Author: reallusionblog

Events

Reallusion Receives Epic MegaGrant Award

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Indies Rise with Real-time Digital Human Revolution

Reallusion, developers of Character Creator and iClone, proudly announce the honor of an Epic MegaGrant award from Epic Games. Reallusion iClone is used by independent  developers and Unreal Engine users to create, animate and deploy characters for games, films and virtual production. The prestigious MegaGrant is a massive accolade for iClone as it demonstrates the shared interest Reallusion and Epic have with the independent development community. Thanks to Epic MegaGrants, Reallusion now provides a complete character creation and animation pipeline to Unreal Engine for indies and studios of every size to realize digital humans.

The fusion of iClone with Unreal Engine produces a unique combination of features that extend the power of iClone tools directly into UE4. Indie developers, game studios and all users of Unreal Engine can now experience the power of these essential iClone features; character generation with Character Creator and Headshot, a massive motion library with UE4 – compatible motions, mocap full-body, face and hands with a myriad of devices, Face/Body animation editing, all of which can be sent to Unreal Engine with One-click transfer and Auto Setup.

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Education/Events

Reallusion COVID -19 Care Program offers Home Access for Academic & Corporate Workgroups, along with a 50% Off Software for All

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Reallusion Inc., 2D and 3D Real-time software developer,  is inviting everyone to use their time at home to get into animation. The Reallusion COVID-19 Care program includes free home access for Academic and Corporate Workgroups until June 30th, and a 50% discount on all Reallusion products until April 30th.

During these challenging times, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is impacting families and people around the world. Reallusion is committed to a safe and productive working environment for our communities and our employees. At Reallusion we care about our creative communities and have prepared options to help them during this time to stay home and create.

In response to many of our communities’ inquiries and immediate needs for remote access software, we are implementing a few friendly options through our COVID-19 Care Program: https://www.reallusion.com/COVID-19.html

  • Free Home Access for Academic and Corporate Workgroup licenses

Free home access for Academic and Corporate Workgroup license accounts with temporary licenses until June 30th, 2020 at no additional cost.  Existing educational institutions and corporations with workgroup licenses are eligible for the COVID-19 free software access from home to keep everyone productive.

  • 50 % OFF in the Reallusion Software Store – for Everyone

A 50% discount on all packages in the Reallusion Software Store. The discount is available through April 30th, 2020 and open to everyone (new and existing members included). Enter the 50% OFF coupon code “COVID19STAYSAFE” at checkout.

COVID-19 Care Program Reallusion user showcases:

  • Get inspired by other home studio creations and see how big things can come from small spaces.
  • View a gallery of COVID-19 themed art from users around the world.
Featured Artists/Game

Indie Developer uses Real-time Tech to Compete against AAA Studios

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FYQD-Studio reveals the secrets behind Bright Memory: Infinite game development

A new era for game developers has dawned: small and indie game studios can now compete against triple-A studios with the support of real-time technology.

Bright Memory: Infinite, a fusion of FPS and action genres created by a solo developer at FYQD-Studio, has found success and popularity since its January 2019 launch viaEarly Access on Steam. It received an Unreal Dev Grant in 2019 and was presented by NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang at GTC China 2019.The developer, Zeng Xiancheng, lays out the behind-the-scenes story on how he achieved a spectacular looking game – with the help of Unreal Engine, NVIDIA RTX, and real-time animation tools: iClone and Character Creator.

Bright memory was presented by NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang at GTC China 2019.

Developer Zeng Xiancheng is currently working on content for Bright Memory: Infinite, which is slated for release by the end of 2020. He hopes fans continue to stay tuned for the launch. In this article, Zeng shares how he was able to produce the game all by himself with very limited budget and manpower.

FYQD-Studio Interview video:

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Artist Tutorials/Showcase Stories

Transforming a 2D image into a 3D character: 9 top tips

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Discover how Headshot generates a 3D animated Pennywise from a photo.

(Image credit: Peter Alexander)

Film-inspired fan art is nothing new. But, as many digital artists will attest, reimagining a movie character in 3D is a huge undertaking. Until now, that is. 

Headshot plug-in for Character Creator software enables artists to quickly generate human 3D models from 2D images. In this article, digital artist Peter Alexander reveals how to take a photo of Pennywise the clown from hit horror film IT, and easily transform it into a complex 3D model using Headshot, ZBrush and Blender. 

Alexander’s guide covers everything you need to know go get started, including photo selection and preparation, using the bake, edit mesh and sculpting tools native to Character Creator 3, manually adjusting Headshot masks in Photoshop, how to fix symmetry using ZBrush, and, finally, a crash-course on creating hair with a third-party Blender add-on called Hair Tool.

Download a free trial of Headshot plug-in here, and learn how to easily create a fully animatable 3D Pennywise model from just a single 2D image.

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Showcase Stories

Befores & Afters: What it Took to Visualize this Star Wars Fan Film

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How Reallusion’s iClone and Character Creator helped Previs” Dark Resurrection – Keepers of the Force”

Special thanks to Ian Failes – visual effects / animation journalist / owner of vfx publication Befores & Afters for wrapping up the story!

Star Wars-inspired Dark Resurrection fan film – a series that has been watched over a million times on YouTube, that used Reallusion’s iClone and Character Creator for previs.

Director Angelo Licata’s Dark Resurrection – Keepers of the Force:

With a reduced budget, but high ambitions for this project – Angelo decided to use iClone to build a CG version of the characters which were made both in Daz3D and Character Creator.

 “Working with iClone allowed us to discard all unnecessary shots, thus defining a much smaller list of shots than the initial shooting list. It also made communication with all departments extremely simple and made actors understand the necessary actions during filming. The crew was also excited to watch the animatic, and this motivated every element of the team enormously.”

— Angelo Licata

The iClone previs:

“In one morning I understood the basics of animation in iClone and in the evening I had an approximate but extremely functional animatic. Although the environment was done with simple volumes, the movements and action mirrored exactly what I had in mind. Since then I always have a preview of the filming with iClone, especially if there were special effects or elaborate camera movements. It is an exceptional tool that allows me to solve many problems before going on set.”

— Angelo Licata

Real the full article on befores and afters : https://beforesandafters.com/2020/03/03/what-it-took-to-visualize-this-star-wars-fan-film/

Artist Tutorials/Learning/Review & Award

HOW-TO: Generating A 3D Animated Gollum From A Single Photo

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The Headshot plug-in for Reallusion’s Character Creator allows users to generate 3d animated digital humans from one photo. You can download a free trial here, and learn how to create a classic movie character like Gollum without any 3d skills.

To find out more about the process, we invited Peter Alexander to walk us through it. Alexander is a digital freelancer specialized in illustration, graphic design, and 3d modeling. He develops content assets for various digital marketplaces.

Peter Alexander

In this video and text below, Alexander explains how to create a fantasy movie character by using Headshot for Character Creator 3. He touches on how to choose a quality reference, overcome an open-mouthed reference image, choose appropriate masking features, and block proportions for the head and body using the “bake” feature. Alexander also covers the Mesh Editor tool, which can be used for a variety of purposes, and in this article will be used to customize a hair asset.

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Learning/Review & Award

How to combine real footage with CGI in iClone

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Discover how to use iClone for compositing, mixing real footage, lights, particles and CGI.

In addition to making animations, iClone can be used to facilitate the compositing process by enabling you to add backgrounds or billboards, textured with real footage, to your 3D models. The tool reduces the number of meshes needed to create complex sets, while at the same time ensuring the scene is highly realistic.  

See how the process works in the video below, or read on for a full explanation and some expert tips for taking advantage of this feature in your own projects. All these methods are surprisingly straightforward and flexible, allowing you to make adjustments on the fly.

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Events

Reallusion Character Creator Headshot at SIGGRAPH Asia 2019 Real-Time Live!

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November 20th in Brisbane – Six teams gathered in Australia to compete in SIGGRAPH Asia’s Real-Time Live! Reallusion was invited as a guest to showcase its latest Headshot technology for Character Creator 3.

The show featured the host and Real-Time Live! chair; Mike Seymour – editor of FXguide, introducing each team in the competition from Australia, Japan, China and the USA.  Reallusion’s John Martin presented Character Creator Headshot with a demo that created a digital human from a photo and added the character to a virtual production previs shot in iClone.

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