Animation and Video Life

I'm very much a novice when it comes to 3D animation in iClone 7. However I can find my way around the application because the user interface and workflow shares a lot of similarities with Cartoon Animator 4 (also made by Reallusion).

For that reason alone, if you're proficient with Cartoon Animator 4 (formerly known as CrazyTalk Animator 3) and want to try 3D character animation, iClone 7 will not seem too unfamiliar. You may even be able to pick up the basics in under an hour.

With that in mind I thought I'd do a break down of how my Bat Storm Suit Camera Test, animated short was made. Not a step by step guide but just a look at the features I used, to highlight just how easy iClone 7 is to get started with.

You're already part way there if you have a firm grasp of the X, Y, and Z planes for positioning characters and props in CA4.

Bat Storm Character Rig I'm not going to claim this part was easy in the sense I've spent years trying to find just the right lo…

Traditionally my Bat Storm character has always been a parody of whichever movie Batman is in the limelight. Back in the GoAnimate days that was Christian Bale, but now we have a new, upcoming Batman with Robert Pattinson. What better way to greet the new guy than with Bat Storm's own 'camera test' teaser just like Robert Pattinson's suit camera test.



This is actually the very first public release of my new Bat Storm character model animated. Prior to this it's only been 'leaked' still images (does it count as leaking when it's the show creator deliberately posting images publically?).

Anyhow Bat Storm pays homage to two Batmen ahead of their time (Val Kilmer and George Clooney) who had the balls to wear nipples on the Batsuit. Clearly a diversionary measure designed to disarm unsuspecting bad guys with laughter.  If no one is taking you seriously that's clearly an advantage!

Launching my Bat Storm (and Other Comedy Shorts) Patreon As a solo, Indep…

Promoting physical books using video is becoming increasingly popular. Despite ebooks and digital copies of physical books gaining ground, people still like the simplicity of a physical book in their hands.

As such DIY Video creation site Renderforest can help you make a promotional video featuring a mock up of your book that looks very convincing as a real book with their Realistic Book Promotion Video Template.

I've reviewed other video templates by Renderforest including their 3D Animated Explainer Toolkit, and their Whiteboard Animation Toolkit because I really like what Renderforest offers as a DIY cloud video creation service (#notsponsored but this article does contain my affiliate links). Their template editor is really easy to use, and I've yet to find a template that wouldn't lift any amateur video production to a more professional level.

The Realistic Book Promotion Template, while not actually showing your specific book, could be a great way to give people a q…

Creating a realistic 3D human avatar is a whole lot easier with Reallusion's new Headshot Plugin for Character Creator 3. The plugin is an AI powered extension that can generate 3D digital humans from one photo. Which sounds like an amazing proposition but, in practice, if you're trying to achieve a specific likeness to an actual person, Headshot will give you an excellent base to work from.



Headshot has two modes, Auto and Pro.

Auto Mode Auto is well worth a try if you have an ideal photo of a front facing person that is properly lit and posed to Headshot's optimum requirements. It's also the only mode that will take a crack at generating a hair model.

I grabbed an image of Harrison Ford, dragged it into Headshot without changing any of the default settings (other than specifying 'male' and selecting an 'old male' setting) and this is what I got on auto mode:

As you can see the face texture and shape is not too bad. I'm not sure I'd recognize …

It's the start of a new year which means it's a great time to run down my own personal animation project plans for this year.
Patreon Before the end of January I hope to be launching my Patreon Membership Account. I've been largely reluctant to go the Patreon route for funding my animated projects but it appears to be the best way to fund projects that only the smallest of audiences have any interest in.

While the majority of the work on my animated projects will still be done by me, the main goal of the Patreon is to raise funds to pay for voice artists. I don't have the vocal range to voice all of my characters. Voice changers and Text to Speech Apps aren't at a quality that sounds professional, and I want my productions to be elevated in a way that only real voice actors can.

As much as I have friends who would gladly volunteer time to voice characters, that's not a reliable system, as people get busy, and the quality of recording can vary a lot depending o…

There is an ongoing debate in animation circles about what animation tools are considered 'Professional' and capable of producing 'Professional Quality' animation? Can only tools with the status of 'Industry Standard' be considered professional and by extension be the only tools that can produce professional quality animation?

Is it the target market of an animation tool that makes it professional? Is it the skill of the person using it that determines whether a tool is capable of professional quality output or the specs of the app?

What Animation Tool Should You Learn? In a discussion in the Cartoon Animator Users Facebook group a member noted that they had been learning Cartoon Animator (CA4) for four months, only to find out that the application isn't used by professional animators (based on asking 30 professionals on LinkedIn). The consensus was that learning Toon Boom Harmony or MOHO was the better option because both those applications have track rec…