iClone 5 is worth also to be used ONLY for 2D images creations and NOT animation?

spaceray2005_e908957707

Hello, I have seen the new March Madness offer today with the iClone 5 and it is shown as a 3D Realtime animation software and the video shown is also for this but I wonder that if this would be good also for making Realtime 2D still scenes and renders without any animation?.

Or this is probably useless and not good for just and only 2D stills rendering and not worth and justified the price?

iClone 5 Standard ($40) + 3DXchange5 ($199.95) = $239.95

iClone5 Pro ($100) + 3DXchange5 ($199.95) = $299.95

(the price of the above is for buying 2 March Madness products)

I do not want to make animations, I just want to make 2D renders with DAZ 3D products, and as this is shown to have the preview in realtime, is better and faster than the render engine inside DAZ Studio 4.5

Also would I need to buy iClone 5 Pro, or would be good and enough iClone 5 Standard for any 2D render without animation?

From version comparison you can see here between Standard and Pro version I see that most or all the added features are for animation and not worth or justified perhaps to have Pro for only 2D.

3DXchange5 needed

Although I have seen that for using any DAZ 3D content and products with iClone 5 you will need to buy also the 3DXchange5 software so this is an additional purchase to make.

And as I will only make 2D still renders I do not need any facial modifications or animation, or lipsync.

OR USE LUX RENDER OR OCTANE INSTEAD?

Or perhaps is a better idea to use Luxus with Lux Render, or even better buy the faster and near realtime Octane render that have a price in the same level as this iClone for using Daz that is is €279?

Octane DAZ plugin has already been released and is available now as it is put in this other thread

Thanks very much for any help and advice.

Best regards

background

Iclone is really focussed on real time animation. I would not recommend it if your primary requirement is 2D. The rendering engine is not designed for high quality stills.

There are plenty of Youtube videos made with Iclone. You might want to take a look at some of those to get a feel for what it can do.

Exchange is required if you want to import any models into Iclone. Without it you can still use Iclone, but you are limited to pre-built content avalable through the Reallusion store. Generally you will find pre-built Iclone content is more expensive than similar items in the DAZ store.

A recent upgrade to Iclone and Exchange has made it possible to use Genesis based figures with faciai animation. This works really well.

spaceray2005_e908957707

Thanks for your answer,background

background said:

Iclone is really focussed on real time animation. I would not recommend it if your primary requirement is 2D. The rendering engine is not designed for high quality stills.

OH, I see that if the rendering engine is not designed for high quality stills, and is then mainly used for animation, I agree with you that is not recommended for making 2D. Good and useful to know this.

background said:

There are plenty of Youtube videos made with Iclone. You might want to take a look at some of those to get a feel for what it can do.

Well, if it is specially designed for animation, I do not have a use for it, and would not make any kind of youtube videos or whatever, thanks for the suggestion, but will not see the videos as my main purpose is 2D and not animation or video making.

Exchange is required if you want to import any models into Iclone. Without it you can still use Iclone, but you are limited to pre-built content avalable through the Reallusion store. Generally you will find pre-built Iclone content is more expensive than similar items in the DAZ store.

Yes, this is what I have seen from the Reallusion website that the only way to use ANY external 3D models is to buy this Exchange bridge, and also is very true that all the iClone content from their own store is MUCH more expensive than in DAZ Store.

A recent upgrade to Iclone and Exchange has made it possible to use Genesis based figures with faciai animation. This works really well.

YES! This is very good and useful, and perhaps this is why DAZ has selected and choosen to appear here now and it is now Genesis compatible through the Exchange software.

Novica

So help me out here (before the sale ends.) At 350.00, the pro bundle appears to be a good price- but I am not sure what this thing does (and of all days, am in a rush with appointments) If I create characters then are all of them good for IClone, or just Genesis? And how does Iclone compare to aniMate, etc? I am a newbie and haven't gotten around to the animation stuff yet, but I had originally (a year ago) read about IClone and that is what actually led me to DAZ. Is that Pro bundle a good thing to have if I want to do animations? Or does DAZ cover that sufficiently? I have two sons who are going into animation as a profession, they are studying Lightwave right now, have the latest Photoshop CS, etc- so they are not going to be hobbyist. Need some advice here as I don't know how IClone compares to what they could do with DAZ, obviously it must be a lot more due to the pricing (as Lightwave at $1400 is of course complicated, and generally the higher the price, the more it does. Academic pricing helps!)

l love the Kinect Mocap too- anyone with experience with that? The Mocap stuff to setup/use a studio is SO expensive. (I was curious one time and did online research.)

Appreciate the quick help! And how long is this on sale? It's not MM for the Pro Bundle.
Cathie

Novica

I think I'd better start a new thread as I have more questions about what comes with the pro bundle- this thread was about 2d and not at all what I am asking about. I'll look around to see if there is a more relevant one to ask these types of questions :)

bigh

Novica said:

So help me out here (before the sale ends.) At 350.00, the pro bundle appears to be a good price- but I am not sure what this thing does (and of all days, am in a rush with appointments) If I create characters then are all of them good for IClone, or just Genesis? And how does Iclone compare to aniMate, etc? I am a newbie and haven't gotten around to the animation stuff yet, but I had originally (a year ago) read about IClone and that is what actually led me to DAZ. Is that Pro bundle a good thing to have if I want to do animations? Or does DAZ cover that sufficiently? I have two sons who are going into animation as a profession, they are studying Lightwave right now, have the latest Photoshop CS, etc- so they are not going to be hobbyist. Need some advice here as I don't know how IClone compares to what they could do with DAZ, obviously it must be a lot more due to the pricing (as Lightwave at $1400 is of course complicated, and generally the higher the price, the more it does. Academic pricing helps!)

l love the Kinect Mocap too- anyone with experience with that? The Mocap stuff to setup/use a studio is SO expensive. (I was curious one time and did online research.)

Appreciate the quick help! And how long is this on sale? It's not MM for the Pro Bundle.
Cathie

I have use iClone - good for animation - not for stills .
350 is to get you started - then it goes up from there - like any animation program .
yes you can import characters you make .
iClone is different then aniMate - really can't compare the two - iclone is every thing
aniMate is a plugin to help with DS animation ..

Novica

Thanks Bigh! :)
Cathie

0oseven

If you are wanting high quality 2D images then you should look at Daz's "Carrara"

Its on special right now

http://www.daz3d.com/carrara-software/

It includes a heap of stuff not in Daz Studio and is compatible with Daz / poser characters - New beta version will handle genesis.
It also has it's own website - here you can see some showcase work. Download the carrara 3dexpo pdf magazines too .

http://carraracafe.com/carrara-showcase/

you wont regret it

spaceray2005_e908957707

bigh said:

I have use iClone - good for animation - not for stills .

Thanks, good to know that is not good for 2D stills and so I will not buy it.

If you are wanting high quality 2D images then you should look at Daz's "Carrara"

Its on special right now

http://www.daz3d.com/carrara-software/

It includes a heap of stuff not in Daz Studio and is compatible with Daz / poser characters - New beta version will handle genesis.
It also has it's own website - here you can see some showcase work. Download the carrara 3dexpo pdf magazines too .

http://carraracafe.com/carrara-showcase/

you wont regret it

Thanks for your comment and suggestion

YES, I have just bought Carrara but still have not used it yet, as I am still learning to use DAZ Studio.

But as far as I know there is NO realtime preview or GPU rendering as it happens on iClone, and you can´t use any external render software like Lux Render or the GPU powered Octane. This is why I was asking if iClone was possible to be used for 2D stills.