class="bi x0 y0 w0 h1"
iClone 4.31 3D Animation
Beginner's Guide
Animate your stories and ideas to create realisc scenes
with this movie making applicaon geared towards new and
inexperienced lm makers, video producers / compositors,
vxf arsts, and 3D arsts / designers
M.D. McCallum
BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI
Downloa d f r o m W o w ! e B o o k < w w w.woweb o o k . c o m >
iClone 4.31 3D Animation
Beginner's Guide
Copyright © 2011 Packt Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmied in any form or by any means, without the prior wrien permission of the
publisher, except in the case of brief quotaons embedded in crical arcles or reviews.
Every eort has been made in the preparaon of this book to ensure the accuracy of the
informaon presented. However, the informaon contained in this book is sold without
warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers
and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or
indirectly by this book.
Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark informaon about all of the
companies and products menoned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However,
Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this informaon.
First published: October 2011
Producon Reference: 1171011
Livery Place
35 Livery Street
Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.
ISBN 978-1-84969-178-9
www.packtpub.com

This all started a while back when Mike contacted me about his idea of wring a book
about iClone. From the get-go, we were completely ecstac that iClone would nally get the
personal treatment direct from the mind and hands of a true producon industry veteran.
From its incepon, iClone has been an untamed breed of 3D soware designed especially for
creave users without prior 3D backgrounds. A soware that, even though was jam-packed
with the latest features and technology, was always missing something. Apart from its heavy
feature-based manuals and tutorial videos, iClone always lacked a proper guide to personally
lead and inspire users to nurture an enre project from scratch.
I am deeply grateful that M.D. McCallum, the author who has contributed so much of
his enthusiasm to the iClone community, has now volunteered to make this book. M.D.
McCallum is the rst featured iClone professional who is honored with several iClone
movie awards, along with being one of the rst users to set up the iClone Wikipedia page.
His kindness and generosity has always permied him to share his knowledge through the
iClone Revoluon website, which he started as a need to address so many iClone inquiries.
Being a senior iClone Content Developer has also allowed him to push the limits of creavity
not just of himself, but also of the enre animaon community.
As most of you know already, iClone is not just a collecon of years of heartbeats and oceans
of fervor from the Reallusion team, but it is also a chest of dreams and collaborated eorts
from dozens of worldwide content contributors who over me have made the world of 3D
producon so much more accessible and inspiring to all of us.
Thanks to Mike's gamut of iClone animaon knowledge, readers can now get a
comprehensive view of what an iClone producon plaorm is, including, how to master
tools, access fast growing content libraries from talented developers, and how to make the
most of being a community member. His work not only holds the hands of beginners who
yearn to explore iClone in a structural way, but it also lends itself as an enjoyable must-read
for any iClone veteran.
This galvanized book has been long overdue and awaited by many users who have spent
hundreds of thousands of man-hours guring out how to get the most out of their iClone,
not to menon those who have hungered to enter the world of independent lm making
with a great self-taught companion.

Publishing for guiding me through the wring and shaping this book in
a way that no words could adequately describe. And last, but certainly
not least, my wife Rosemary and stepson Zac. Two people that go out of
their way every day to make sure I have the me to complete my various
projects, meet my deadlines, and otherwise get to have fun doing what I
love all day and long into the night.
About the Reviewers
Guy Langlois is a Computer Engineer with a Master's degree in Business and
Administraon (MBA). He works as an Execuve in an engineering rm specialized in the
development of high-end audio/video and 3D equipment and authoring tools for the Film
and Broadcasng industry. Aside from work, Guy plays in a rock band and is a recognized
Reallusion Cered Content Developer, Director, and Trainer who excels in the creaon of
specialized iClone characters and other derived iClone products.
Guy is known in the iClone industry as "Bigboss". He also manages the "Bigboss's Treasures"
Theme Store in Reallusion City, which features his personal work as well as the work of other
excellent Cered Content Developers, each with their own special aptude for creaon and
design;
/>I would like to thank the iClone community who so gracefully support
my work!

Cheers!
Susanne and Joe Pass discovered their passion for animaon, 3D modelling, and image
eding. Susanne and Joe Pass worked in dierent jobs, she came from the social sector and
he was a workman.
Joe concerned himself more and more with graphic art. His work has been presented in
several exhibions. Susanne was interested in photography.
The couple began to learn how to work with image eding programs like Photoshop and
made their rst ash animaons. In 2006, they completely switched and oered, under the
name digiMagic, services in the eld of Animaon and Web Design, shortly aer they bought
the rst Reallusion products: CrazyTalk5 and iClone3.

Preface 1
Chapter 1: Installing and Conguring iClone 7
Installing the program 8
Time for acon – installing iClone 4 pro 8
Time for acon – installing related iClone content 10
Time for acon – exploring iClone opons 11
Conguring work environment 12
Seng up the 3D grid 12
Controlling display informaon 13
Exploring real-me render opons 14
Choosing the shader 15
Manipulang objects 16
Locang Custom Content folder 16
Installing new content 16
Using drag-and-drop 17
Imporng new content 17
Working with zipped les 18
Welcome to iClone 18
Interacng with the iClone community 19
Free iClone assets 22
Exploring the Reallusion Content Store 22
Discovering the Reallusion Marketplace 23
Downloading your trial and purchased items 28
Time for acon – download and installaon steps 28
Exploring the iClone user interface 30
Exploring the workspace 30
Selecng objects in the workspace 33
Summary 34
Table of Contents
[ ii ]

Lighng in 3D animaon 70
Light types and shadows 71
Understanding ambient light 73
Manipulang the lights in the 3D workspace 73
Seng the mood with lighng and atmosphere 73
Time for acon – seng the ambient light 74
Time for acon – working with shadows 74
Time for acon – manipulang the atmosphere 76
Time for acon – lighng up the grill 76
Summary 79
Table of Contents
[ iii ]
Chapter 3: Adding and Customizing Characters 81
Developing unique characters 82
Time for acon – loading characters 83
Customizing character features 84
Time for acon – loading a face image 84
Time for acon – correct the lighng 87
Time for acon – customizing our character 88
Time for acon – customizing the head of the avatar 89
Experimenng with model detail 91
Time for acon – giving your character a new do! 92
Time for acon – customizing the eyes and mouth 93
Skin 93
Posioning the characters 94
Using character accessories and aaching props 95
Time for acon – can't be cool without shades! 95
Time for acon – shading the glasses 97
Time for acon – aaching the fork prop 97
Interacng with the iProps 98

Customizing animaon using the moon editor 129
Time for acon – animang the male character 130
Turn the character 131
Time for acon – animang the turn 131
Time for acon – closing the grill cover 133
Animang the limbs 134
Seng the starng point key frame 135
Time for acon – animang the arm movement 137
Time for acon – scaling and moving the grill 138
Time for acon – copying and pasng the key frame 139
Time for acon – closing the grill 140
Time for acon – nishing out the movement 142
Blending moons 143
Time for acon – animang the female avatar 143
Time for acon – add more me to the animaon 145
Adding more moon to the female avatar 145
Time for acon – creang new moons 148
Building our custom moon library 149
Saving custom animaons as moons 150
Time for acon – saving single clips 150
Time for acon – collecng and saving mulple clips 151
Time for acon – using the Absolute Bone method 152
Manipulang transions 153
Time for acon – polishing character moves 154
Animang paths for smooth movement 156
Time for acon – using a path to animate Benny's walk 156
Using alternave methods of character movement 159
Time for acon – point and click movement 159
Time for acon – using director mode 161
Animang character dialog 162

Creang cameras 190
Time for acon – creang our rst camera 190
Renaming your cameras 191
Time for acon – naming the camera 192
Time for acon – creang and renaming another camera 192
Using character/object cameras (Follow Cam) 194
Using the Actor Cam 195
Time for acon – seng up the Actor Cam 195
Time for acon – converng Follow Cam to a permanent camera 197
Time for acon – seng up the Face Cam 198
Time for acon – viewing the character from above 199
Understanding the camera lens 201
Time for acon – creang new cameras and picking the lens 202
Time for acon – seng up our main camera angle 204
Time for acon – seng up a lens only camera close up 205
Focusing with depth of eld 207
Time for acon – creang a depth of eld camera 208
Creang more cameras 210
Time for acon – creang the Benny cams 210
Time for acon – creang a wide angle camera shot 211
Table of Contents
[ vi ]
Selecng cameras for lming 212
Creang a shot list 213
Understanding camera cuts and ming 214
Time for acon – seng up the camera switch 214
Filming through walls and objects with camera clipping 216
Time for acon – Using camera clipping 217
Summary 220
Chapter 7: Enhancing Scenes with Images and Videos 221

RM 263
WMV 264
MP4 for PC 265
Table of Contents
[ vii ]
Flash video 266
Using good video rendering habits 267
Determining end usage 267
Seng screen resoluon as soon as possible 268
Time for acon – rendering our main project video 268
Rendering popVideo 269
3D rendering… got glasses? 269
Understanding 3D stereoscopic rendering 270
Anaglyph 272
Time for acon – seng up the scene 272
Time for acon – rendering the scene 274
Side X Side 275
Top Down 276
Two Files 277
Summary 277
Chapter 9: Animang Outer Space 279
Reviewing the project assets 279
Laying out and planning the scene 280
Determining the purpose of the scene 280
Determining render resoluon 281
Time for acon – seng the resoluon 281
Determining the scene animaon 282
Determining the parcle eects required 282
Laying out the scene tasks 283
Tweaking the project assets 283

Implemenng character interacon 322
Time for acon – placing and using character interacon dummies 323
Time for acon – applying the kick me AML template 324
Using operate dummy props 325
Time for acon – Using the character interacon templates 326
Time for acon – using the grab it AML template prop 328
Working with iProps 330
Exploring the home iProps folder 330
Time for acon – geng in and out of bed 330
Time for acon – using the iprop door 332
Working with vehicle dummies 334
Summary 336
Appendix B: Animang with iClone Physics 337
Understanding iClone physics 338
Working with simulaons 339
Baking the physics 339
Tesng versus saving simulaons 340
Touring the physics menu 340
Understanding so bodies versus rigid bodies 342
Rigid bodies 342
Seng the state of the object 342
Object properes 343
Bounding sengs 343
So bodies 343
Preset 344
Property 344
Collision sengs 344
Table of Contents
[ ix ]
Time for acon – dropping the ball 344

Time for acon – applying blur 390
Time for acon – tesng the other post eects 393
Time for acon – adjusng the overall post eect 395
Seng the light with the mulplier 396
Time for acon – using direconal versus spotlight 396
Discovering the performance enhancements 398
Improving usability features 400
Using the tree brush 401
Time for acon – planng and felling trees 401
Using so cloth 404
Time for acon – tesng a cloth 404
Time for acon – creang a ghost eect 406
Exploring so cloth opons 408
Summary 409
Appendix D: Discovering New Animaon Tools 411
Exploring the modied meline 411
Mixing moves the easy way 415
Time for acon – using MixMoves 415
Using the moon puppet 417
Time for acon – animang Gwynn 418
Time for acon – smoothing the transion between moons 419
Time for acon – walking with the moon puppet 420
Time for acon – stopping the foot sliding 423
Understanding Human IK (pose and reach target) 424
Time for acon – seng up a two-handed rig with Human IK 424
Time for acon – hooking up the dummies 426
Time for acon – using the two handed rig for movement 428
Time for acon – using locking dummies 431
Time for acon – seng up the unicycle 433
Manipulang Direct Puppet 437

Reallusion's iClone is an animated movie making applicaon that allows hobbyists,
machinimators, home-based animators, and professionals to visualize their story or an idea
by seeing it in acon. Years ago, creang animaons and single images would require a team
of trained arsts to accomplish. Now, iClone real me rending engine empowers its users
to instantly view what is loaded into the 3D workspace or preview it as an animaon, if you
have the precise instrucons.
The iClone 3D Animaon Beginner's Guide will walk you through the building and animang
of a complete scene and several one-o projects. First we create a scene with sky, terrain,
water, props, and other assets. Then add two characters and manipulate their features
and animate their movement. We will also use parcles to create the eect of a realisc
torch and animate cameras to give dierent views to the scene. Finally, we will see how to
quickly import images to enhance the scene with a mountain, barn, and water tank. It will
cover some fun stu such as playing with props, characters, and other scene assets. It will
also demonstrate some advanced topics such as screen resoluon, formats and codecs but
mostly, it will deal with doing hands on animaon with precise instrucons.
What this book covers
Chapter 1, Installing and Conguring iClone, goes through the installaon and conguraon
process for iClone and discusses the Reallusion iClone community, where to get more assets,
how to use the Content Store and City Marketplace, bringing outside content into iClone
with import and drag-and-drop features, and exploring the iClone interface.
Chapter 2, Creang Your First Scene, we will explore the 3D workspace, create a basic scene
with sky, terrain, water, and props, use Live Plants to create vegetaon, work with standard,
animated, and interacve props. We will build a gazebo prop from 3D building blocks and
texture it, then we'll light the scene to get the mood right.
Preface
[ 2 ]
Chapter 3, Adding and Customizing Characters, we will add characters to the scene and
customize these characters by altering their clothing and type of hair. While doing this, we
will learn how iClone works with external image editors to modify the characters' clothing.
Chapter 4, Animang the Characters, this is a very important chapter in which the meline

which we explore character Personas, AML driven templates, such as Sit Here and Grab It,
along with helper objects like cars and planes.