Reallusion ships iClone 7.3

Reallusion has released iClone 7.3, the latest update to its real-time 3D character animation software, adding Bezier curve editing for motion paths and a new Material Plus format for multi-materials.

The update was released alongside Character Creator 3.0, a major overhaul of Reallusion’s tool for creating rigged characters, and a new Iray rendering plugin that works with both apps.

New tools for editing motion paths, saving multi-materials and subdividing meshes
iClone 7.3 updates the software’s handling of motion paths, making it possible to use standard Bezier controls when creating paths in the viewport, as shown in the video above.

Paths can be switched between Bezier mode, Smooth curves, or Linear segments.

The update also adds a new Material Plus (.iMtlPlus) format, making it possible to save materials composed of multiple sub-materials and apply them with a single click.

Assigment of sub-materials is performed based on mesh name, vertex count and material name, so it’s more suited to iterating on a single model than transferring multi-materials between models.

Other changes include a new mesh subdivision system, in addition to iClone’s existing tessellation.

It is designed to work with quad-based rather than triangulated meshes, with quads now being preserved when exporting in OBJ or FBX format, rather than the mesh being triangulated automatically.

There are also a number of smaller workflow changes, which you can find listed via the link below.

Pricing and availability
iClone 7.3 is available for 64-bit Windows 7+. The update is free to iClone 7.x users; new licences cost $199.

To exchange data between iClone and other DCC applications, including exporting OBJ or FBX files, you also need add-on tool 3DXChange, which costs $199 for the Pro edition and $499 for the Pipeline edition.

The Iray rendering plugin is compatible with iClone 7.3 and Character Creator 3 and costs $99.

Read a full list of new features in iClone 7.3 on Reallusion’s forum