Reallusion iClone3 Pro review

Gallery

Verdict:

Review Date: 19 Dec 2008

Price when reviewed: £101

Supplier: http://www.reallusion.com

Reviewed By: Seth Barton

Our Rating 4 stars out of 5

Review
Specs

Professional 3D graphics software is expensive and very time-consuming to use. Reallusion's iClone3 is designed to get you animating in no time at all, and at a fraction of the price.

A series of tabs guide you through the process. Pick a ready-made scene, add objects and characters, choose from a selection of pre-prepared animations, place the cameras and render the results to a video file. You can complete basic scenes in minutes.

The software includes a few 3D actors. These are more than just models, as each has its own range of action, idle and pose animations. There are plenty of props to get you started, and you can use the bundled 3DXChange software to download more from the internet. This converts common 3D file formats for use with iClone3, including 3DS, OBJ and Google's popular SketchUp format.

A new Director Mode gives you videogame-style control over actors and vehicles. You use the W, A, S, and D keys to walk, run or drive, and your actions are captured as animation. Position some cameras to catch the action, and you have a near-instant 3D movie.

In Editor Mode you can tweak your efforts from Director Mode or work from scratch. It has all the tools you'd expect, including timeline-based animation, inverse kinematics, lighting and particle systems and depth-of-field effects. The options can be overwhelming, though, as trying to combine ease-of-use with power has made for a cluttered interface.

iClone3's focus on quick, easy animation rather than modelling or photo-realism makes it accessible, but a quickly made animation will look like last year's 3D games rather than this year's 3D movies. If you want to play with 3D animation, iClone3 is great fun. Those who are happy to work from scratch, but have little money may be better served by the freeware Blender (see www.blender.org).

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