Animation films use digital actors. Actors that have to be created. Character Creator, an add-on tool for iClone 6, allows users to chreate unique 3D characters and give them life. Here are the winning examples from the 2016 contest.

First place on iClone 2016 3D Character Design Contest goes to Lilia Vorontsova, a newcomer who has managed to come a long way in such a short time as she is currently studying 3D. Her Ukrainian warrior character Kossack-kharacternyck entry showed great sculpting skill with remarkable design quality that were both functional and original. Lilia also demonstrated great learning abilities by fully employing the iClone Animation Pipeline to fully rig and animate her character, while genuinely sharing her inspirations and progress along the way.

Character Creator (CC) is a FREE add-on tool for iClone 6 that can create realistic looking, animation-ready 3D human characters for use with iClone and other 3D tools. Unique character designs are created through the use of shape morphs, customizable high-resolution skin textures, and outfits with clothing containing your own fabric designs.

iClone 6 is real-time 3D animation for digital actors, virtual environments, visual effects with drag & drop editing, powerful physics and easy plug-in compatibility, designed for creativity in storytelling and broadcast production, education & previzualization. Professionals and beginners can take advantage of tons of pre-made content and smart interactivity between actors and environment that make animation fun and intuitive. Easily create & customize, direct actors, props, scenes, vehicles, lighting, cameras and dynamic material channel settings, all with stunning ultra-realistic rendering.

The contest created by Reallusion is centered on these two tools from its portfolio. 3D character design has proven to be one of the most challenging tasks for 3D artists, as creating fully animatable 3D characters often requires a multi-disciplinary team. To address this Reallusion provided contestants with the iClone Character Creator tool. This is one of the most versatile 3D character solutions that has changed the character design workflow through a creation system that includes fast avatar slider morphing, free-to-dress capabilities, fully rigged face and body animation, along with multiple accessory usage for unlimited possibilities in one free, easy to use application.

The second place winner is Olga Anufrieva with her charmingly cute doll character! This cuteness overdose had the judges of the contest blushing thanks to its own original style, high quality sculpting, and overall greatness. In her entry, Olga demonstrated great proficiency in retopology, texturing, and painting. The judges added that “we were also treated to a couple of very nice work in progress videos that demonstrated Olga’s journey in turning her charming vision into a 2nd place powerhouse winner!”.

The third place went to Adolf Navarro, which his a popular name in the iClone universe.The judges noted that “this talented iCloner has managed to consistently join the ranks as one of the best 3D artists, winning back-to-back prizes in all of our recent competitions!”.

This year Adolf Navarro slides into 3rd Prize with his Antareus – Ancient Greek Warrior. In this entry Adolf demonstrated great skill, detail, use of Character Creator, and, add the judges, “a tremendous work in progress thread that made these top prizes very difficult to judge. In the end Adolf also treated us to an amazing showcase video that was the best in the competition!”

Adolf Navarro also won the “Best Use of iClone”. The judges commented that “top-notch work is impossible to ignore, and Adolf continues to surprise not just the Reallusion team, but the entire 3D Community with his amazing talent for cinematics, art creation, character design, creativity and vision. In his entry, Adolf’s skill with iClone secured him one more spot in the competition, proving once more that this upcoming TV show producer is only getting started!”

John Martin, Vice President Reallusion, stated “This year’s competition has been amazing. Creating 3D animatable characters can be a huge challenge however in providing entrants with pre-rigged, universal morph-ready quad avatar designs; we have got some fantastic results. Reallusion extends massive congratulations to the Best 3D Character First Prize winner Lilia Vorontsova and all those who entered this year’s competition and a big thank you to all our partners and sponsors.”

To see all the winners in the different categories, visit the webpages created by Reallusion.