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For anyone involved in 3D character animation, fluid realistic motion is probably the hardest most time consuming aspect of your profession. How can an animator offer clients realistic character movement at a rate that won't break the bank? With Life Forms.
Life Forms by Credo of Vancouver, BC is the program of choice for affordable character animation on the desktop platform. Compatible with Mac and Windows 95/98/2000/NT (with service pack 4.x), Life Forms 3.9 is an animator's dream application when building complex human or animal character motion. For many animators, this is the preferred method for animating human forms without using expensive motion capture technology.
Life Forms is available in two versions: Dance 3.9 is specific to dance choreography and Studio is designed with the needs of character animators in mind.
Life Forms is not a 3D modeler. Its purpose is to create the motion you later apply to characters created in sophisticated 3D modeling and animation programs. In Life Forms, the animator uses a stick figure-like model to key frame movement. You can also import a custom model built elsewhere and, using a technique called joint mapping, configure the model to work within Life Forms.
If you build your motion in Life Forms and import a custom model, by matching the bones of the custom character to those of the Life Forms default model, the imported character assumes all movement originally assigned in Life Forms. This motion can be exported for use in a number of popular 3D animation programs including Lightwave, 3D Studio, ElectricImage, trueSpace, and Cinema4D. With support for the BioVision Acclaim and HTR motion formats, support is extended to include Poser, Maya, and more.
The software ships with two volumes of motion data. This is data either captured with motion capture technology or professionally key frame animated. Either way, this data can be applied to 3D models created in other programs. Individual movements from this motion data can be strung along using morph features that create smooth transitions between movements. This same technique can be used to marry multiple movements you create yourself and save in the programis library. Life Forms is also used for editing motion capture or key frame data created in other applications.
First Impressions
Upon launching the...