How to Animate Miniature 3D Worlds With Crowd Interactions in iClone & Unreal Engine

Introduction

Richard Mans, a New Zealand-based artist and filmmaker, is renowned for his fantastical short films. His 2011 animated short Abiogenesis received widespread acclaim, winning multiple awards and screening at festivals worldwide. Mans continues to push the boundaries of animation and user experience, focusing on prototype display technologies in the automotive industry.

Excited by the possibilities of high-quality real-time rendering, he is now dedicated to creating captivating short-form videos. “Fuzzyrealms” serves as his online portfolio, showcasing his latest works. Passionate about crafting brief glimpses into fantastical worlds, Mans finds inspiration in daily creativity.

From Kitbash3D to iClone

I started the project by selecting the “Flower Shop” model from Cargo (an app by Kitbash3D that comes with their entire library of 3D Assets) and importing it into Unreal Engine.

I then transferred the “Flower Shop” to iClone using the iClone Unreal Live Link plugin. It makes transferring assets between the Unreal Engine and iClone super fast and easy, and ensures perfect alignment of all my assets between the programs.

Bringing it all to life with MD Props

With the building now in iClone I place the MD props around my scene. Then create a “Navmesh” for where I want my characters to go. Then generate the crowd with iClone's Crowd Generation tool.

In Motion Director, I select all the characters, then change the “Agent Radius” slider. The Agent Radius affects how much the characters will try to avoid each other and is a great way to tweak the crowd simulation. To scatter the crowds from ActorCore, I added my actors and Motion Director files, then selected pick object and picked the plane area, then deployed actors to populate the crowds.

When I run the simulation, the characters automatically interact with the MD Props. This automatic interaction works with an adjustable radius around each MD Prop. When a character walks into the radius of a prop, it has a chance of interacting with that prop.

I can also control the characters manually. In Motion Director I switch a character to “Player Control”, click “Start”, then move the character around using an Xbox controller. I then click on the MD Props, which brings up a radial menu where I can choose the interaction I want my character to have with the prop.

Return Trip to Unreal Engine

Now that I’m happy with how the crowd is animated in iClone, I attach the props that I want to transfer to Unreal Engine to the Dummy Props. Make sure the prop is attached to the “AxisDummy” of the MD Prop. This is so the Prop will move in the same way as the Dummy Prop.

Using iClones Unreal Live Link I transfer the crowd and animated props to Unreal Engine. Selecting the “Include Motion” and “Bake all animations to Sequencer” options and selecting the characters and animated props that I want to transfer to Unreal Engine. 

With the crowd and animated props now in Unreal Engine, I import a “Two Bedroom Apartment” model from “Cargo” and piece together my scene. Lastly, I animate my main character in iClone using the Motion Live Plugin. Then transfer the main character to Unreal Engine.

Final Thoughts

Thanks for joining me through this process. You can also visit this page for the detailed walkthrough. I found using iClones MD Props was a lot of fun, and it made animating complex crowd animations much easier.

With tools like iClone, Unreal Engine, and Cargo, the possibilities are endless. So, whether you’re an aspiring filmmaker or a seasoned pro, keep pushing the boundaries of creativity and never stop dreaming big! 

Richard Mans, Artist and Filmmaker