iClone 8.4 introduces a brand-new crowd simulation toolset, while Character Creator 4.4 now includes an HIK profile when exporting a character in FBX format.
Reallusion has officially launched iClone 8.4 and Character Creator 4.4, upgraded versions of their renowned tools for 3D character creation and animation, introducing a brand new crowd simulation system to iClone and adding support for an HIK profile when exporting a character in FBX format in Character Creator.
The highlight of iClone 8.4, the bigger update of the two, is its newly-introduced Crowd Simulation solution that lets you quickly and easily populate 3D scenes with realistic people. Thanks to the new Scatter tool, it is now possible to spawn 3D characters in a designated area or on top of objects converted to navigation mesh, as well as apply different crowd-gen templates, including random, formation, ring, walkway, and more.
With a novel NavMesh function, you can create an area where Motion Director characters can automatically navigate, as well as an area where characters and props can be deployed using Scatter. Groups of characters can then be defined with a new content category called Actor Group, which comes with editing tools for customizing groups according to different scenarios.
The software's Motion Director has also been upgraded, featuring the ability to mix upper body motions with iMD-driven leg movement, adding customizable mutual avoidance capabilities to MD-driven characters, bringing new Add/Delete Behavior commands, which can be used to add motions to the current iMD options for Idle, Perform, and Mixer behaviors, introducing novel Perform and Mixer trigger conditions, and much more.
The release also features:
- New Control on Path and Auto on Path modes in the MD Controls panel for the walkway settings.
- Snap to Surface can be used to plant the feet onto the ground and will take into account the strength settings for different characters.
- Integrated iMD-related settings into MD Behavior.
- New 'Mixer' category for hotkey settings.
- Perform and Mixer under the Trigger page are now separated by speed.
- Files can now be dragged from the File Explorer directly into Content Manager subfolders.
- The 'Item' tab now displays purchased items. Before only the downloaded content was shown.
- Installed' and 'Not Installed' filters have been incorporated into the search function, displaying them directly on the user interface.
Character Creator 4.4 is a small update that adds support for a HumanIK profile when exporting a character in FBX format, speeding up the characterization process upon re-import and maintaining twist bone settings. The release also upgrades the software's Content Manager, introducing support for the upcoming Workgroup content download, allowing for custom tags on every item and multi-word searches, and adding a Search History function.
Check out the full list of iClone 8.4's new features and improvements here and Character Creator 4.4's over here.
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