While After Effects and similar applications are usually what comes to mind for a lot of Renderosity community members when compositing animated renders there are a fair number of users that never think of applications like iClone for that purpose. To many users, it is an animation app but to those that grasp 3D space, it is much more than that.
In this example, we are going to look at using a 2D video background of rolling badlands with one vehicle prop and character. Then we are going to use an image overlay to knock down the sharpness of the video and blend it with the rolling background. And we will throw in a few dust and dirt particles too.
The badlands video was created in Unreal Engine 5 with a cinematic camera actor moving along a very large badlands desert type of scene. While we will use it as the background of the workspace you could also drag and drop it onto a plane and size it appropriately or use a billboard if available. A billboard in this case, for those that are new to this, is a plane that always faces the camera regardless of location.
Since I am only using one shot, straight on like they have done since the old black-and-white movie days I’ll be using the video as the workspace background. It automatically fills the space, but it won’t rotate.
Tip: When working with 2D images in 3D space it can help to turn on the grid so you can line it up with your camera shot. iClone has the camera angled in the default project so the grid provides a visual reference to line up the 3D space with the background. This doesn’t have to be done but if you want any hassles with the pivots and roots, I’d line it up.
In this example, we are going to look at using a 2D video background of rolling badlands with one vehicle prop and character. Then we are going to use an image overlay to knock down the sharpness of the video and blend it with the rolling background. And we will throw in a few dust and dirt particles too.
The badlands video was created in Unreal Engine 5 with a cinematic camera actor moving along a very large badlands desert type of scene. While we will use it as the background of the workspace you could also drag and drop it onto a plane and size it appropriately or use a billboard if available. A billboard in this case, for those that are new to this, is a plane that always faces the camera regardless of location.
Since I am only using one shot, straight on like they have done since the old black-and-white movie days I’ll be using the video as the workspace background. It automatically fills the space, but it won’t rotate.
Tip: When working with 2D images in 3D space it can help to turn on the grid so you can line it up with your camera shot. iClone has the camera angled in the default project so the grid provides a visual reference to line up the 3D space with the background. This doesn’t have to be done but if you want any hassles with the pivots and roots, I’d line it up.
Once the video has been dropped into the workspace background I added the vehicle and the character as one unit. Neither was animated at this point. The character was attached to the vehicle while his hands were attached via reach targets to the steering which moved independently. This meant all we had to do was move the steering wheel and the character’s hands and arms would follow, which makes it very easy to animate driving motions.
After I dumped these into the workspace, I lined up the camera shot while in preview mode. This is probably one of the easiest shots to line up. Just remember to get the most out of the shot as you can.
One thing about the camera. Once you set your shot view in Preview be sure to create a new camera from that view so you can use the preview camera to move around and work with the character and vehicle while using the camera to preserve the shot.
Since I have a moving background, I did not have to move the vehicle. Only rotate the tires and add some bumps if needed. You can see a theme emerging here. I am cutting every animation corner I can before we have even come to the actual animation part of the project. Planning ahead can make things move more smoothly.
For the main character animation, I used the motion puppet with the limbs masked using a motion that made the character move and look around. Since the hands had reach targets on the steering wheel all I had to do was move the steering wheel a bit, move down the timeline, move the steering wheel back to neutral, move down the time, and so forth. This did not require animation layers, but I could have used them to add more complex movements.
At this point, there is a sharp, very clean look and we want to tone that down, so I used a dirt-colored solid image layer over the front of it all with the opacity set to 51 percent. This varies depending on your image. A quick and dirty way to achieve similar results is to use the diffuse image, blurred using the Adjust Color popup menu for the image layer. It can sometimes produce what looks like whisps of fog while dulling the sharp contrast of the workspace.
iClone 8 continues to show its versatility in production and ease of use. 2D images and videos are important assets that add a lot of pop to a scene when used properly. Next time you need a quick, one-view filler shot, use iClone to get it done quickly and efficiently.
After I dumped these into the workspace, I lined up the camera shot while in preview mode. This is probably one of the easiest shots to line up. Just remember to get the most out of the shot as you can.
One thing about the camera. Once you set your shot view in Preview be sure to create a new camera from that view so you can use the preview camera to move around and work with the character and vehicle while using the camera to preserve the shot.
Since I have a moving background, I did not have to move the vehicle. Only rotate the tires and add some bumps if needed. You can see a theme emerging here. I am cutting every animation corner I can before we have even come to the actual animation part of the project. Planning ahead can make things move more smoothly.
For the main character animation, I used the motion puppet with the limbs masked using a motion that made the character move and look around. Since the hands had reach targets on the steering wheel all I had to do was move the steering wheel a bit, move down the timeline, move the steering wheel back to neutral, move down the time, and so forth. This did not require animation layers, but I could have used them to add more complex movements.
At this point, there is a sharp, very clean look and we want to tone that down, so I used a dirt-colored solid image layer over the front of it all with the opacity set to 51 percent. This varies depending on your image. A quick and dirty way to achieve similar results is to use the diffuse image, blurred using the Adjust Color popup menu for the image layer. It can sometimes produce what looks like whisps of fog while dulling the sharp contrast of the workspace.
iClone 8 continues to show its versatility in production and ease of use. 2D images and videos are important assets that add a lot of pop to a scene when used properly. Next time you need a quick, one-view filler shot, use iClone to get it done quickly and efficiently.
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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