we may need a storyboard to direct the artist in making the production ready scenes. But sometimes as the time goes, there will be some revise from the storyboard when the storyboard and previz time production is in line. So, I’m planning with adding a storyboard section in the software, to have an ability to do a rough sketch / storyboard panel which will be positioned side by side to the current 3D live viewport, to achieve a convenience way when you need to rearrange the scene time, revising or changing the shot or maybe to sketch some certain of 2D character / objects  that haven't modelled yet in 3D but still want to visualize it in the real-time 3D animation and for the other advantage of the 2D sketch, it also can be use for a 2D animation.

Viewport example 

At the other side, I will also adding a multiple viewport option to split between some different views of the current project such as the camera views, orthographic, perspective and also the storyboard section. The viewports will be in  2 - 4 split of viewports where you can arrange the size and the position of the viewports based on your need.

The purpose of this options are to make the production more effective as it will reduce the time needed when you want to arrange certain of scenes while still viewing the other kind of view of the project and also while seeing the current storyboard for the scene.

6 degrees of freedom

The other thing that will be added is the 3D navigator mouse / 6 DOF { degrees of freedom ) controller which is a freedom of movement of a rigid body in 3D space as iClone itself is also a game engines for the interactive application. Where the 6 degrees of freedom generally is an implementation to describe the games itself.  I will also improve the iClone to be more animation friendly tools and also upgraded the render tools to make it more photorealistic output and also to wider the target market.

output render example

Conclusion

By adding and having some new features, I hope it will be still a user-friendly, relatively fast software, and wider the target market and opportunity for the directors, producers, writers, and animators to collaborate in real-time visualization, and bringing scripts to life with 3D animation.

References :

Lovell, J. 2014, 'An Overview of Previsualization (Previz) Software and Methods', viewed 10 September, 2017,<http://wolfcrow.com/blog/an-overview-of-previsualization-previz-software-and-methods/>.

Autodesk. 2015, 'About Model Space Viewports', viewed 24 September, 2017,<https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/getting-started/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2016/ENU/AutoCAD-Core/files/GUID-3E43911D-0A0F-4900-BE32-5EF846AF36D8-htm.html/>.

Antunes, J. 2017, 'iClone 7 : unmatched with the industry', viewed 24 September, 2017,<https://www.provideocoalition.com/iclone-7-unmatched-industry/>.

Lovell, J. 2014, 'An Overview of Previsualization (Previz) Software and Methods', viewed 24 September, 2017,<http://wolfcrow.com/blog/an-overview-of-previsualization-previz-software-and-methods/>.

Reallusion. 201, 'iClone 7 : new features guide', viewed 24 September, 2017,<http://renderositymagazine.com/iclone-7-new-features-guide-cms-1319/>.