iClone 8
New Features Introduction
Revision : Jan 24, 2022
Major New Features
iClone 8 Work in Progress: Part One
iClone 8 Work in Progress: Part Two
Motion Director - Play to Animate
Motion Director
The new Motion Director system debuts game-play controls to drive characters, apply motion triggers and dynamic cameras to direct scenes in real-time.
⓵ Game Player Control
▪ Click to move: pick target player, and move along the waypoints.
▪ Gamepad directing: move the player with natural turning in all directions.
▪ Runtime camera switch: direct scenes in real-time, and create immediate cinematics.
WASD hotkey convention: common game key controls.
⓶ NPC Control: Path, Auto Path Zone, Script, Follow
▪ Move NPC along a set path, and circle along a loop.
▪ Automatically animate NPC in a region with random movement or idle motion.
▪ Automatically animate NPC by following a character, with adjustable follow distance and catch-up speed.
⓷ Data Manager to Activate/Expand Motions
Explore More about Motion Director
Check this document for detailed introduction to Motion Director.
Motion-based Innovations
Index - Motion-based Innovations
4 Curve Editor (Built-in) NEW!
foot sliding, asymmetric walk, off-pacing
Motion Editing
iClone 8 offers massive innovation for motion creation and editing. It provides powerful editing capabilities while keeping the process simple and intuitive. No matter if you are new to the 3D industry or if you are a veteran of professional tools like Maya or MotionBuilder, you will find the best of worlds in the powerful motion functionalities of iClone 8.
Part 1: Motion Blending & Alignment
Motion changing will need to flow well, with the ability to control the direction, and prevent jittering on extended clips.
Part 2: Multiple Animation Layer Editing
Part 3: Others
Auto Motion Alignment for Quick Motion Layout
Motion Editing | Part 1: Motion Blending & Alignment
The goal here is to have the motions flow smoothly from one to another.
It takes into consideration, the last position from the previous motion, or the position and direction of continuous motion to create a smooth linkage.
Auto Motion Alignment
Motion Direction Control
Motion Editing | Part 1: Motion Blending & Alignment
The directional flow of the motion is decided by you.
You can use the transform gizmo to directly adjust the direction and position of the character during motion clip transitions.
Motion Direction Control
Use the transform gizmo to directly adjust the direction and position of the character during motion clip transitions.
The pivot would usually need to be matched after the character makes a turn.
The current character’s motion.
Bi-directional forward and backwards motion matching.
The matched body parts and elements.
Every clip allows you to enter specific translation and rotation parameters.
Position
Direction
Bi-directional Blending for Smooth Clip Transition
Motion Editing | Part 1: Motion Blending & Alignment
It allows vastly different motion clips to blend seamlessly into a more natural sequence of transitions.
The controls are built right onto the overlapping clips. At first glance, it may seem complicated but actual operation is quite simple.
A smooth transition can be established by overlapping two motion clips. This is suitable for clips that are quite similar in motion.
Timing for the blend can be adjusted by dragging on the range indicator. This is more suitable for clips that are vastly different in motion.
Motion Blending
Motion Editing | Part 1: Motion Blending & Alignment
This demo video showcases the practical applications for the three aforementioned functionalities.
The character in the video automatically transitions from walking to snapping a camera.
In the cleanup phase, the motions were trimmed and matched to create one smooth connected motion.
Auto-extend Looping Animation
Motion Editing | Part 1: Motion Blending & Alignment
Motion looping will automatically extend the hip motion and perform position matching. Therefore, you can stop the motion at any segment - 100% within your discretion!
Multiple Animation Layer Editing
Motion Editing | Part 2: Multiple Animation Layer Editing
Stable layer keys are the result of the activated effectors. These effectors are placed at the joints of the character, and they must be activated on the first frame of the clip in order to take effect. By default, the effectors for the feet are already activated and don’t need to be adjusted in most circumstances. On the other hand, if IK motion is required for the hands, then remember to have the effectors manually activated beforehand.
Even when the hip is vertically adjusted, the feet remain planted in place.
Animation layers can expand on the possibilities for animations you currently have, making it easy and flexible to derive new motions.
Layer editing user interface is simple and user friendly (inspired by Photoshop).
Layer-related editing tools (Add, Copy, Delete, Rename, Merge, and Ordering)
Layer List
Layer Conditions (Lock, Color, Activate, and Deactivate)
Layer weight with keying.
Easy to manage: use the hotkeys (Ctrl+LMB) to view isolate an individual layer.
Layer Management:
Mirror Motion
Motion Editing | Part 3: Other-Mirron Motion
The motion pivot is located at left foot.
The motion pivot needs to be adjusted to be in the right place.
The motion pivot goes astray in mid-motion.
Setting Playback Speed
Motion Editing | Part 3: Other-Playback Speed
Six runtime playback speeds are provided from the quickest (1.5x) to the slowest (0.25x), allowing you to carefully evaluate every animation frame.
Motion & Expression Tracks - Motion Tracks (2 levels)
Motion Editing | Part 3: Other-Motion & Expression Tracks
Timeline > Motion Track
Press this button to switch levels: �Body Part Level and Bone Level
Part Level (14)
Bone Level (70)
Part Level
Bone Level
*The expandable track design is only available to Standared and Non-Standard Human Characters.
Motion & Expression Tracks -Expression Tracks (3 levels)
Motion Editing | Part 3: Other-Motion & Expression Tracks
Basic Level (4)
Feature Level (12/16)
Morph Level (63+/150+)
Basic Level
Feature Level
Morph Level
*The expandable track design is only available to Standared and Non-Standard Human Characters.
Timeline > Expression Track
Press this button to switch levels:
Facial Basic / Feature / Morph Level
2. New Human IK Animation
What are some awesome functionalities that come with the advent of the HIK system?
Part 1: New Control Experience, creating what was once impossible, and control over every minutiae of the pin system.
Part 2: Effortlessly combine end effector and hand-key motion.
Part 3: Blend together more animation elements with the Pose Mixer.
New Control Rig
New Human IK Animation | Part 1: New Control Experience
Brand new control rig comes with a new look and added control range to increase handiness.
New Control Rig
Advanced Hand / Foot Pose Controller
Compared to iClone 7:
Advanced Foot and Hand Pose Controllers
New Human IK Animation | Part 1: New Control Experience
Every limb has its own controller points in order to delve deeply into detailed performances.
Precise and Stable Pin Controls
New Human IK Animation | Part 1: New Control Experience
Stability is where most of our concerns lay - pins are now more resistant to pulling from the body.
Pinning for both feet.
Pinning for both hands.
Pinning for the hands and feet.
Pin Presets:
1: Pin L/RFoot
2: Pin L/RHand
3: Pin L/RFoot and Hand
4: Pin L/RToe
5: No Pin
User Experience Enhancement
New Human IK Animation | Part 1: New Control Experience
Up/Down arrows can switch between different body parts to reduce operation time.
Press the Home key to center the view on the picked body part.
End Effector
New Human IK Animation | Part 2: End Effector & Handkey Motion
Designed for professional hand-key motion and non-realistic animation creation.
What are End Effectors?
Creative applications:
Motions can be categorized into 4 simple groups:
A
B
C
A
In order to fix the feet to the floor, the Effectors must be activated.
What are End Effectors?
Creative applications:
When both hands and feet are pinned, the limbs are constrained by linear motion.
When both hands and feet have their Effector deactivated, they are free to move about in a nonlinear fashion.
What are End Effectors?
Creative applications:
B
C
Pose Mixer
New Human IK Animation | Part 3 - Pose Mixer
Diversify motion by mix and matching different poses.
1. Pose Mixer for Still Frame
Mix and match different poses from different projects with the Edit Motion Layer > Pose Mixer.
2. Pose Mirroring
The pose doesn’t look right on one side? Well, switch it to the other side!
Three available pose mirroring options:
3. The re-editable pose layer key can bring flexibility to your animation.
A: Every layer pose is its own layer key with the ability to expand upon the track.
B: Sub-track visibility can be toggled for simple and advanced usage.
Enjoy added flexibility with animation transitioning and re-editable layer keys with the new rlPose format. Combined with an expandable timeline track, these tools are a boon for animators.
3. Interaction
Reach Target Enhancement: interactivity between actors and props were re-evaluated for more persuasive performances.
Reach Target Editing for Interactive Motion
Interaction
For creating reach offset, offset layer key transitions, and creating dummies.
Use the new Offset function to move the Reach pivot away from the target object pivot. This is useful when the target object pivot is not in the correct position to facilitate the motion.
iClone 7 Reach constraint does not have the ability to offset its target position. One must adjust the target object pivot in order to fix the reach point.
iClone 8 has the ability to maintain offset from the reach point and away from the target object’s pivot point.
Prop Pivot position
iClone 7
iClone 8
The Offset Layer key carries with it transition frames which can be keyed to adjust the blending to the Reach portion of the animation. This can make the reach animation more natural, not just locked in place.
iClone 7 does not have Reach Offset, thus in order to create a more natural performance, the Reach Mode must be deactivated and the reach object rotations need to be readjusted.
iClone 8 supports reach effector offset, which lets one reposition and reorient the effector while in Reach Mode.
The reach effector is locked in place giving an unnatural performance.
The reach effector can be adjusted at any moment according to your needs.
iClone 7
iClone 8
The Offset Layer key carries transition keys that can be edited in the Curve Editor.
Motion Correction
Interaction
Reach target prevents over-extension and determines the duration of the locked effectors, which is useful to prevent slipping.
Correction method:
Select the parts for correction, based on the limbs of the body.
2. Motion Correction
2. Motion Correction
Threshold:
Transition:
Reach offset:
Release offset:
If the reach effector has too strong of a pull force, then set the Reach Offset to a positive value to delay it, and the Release Offset to a negative value for an earlier release.
Reach Mode: Toggles the translate and rotate settings for the reach dummy. By default, Rotate is activated.
Sync Threshold with all parts: Unifies the Threshold values for all of the activated (checked) parts.
Reach objects - that look like footprints - will be created once the motion is corrected.
2. Motion Correction
A: Every pace will be depicted by a reach object.
B: Every reach object is a release and release duration. If the reach pull is too strong, then the reach and release timing or the transition duration can be adjusted.
4. Curve Editor
The Curve Editor used in combination with effector controls makes a powerful match-up.
*Curve Editor function will be built-in in iClone 8 without an extra purchase, and the End Effector Animation and Facial Animation Curves will be added.
Curve Editor(F12)
Timeline (F3)
Animation Layer (F11)
Menu
The Curve Editor can be access in the main menu (Menu > Window > Curve Editor) and via hotkey: F12.
It will also be one of the three dialogs of the Animation Preset window layout (Ctrl+3), which also includes the Timeline (F3) and Animation Layer editor (F11).
1st step: Activate the effectors for both hands within the Edit Motion Layer window to let us focus on editing effector motion.
Preparations for Curve Editing
Preparations for Curve Editing
2nd step: Remove root motions, change the Effector to world-space, and sample the motion clip to an editable layer key.
Preparations for Curve Editing
3rd step: Press F12 to open the Curve Editor, or press Ctrl+3 to switch to the Animation Window Preset menu. Within the Curve Editor panel, you’ll notice the Effector Curve Group.
FK motions (regular transformations) reside in the the Curve Editor, while Effector Motion is represented by the Effector curve.
1. The new Curve Editor can flatten vertical movement by stifling horizontal movement.
After
By flattening the TranslateX curve, the hand stays fixed on the wall for the wiping motion.
Before
2. The new Curve Editor can flatten horizontal movement by stifling vertical movement.
TranslateZ values can make it impossible to smoothly slide the hands across the floor. This can be fixed by flattening the TranslateZ curve.
After
Before
3. The new Curve Editor can fix foot sliding.
Another option for motion correction is to just directly modify the curve.
You can set the same curve key for the start and end of a still-frame region to have the character stay still.
The new Curve Editor can fix walking motion that stray off course.
After
Before
4. The new Curve Editor can give a consistent pace to a walking motion.
Inconsistent pacing from a lagging foot (in this case, the right foot) can be remedied by scaling the effector’s TranslateY value.
Before: the step size between the two feet are inconsistent.
After: the step size are now the same between the two feet.
5. The new Curve Editor can be used to apply steady hand key motion.
In the example below, hand-keying can be used on the three simple key-poses to strengthen the impact of the step.
When both feet’s effectors are activated (with iClone 8), the hip’s transition curve is influenced by the position of the feet.
Modifying the hip’s transition curve (with iClone 7) will influence the motion for the entire body and changes the positions of the feet.
Please pay attention to the following:
iClone 8’s Effector system entails that every motion will preserve two sets of data. When a motion is sampled, the two sets of data are applied to the FK and effector controls simultaneously. Therefore, you should set the effector controls to Active for every time they are moved, to see the correct results.
FK and effector motions will be applied to the character at the same time. You can switch between the two systems with Effector Blend Weight > Active/Deactive. Taking the illustration to the left as an example, the feet are controlled by effector motion, while the rest of the body is under the influence of FK motion.
Even easier to use!
After
Before
Curve Smooth Function
5. Motion Pipeline
Any FBX motion data format will be compatible in iClone 8, which largely removes platform barriers for motion data and make it all compatible.
1. Any motion becomes a resource that can be freely dragged and dropped into the scene for direct application.
FBX
Download a FBX motion file from Mixamo or Actor Core and drag it onto the iAvatar to bring the motion into the timeline.
2. Support for Multi-file Batch Export
Motion identification (profile). The plugin will automatically set the appropriate profile.
Manually set a distinct t-pose to make the motion more accurate.
Physical location for rlMotion conversion (input text to the right to find the corresponding data folder within the custom data of the Content Manager).
Create a Perform Menu for the character which is accessible with the right-click context menu.
3. Motion Sharing
Converted motions, that can be shared among different characters, can be found within the Custom Motion folder.
Enhanced Real-time Visuals
Enhanced Real-time Visuals
iClone 8 real-time render has been enhanced with the following updates:
Volumetric Light
Added visible volume to directional, spot and point lights. Not only can light illuminate, they can also add a sense of atmosphere to the scene.
00:03 Outdoor Volumetric Directional Light
00:42 Indoor Volumetric Directional Lighting with Dust Effect
01:08 Volumetric Point Light
02:29 Volumetric Spot Light
03:43 Volumetric Spot Light with Mask
04:27 Fine-tune Lighting and Adding Smoke Effect
05:11 Final Result
Light Enhancement
Light and shadow strength multipliers offer greater flexibility.
00:03 Add Point Light Shadow
00:31 Shadow Color Adjustment
00:51 Use Light Switcher Button
01:31 Shadow Color Adjustment
01:46 PCSS Shadow Adjustment
Lens Flare
Quickly apply various cinematic lighting effects to add visual tension.
00:03 Using Lens Flare Template
00:38 Lens Flare Element Combination
01:47 Occluded Lens Flare
02:14 Example Demo
02:30 Using Four Types of Lens Flare
Mirror Plane Shader
Simulate realistic mirror reflection with various control settings like opacity and blur.
00:03 Example 1: Mirror
00:36 Example 2: TV Screen, Glass Windows, Glossy, Marble Floor
Motion Blur
Blur for fast-moving objects is a common technique in movies and animations. Adjustments for blur intensity and frame-blend effect is also available.
00:14 Turn On Motion Blur Effect for a Car Scene
00:40 Adjust Blur Intensity and Frame Blend Effect for a Car Scene
01:07 Turn On Motion Blur Effect for Passers-by.
01:36 Adjust Blur Intensity and Frame Blend Effect for a Passer-by Scene
Performance & Productivity
Performance (more information will come in March 2022)
The software architecture of iClone 8 has been optimized, and more new features will be introduced to handle big-scale projects.
Productivity (more information will come in March 2022)
Long known as a professional animation production tool, iClone has been missing some basic functional requirements for a while. In this version, we have worked tirelessly to make up for this with one function at a time, in order to improve the overall productivity for its dedicated users. The added functionalities include:
Real-time / Path-Traced Render with NVIDIA Omniverse
RTX GPU Based Path-Trace Renderer
iClone 8 and Character Creator 4 can connect to NVIDIA Omniverse - a RTX GPU based path-traced render engine, which supports USD (Universal Scene Description) data architecture for collaborative design projects. With it, users will be able to generate commercial-quality visuals directly from iC8 and CC4.
You may refer to this video for an overview of Omniverse rendering.
Those who have purchased iC8 and CC4 will have free access to Omniverse Connector, and a preliminary version will be provided for early experience.
For more details: