iClone

iClone is basically a complimentary 3D animation application to full 3D animation programs. It has a set of tools for creating virtual actors, objects, scenarios as well as adding motion to them.

Users will be able to render the animations into Flash movies or High-Definition videos to hard drives or SD cards, so the program can be used with video editing and other 3D modeling programs.

With iClone, users will be able to create virtual actors, design their clothing and animate them. But this isn’t all: they can also make scenarios, set motion paths, cameras and lighting, insert special effects, set up different animation outputs and more.

In this new version, iClone developers have gone ahead and added Smoother Animation, which means the Motion Path function, was improved in terms of speed, orientation setup, and transition curves. Developer also changed the editing control and included a reverse path too in the Motion Path function.

Another feature worth mentioning is the brand new built-in Facial Editor; this allows users to animate faces and mouths of virtual actors (practice known as facial pupeteering) improving the quality of animation and sparing users the need to use another 3D editing software for this purpose. Further enhancements include easier object manipulation and new pre-designed characters and objects.

It is important to point out that if you are new to animation programs, it's necessary that you check the system compatibility and basics, for a good graphic card is required (like ATI or Nvidia).