Producing Standard Characters with G5 Character Templates

Producing a standard G5 character for use in iClone 5 is easier than ever. You do not need to create the body mesh and bone structure from scratch, which saves you immeasurable amounts of time when it comes to character creation. Reallusion provides two G5 character templates; one is standard male and the other is standard female.

By opening the template and modifying the bones and meshes within 3ds Max 2010 or newer version, you can easily create your own custom G5 characters.

Using Layer Methods to Show/Hide Specific Items

For the convenience of editing and viewing, the bone structure and the meshes of the characters in the templates are all distributed into different layers for distinction. You can show or hide the layers according to your editing needs.

G5_Bone_Base: Contains all the base bones for setting character poses or adjusting the size of the body parts.

G5_Bone_Twist: Contains all the twist bones that are used for outer mesh manipulation.

G5_Bone_Nub: Contains all the end bones in the skeletal hierarchy.

 
 

G5_Contacts: Contains all the contact markers and the position dummy for holding accessories.

 
 

G5_Facial_BoneDummy: Contains all the facial bones for changing the facial features or making expressions. They are triggered to move by adjustments of the facial controls.

G5_Mesh_Head: Contains the head mesh for skinning. It includes the face, eyes, eyelashes, tongue, and teeth meshes.

 
 

G5_Mesh_Body: Contains all the body part meshes, including the upper body, lower body, hands, and feet.

G5_Mesh_Hair: Contains the hair mesh for skinning. It also includes a position dummy.

 
 

G5_Facial_Control: It contains all the controls that trigger the facial bones to move for generating various facial expressions.

Scaling Bones to Alter Body Size

In addition to changing the proportions of the body parts in iClone 5, you can also perform the same task in 3ds Max 2010 to produce the same result. In the example provided here, you will learn how to change the default G5 male template into a short man by scaling the base bones of the character.

  1. Show the head/body meshes and the base bones by enabling the G5_Mesh_Head, G5_Mesh_Body and G5_Bone_Base layers.
  2. Select both the head and body meshes and press Ctrl + X. The selected mesh will then turn semi-transparent.
  3. Make sure the head and body meshes are still selected; right click and choose the Freeze Selection command in the pop-up menu. This makes it easier to pick base bones faster and easier.
  4. Since the head and body meshes are already skinned to the corresponding bones, all you have to do next is individually scale the base bones and the meshes will subsequently be scaled according to the same ratio.

    5. Note:

    • Make sure the Auto Key mode is turned off.
    • Scaling bones must be done individually; never select multiple bones and scale at the same time as this may cause bone-offsetting issues.
    • You must switch to the Local-axis mode before starting to scale any bone.
  5. You are now free to adjust the sizes of the base bones according to your preference. In theory, all the base bones may be scaled.
  6. After resizing, the character will float in the air. You will need to move the world Z axis of the RL_Hips to make the soles snap to the ground.

    7. Before adjustments

    Move the RL_Hips down to make the feet snap on the ground.

  7. Enable the G5_Contacts layer to show all the contact markers around the feet.
  8. Go to frame 500 (T-pose) and adjust the sole markers to horizontally snap to the ground.
  9. If you resize the hands, please be sure to also relocate the contact markers to the proper positions.
  10. Go to frame 500 and check the character's T-pose positioning.
  11. Export the new character. For more information, please refer to the Exporting with Reallusion 3Ds Max 2010 Plug-in section.
  12. Load the character into iClone 5 and you now have a character with a new physique.