The other well-advertised feature of iClone 2.0 is the new LivePlants feature. While this feature is not fully photorealistic, it works nicely and fits the overall animation style of iClone 2.0. This is an idea clearly borrowed from Vue 6’s well-known, animated plants in its “Eco-System” options. This allows placement of plants in the background or foreground of the scene, wherein they automatically wave in whatever breeze or wind is present.
While there have been a lot of new options added into iClone 2.0, there are still some nagging issues with old options lingering around.
For example, you still cannot transition between lenses, in the middle of a scene; which means you have to save different versions of the same scene if you want to use a 35mm lens and a 200 mm lens in the same sequence. This results in each type of shot having to be saved as a separate scene and exported out separately. Then, the AVI files are imported into your preferred editing program, to be cut together; which is similar to actually shooting separate shots in the real world, but which yields a rather hackneyed workflow in the 3D realm.
Another issue is the difficulty precisely placing accessories on your models. This is still problematic because the accessories often have not been created with specific “behaviors” for certain locations. For example: if you use Innoventive’s FrameForge 3DStudio 2, you can choose a gun and your actor and you’ll be given the option to place it in his left hand, right hand, holster, or a variety of other options. In iClone, most items will have a default hand or location. For example, a gun might fit in the right hand, but, if you flip it to the left hand, it now clips through the hand sideways. This becomes even more noticeably bizarre with the new particle props, like the cigar with trailing smoke, which has only one default place; the right hand. If you want to put it in the left hand, you’ve now crucified your actor’s hand with a smoldering cigar “nail”. Or, want to put the cigar in the person’s mouth? Good luck. It’s not an option, with the closest option being either the back of the head or the neck. (If you have to smoke your cigar through your neck, it’s really time for you to stop smoking!) If you want to get it positioned properly, you’ll need to move a limited number of coordinate options to try and get things in the right location. Unfortunately, this rarely works precisely and really needs to be remedied for future incarnations of iClone. (Additionally, it would also be nice to remove the eight accessory limit that still exists in iClone.)
Probably the biggest complaint is the fact that the “secret” ability released in iClone 1.5 hasn’t been made any less secret in iClone 2.0. What secret ability might I be talking about, you ask? Why, the ability to have separate models in the same scene. It still requires the arcane shortcut of Cntrl-F7 to open this option without any other indication of this ability in either one of the main menus. As I mentioned in the last review, this still feels like a video game hack or cheat, rather than a real feature. And, as though to give added weight to this impression, collision detection between multiple characters is pretty much non-existent. I expect this issue in the more complicated world of Poser and definitely in the more powerful 3D programs; but this should be something that is addressed. Particularly for a program designed for new users and those who want a simple animation experience. Especially since the more powerful programs give you a lot more control to fix collision problems than iClone does.
Performance
We tested iClone 2.0 out on a Dell 3.4 Ghz Inspiron XPS laptop with a gig of RAM and an ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 video card provided by John C. Martin at Reallusion.
Because iClone 2.0 is designed to run in real time, without rendering, it requires a much more powerful computer than iClone 1.5 does. This means that folks who want to use iClone 2.0 really need to watch the system requirements before attempting to purchase it, as both its processing speed and video power need to be able to handle it. (Download the demo ahead of time and try it if you are unsure).
