Getting AI Mocap Ready for Production with Reallusion's iClone 8

AI is gradually becoming a bigger part of our lives, especially when it comes to art; it can simplify various tasks and save a lot of time. Creating animation can also be made easier with AI motion capture, although it might not always deliver the desired result. 

Russell Midfield compared four popular AI motion capture programs to find out how easy it is to turn live footage into 3D animation and then showed how to fix the issues he found with Reallusion's iClone 8.

Midfield examined video-to-motion software Plask, Radical, DeepMotion, and Pixcap and found out that while all of the programs do what they are supposed to quite well, there are several problems AI-powered animation usually suffers from: posture correction, foot sliding, root shifting, and noise/jittering. He then demonstrated how these issues can be fixed with iClone 8.

iClone is a real-time 3D animation software that simplifies workflows in a user-friendly production environment that blends character animation, scene design, and cinematic storytelling. In the iClone 8 release, more editing features are enhanced for interactive target reach, footstep system, and mocap data correction.

Midfield used the program to polish the motion capture footage and turn it into production-ready animation. In the video, he points out common problems that are inherent in most AI-to-animation services, and how to easily fix those issues by using iClone 8.

• Repair postures with HumanIK controls & Motion Layer Editor

• Add hand gestures with gesture tools

• Remove jitter noise using Curve Editor

• Stabilize sliding feet with Reach Target & iClone footstep system

• Fix motion offset using Root Alignment

• Reconstruct missing data with rotoscoping and transition curves

If you like iClone 8's motion editing features, you should also check out the Motion Director system that offers game-play controls to drive characters, motion triggers, and dynamic cameras to direct scenes in real time.

You can purchase iClone 8 from the official website for $549 or get a free 30-day trial.