LogInThe Reallusion team has joined us to discuss their standout moments of the past decade and speak about the evolution of the digital art industry.
Reallusion 10 Years Ago
It was 2015, and we were on iClone 5. It was the first time Reallusion was dabbling with motion capture. We were one of the first companies in the world to receive the Kinect SDK from Microsoft, allowing us to build one of the first DIY motion capture solutions in the industry.
This was revolutionary in the industry, as prior to that, the only kind of motion capture that excited was with optical systems like Vicon and OptiTrack, which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, making it inaccessible to the masses. This allowed us to really position iClone as a powerful new alternative in the industry, bringing a new vision to the future of professional character animation pipelines that has allowed Reallusion's ambitions to expand and develop in the past decade. Character Creator 1.0 also launched that same year, introduced as a tool designed to work with iClone, allowing users to generate fully-rigged characters for game devs and indie filmmakers.
The Evolution of the Digital Art Industry
Since then, the digital art industry has completely remade itself. The previously mentioned DIY motion capturing, combined with software-assisted character creation, allowed indie developers to bring up their quality and creativity by allowing them to generate their very own content without having to create everything from scratch. This amalgamation of solutions invited a new generation of creators and a surge of new assets that were never seen before. For the first time, the industry started seeing some serious disruption coming from independent game creators, YouTube animators, and directors who were dreaming of rivaling AAA game studios that long dominated the high-end arena.
Reallusion's Early Challenges
For the longest time, Reallusion tools were seen as creative but only used by beginners. iClone was originally crafted as a solution for the Machinima artists that popped up in the 2000s, who were having trouble publishing their creative visions due to game engine IPs. So even though the tools proved fast and creative, it was a challenge to slowly change the mindset that Reallusion tools were evolving into fully fledged professional pipeline tools.
It also didn't help that early YouTube was flooded with amateur animation footage made with iClone, making it more difficult to break the stigma that these tools were only for non-professionals. The first attempts were being made with previz and concept animations, which iClone proved ideal for. And even though graphic cards were evolving, and prices were dropping, which allowed the iClone visuals to mature – it was a big challenge to change people's preconceived notions.
Software Highlights
For Character Creator (CC), realism is enhanced through SkinGEN and advanced character morph technology, a fully customizable expression system, modular Smart Hair solutions, and the Headshot plugin, which allows users to create characters from photos or 3D meshes. The CC workflow is further expanded with integrations for industry-standard tools, including GoZ for CC-ZBrush character design, ZBrush FaceTools, the Blender datalink plugin, Unreal Live Link, and optimized character rigs for Unreal Engine.
For iClone, key innovations include the Motion Layer Editor, Curve Editor, Motion Trail, Integrated Motion Capture with Motion Live, an advanced look-at system, and dynamic expression wrinkles for heightened realism.
Looking ahead to 2025, Reallusion is advancing toward a more professional pipeline. iClone will introduce a timecode system for motion capture and editing, while CC5 will push the boundaries of 3D character design with unparalleled features for ultra-realistic facial animation and speech synthesis.
For ActorCore and AccuRIG, one of the most highly anticipated developments is the addition of an automatic facial rigging system to AccuRIG, bringing even greater efficiency and realism to character creation.
Standout Moments
A major breakthrough came when we received an Epic MegaGrant for developing the Unreal Live Link plugin for iClone. At that time, MetaHuman had yet to be released, making Character Creator the go-to solution for generating digital actors in Unreal Engine. iClone's facial and body motion capture became a dominant workflow, solidifying its role in professional pipelines. This momentum inspired us to give back to the community by using part of the grant to support indie projects that showcased the iClone-Unreal workflow.
Today, we face perhaps our most challenging era. With the rise of generative AI, the creative industry is divided into two camps, while AI-driven media continues to capture massive attention. In a landscape increasingly dominated by cloud-based subscription models, our commitment to permanent licensing remains one of the last strongholds for user-centric benefits.