In today’s review, I’ll be looking at two items, one from the Marketplace vendor GTools, Debris Generator, and the other from the Iconic Hero Motions Mocap Pack. Both are great assets with one being a powerful Python tool and the other a pack of professional motion capture motions.
Let’s start with the not so aptly named Debris Generator. It’s not so much a debris generator as it is a duplicate and scatter tool. This is a tool that I have long clamored for, and I believe it first hit the marketplace in early 2021. I was certainly glad to see it but almost missed it completely due to the unconventional name.
This is not meant to be a criticism of the vendor. Some products are hard to name. Particularly if you are looking for something catchy that will appeal to the hurried and even harried buyer in a marketplace full of great vendors and items. I’m also very glad that Reallusion added Python support as it has proven to be a boon for me. In fact, I think I have so many plug-ins loaded it seems to slow the loading of iClone, but I love my tools.
Let’s start with the not so aptly named Debris Generator. It’s not so much a debris generator as it is a duplicate and scatter tool. This is a tool that I have long clamored for, and I believe it first hit the marketplace in early 2021. I was certainly glad to see it but almost missed it completely due to the unconventional name.
This is not meant to be a criticism of the vendor. Some products are hard to name. Particularly if you are looking for something catchy that will appeal to the hurried and even harried buyer in a marketplace full of great vendors and items. I’m also very glad that Reallusion added Python support as it has proven to be a boon for me. In fact, I think I have so many plug-ins loaded it seems to slow the loading of iClone, but I love my tools.
Using the Python script is very straightforward. The props to be duplicated and scattered must already be in the scene before you start the plug-in. This way the scene props will populate the plug-in’s dropdown box for selection. If you add an item after the script window is open, you will need to close the window and reopen it to add the new items.
After that you simply, and I mean simply, select what you want to be duplicated and scattered, set the number of copies up to 99, and choose the XYZ parameters for the scatter. You can also randomly color the props with the Red Green Blue boxes, at various strengths, which I did for the huts in the demo image as the original had a white body.
A nice tip from the vendor is to use physics to populate uneven terrain. It is explained in the readme text but basically, you set up the physics on your first object, like a rock, in this case, Dynamic with dampening around 2000 to slow down the objects while they settle into place. You also turn on the terrain physics to catch the falling props thereby allowing them to settle on uneven terrain. I used box collision instead of self-mesh as I wanted the bottom of the collision box to be large enough to keep the prop from falling over. Then you turn off physics or turn off the physics settings on the props. Group select, right-click and remove animation to hold them in place.
In the image of the menu, I used the tool to drop and scatter the toadstool huts, cartoon trees, and banana trees. The chimps are characters, so they were scattered around with iClone’s Motion Director.
Basically, if it’s a prop, you can duplicate and scatter it up to 99 at a time. A really handy tool with 5 Star reviews as of this writing
After that you simply, and I mean simply, select what you want to be duplicated and scattered, set the number of copies up to 99, and choose the XYZ parameters for the scatter. You can also randomly color the props with the Red Green Blue boxes, at various strengths, which I did for the huts in the demo image as the original had a white body.
A nice tip from the vendor is to use physics to populate uneven terrain. It is explained in the readme text but basically, you set up the physics on your first object, like a rock, in this case, Dynamic with dampening around 2000 to slow down the objects while they settle into place. You also turn on the terrain physics to catch the falling props thereby allowing them to settle on uneven terrain. I used box collision instead of self-mesh as I wanted the bottom of the collision box to be large enough to keep the prop from falling over. Then you turn off physics or turn off the physics settings on the props. Group select, right-click and remove animation to hold them in place.
In the image of the menu, I used the tool to drop and scatter the toadstool huts, cartoon trees, and banana trees. The chimps are characters, so they were scattered around with iClone’s Motion Director.
Basically, if it’s a prop, you can duplicate and scatter it up to 99 at a time. A really handy tool with 5 Star reviews as of this writing
Now on to the Iconic Hero Motions pack from the Content Store. This is another professionally produced group of mocap motions that mimic such iconic moves as two-handed swordplay, War Hammer, and Battle Axe motions along with martial arts, double dagger, double ring blade, scythe, spear, and others for hero and heroine characters.
From Reallusion:
48 must-have motions for character designers to display heroic male and female actors! All animations have been attentively captured with professional stunt actors in a state-of-the-art optical motion capture studio. Careful motion planning and accurate mocap data analysis deliver high realism, loop-and-blend ready animations to bring your characters to the next level.
These motions are designed and tailored to diverse pre-modern weapons like swords, blades, axes, blunt weapons, and so on, which are categorized by single handed, double handed, dual wielding, and barehanded that can enhance the dramatic visual impact of any scene. All motions are 100% royalty-free and can be exported as FBX for use in real-time game engines like Unity, Unreal, CryEngine, Game Maker, and more.
These are cool moves like strutting and taunting. Smashing blows from the hammer and deadly swipes from the scythe. The motions are grouped in the following folders:
· Single Handed
· Double Handed
· Dual Wielding
· Barehanded
· Walk and Idle
These Reallusion motions are drag and drop easy to use and editable in the timeline like all iClone motions. You can break, blend, slow down, and speed up sections of the motion to customize them to your needs. According to the website, they are inspired by classic game characters of fantasy and sci-fi.
The next time you need your warrior to flex in front of his enemies or show off his ability to look just plain old badass then this pack is something you need to check out. Like a lot of Reallusion motion packs, this was fun to work with too which makes this pack a great solution for action promos, scenes, or cutscenes.
From Reallusion:
48 must-have motions for character designers to display heroic male and female actors! All animations have been attentively captured with professional stunt actors in a state-of-the-art optical motion capture studio. Careful motion planning and accurate mocap data analysis deliver high realism, loop-and-blend ready animations to bring your characters to the next level.
These motions are designed and tailored to diverse pre-modern weapons like swords, blades, axes, blunt weapons, and so on, which are categorized by single handed, double handed, dual wielding, and barehanded that can enhance the dramatic visual impact of any scene. All motions are 100% royalty-free and can be exported as FBX for use in real-time game engines like Unity, Unreal, CryEngine, Game Maker, and more.
These are cool moves like strutting and taunting. Smashing blows from the hammer and deadly swipes from the scythe. The motions are grouped in the following folders:
· Single Handed
· Double Handed
· Dual Wielding
· Barehanded
· Walk and Idle
These Reallusion motions are drag and drop easy to use and editable in the timeline like all iClone motions. You can break, blend, slow down, and speed up sections of the motion to customize them to your needs. According to the website, they are inspired by classic game characters of fantasy and sci-fi.
The next time you need your warrior to flex in front of his enemies or show off his ability to look just plain old badass then this pack is something you need to check out. Like a lot of Reallusion motion packs, this was fun to work with too which makes this pack a great solution for action promos, scenes, or cutscenes.
M.D. McCallum, aka WarLord, is an international award-winning commercial graphics artist, 3D animator, published author, project director, and webmaster with a freelance career that spans over 20 years. Now retired, M.D. is currently working part-time on writing and select character development projects. You can learn more about MD on his website. 
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