Reallusion, Inc has announced the launch of iClone 3.0, an innovative yet easy-to-use software application that makes it simple to add animation to your video projects, whether you are an aspiring filmmaker or just someone who would like to add talking 3D actors and, SIMS-like content to your latest YouTube offering, podcast, blog, corporate presentation, or school project.
The enhancements in iClone 3.0 begin with the most elemental of all filmmaking tools, the camera. iClone’s camera system is revised to allow you to add as a many cameras to a scene as you require and actively switch the live camera view throughout your animation enabling you to record an animated scene much like real-world filmmaking.
The camera system also has capabilities to support first-person recording with FlyCam and WalkCam cameras that follow terrain or soar through the sky with adjustable speeds. Cameras can be directed to follow or look-at any object in the scene and track the movement of actors and props. Cameras can also display Depth of Field and Vertigo Lens effects for producing dramatic shots in real-time without post-production processing.
Editor or director
iClone 3.0 simplifies the animation process to two production modes: Editor Mode and Director Mode. Editor Mode allows you to create and refine your scene and actors, and Director Mode to command how your actors behave with the ease of moving around in your favourite videogame.
When you start iClone 3.0 you’ll see our brand new user interface (UI) with new style, colour and functionality. Designed to make iClone 3.0 more accessible and customisable to the way you work, the new interface guides you through every step of the moviemaking process at your own pace, fast or slow, difficult or easy, thanks to collapsible menus and full-screen for maximising the production space of your desktop movie studio.
The top menu is updated with a movie studio-centric workflow: Project, Stage, Set, Actor, Head, Animation, & Export. The operation of the UI now allows for full-object editing inside the 3D preview window so you can click any object or actor to move, rotate and scale. All items in your scenes now have a powerful right-click menu to access the most used actions and command actors or props to interact with DramaScript, a feature that allows users to define custom interactivity by associating certain hot-keys with certain actions.
Also, users who want to go beyond the characters, scenes and other content that comes pre-loaded with iClone 3.0, there’s the iClone Content Store (link opens in new window) where you can select from thousands of props, scenes, historical and fictional themes.
With output options ranging from HD-sized video to YouTube-sized video and the new Flash video option with a variety of quality settings, iClone users can share their productions in the full-screen, DV video format for DVD projects and as streaming videos for websites. Videos can also be produced for mobile handsets and emails.
The 3 versions of iClone 3.0
To accommodate the application needs and budget requirements of a broad range of users, Reallusion offers three editions of iClone 3.0 – all are Windows XP and Vista compatible:
iClone 3.0 Standard is your tool for creating simple, fun and entertaining 3D animations, complete with such features as, multi-actor editing which allows you to drag and drop your actor right into a scene, simplified sequence editing, enhanced motion editing, 3D object manipulation, multi-camera manipulation, enhanced lighting, multiple production modes, and more, all complete with HD-sized video and Flash video output to multiple platforms.
iClone 3.0 Experience (EX) is the free edition of iClone, which includes the full PRO features for 30 days and unlimited features of iClone Standard with no expiration. iClone 3.0 EX contains everything necessary to learn the rich features of the PRO edition, but output is watermarked with the iClone logo and limited to 320×240 size ratio.
iClone 3.0 PRO is the ultimate edition of iClone, intended for those who are serious about productivity and quality output. Its exclusive features include advanced timeline editors to fine tune all movie elements with precise timing, speed, parameter change and loop control. iClone 3 actors can converse with the multiple actor facial animation and lip-synch tracks for sophisticated dialog management. The actor motion building system layers poses with motion clips, and provides smooth blending results for fluid actor animation. The more advanced DramaScript capability combines export animation segments with a set of directions to build custom interactive 3D content.
Pricing and availability
Lako Pacific exclusively distribute iClone 3 standard and Pro in Australia with the suggested retail price of AUD$139.95 and $299.95 respectively, and will be available in retail stores from the beginning of September, 2008. Consumers may also purchase iClone 3 directly by downloading it from Reallusion’s website (link opens in new window) from mid-August 2008.
Source: Lako Pacific
