The Front Page News staff has written about Reallusion’s products, namely iClone and CrazyTalk 4.  With the company presence at SIGGRAPH 07, we had the opportunity to follow-up in person and find out what’s new.  Just do a search on the Front Page News home page and you’ll find our past articles.

For starters, Reallusion has bundled their products into a studio suite that also adds FaceFilter, CrazyTalk for Skype (talking avatars) and Mobile Phone Animation and 3D Messaging.  The craze now is to take a picture of yourself or a friend with the cell phone and with the press of a few buttons, change the facial expression to smiles or frowns, etc.  You simply have to check out their website, then come back to the Renderosity MarketPlace to find what you want.

CrazyTalk is currently at version 4.6.  The release of 4.6 is mainly a maintenance release to work better with Microsoft Vista.  Included in this release is a fix for the previous 4 GB limitation on media output.  Charles Chen, CEO of Reallusion showed a demo of the upcoming version 5.  The new major build which should be released before the end of the year sports easier use and integration with the various labs (like there is any room at all to get easier, eh?).  Also, the face of your portrait can be zoomed in and out independently of the background and even detached and moved around on the animation screen.  Think of the fun you would have with that!

FaceFilter is a stand alone application that lets you make adjustments to skin tone and muscle position.  You can significantly correct and enhance any portrait photo with the ease and power of the program.

iClone 2.1 is doing well and growing.  Many of the scenes created for iClone 2.1 are now coming from Renderosity members and included in the basic package.  With the use of 3DXchange, obj and 3DS formats can be brought in for your custom work.  Using these formats, just about any low poly model will work, even ones in Poser.  Indeed, even the high poly models of Poser and other applications can be run through a poly reduction tool such as VizUp (not included). 

In talking to Mr. Chen and watching iClone running at SIGGRAPH 07, it reminded me very much of the old Dance Studio.  Remember that?  Metacreations had this cartoon 3D character dance software and the user could make the model spin, jump or perform any number of preset moves with the keyboard.  Silly as it was, it would record and export .bvh files that played well in Poser.  Yessir, the dancing baby was never easier! Well, iClone 2.1 is far more powerful and works off of library animations rather than keyboard changes, yet still has that same charm and delight.  Maybe we can get Mr. Chen to consider a .bvh export.

Oh, what’s new with iClone 2.1? 

V2.1
- Added: Vista support - iClone 2.1 works with Windows VISTA.
- Program Fixed: Fail to apply hand gesture to G2 characters.
- Program Fixed: Visual defect in the Facial texture adjustment for certain hair style.
- Program Fixed: Fail to export AVI video. Error Message "Can not initialize video encoder, export failed.
- Data Fixed: Updated Default Jane Casual character with better face shape and hair style.
- Data Fixed: Fail to adjust color to Jack Casual's shoes.
- Data Fixed: Fail to apply Accessories - Microphone.
- Data Fixed: Remodel Jack CloneCloth Casual character to remove the extruded chest.
- Data Fixed: Remove shoulder joint twist for certain motion data.
              FunComedy  
              DanceHiphop02 
              DanceHiphop04 
              DanceHiphop07 
              DanceRock and Roll

There ya have it folks! This is must have stuff for your arsenal of applications.

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Tech News is a regular featured column with Renderosity Staff Columnist Eric Post [EricofSD]. Eric reports on breaking technology news, as well as other areas, through articles, interviews, and product reviews.