In nuce: Icosa Gallery has released the latest version of the open-source VR sketching app Open Brush, making Open Brush 2.0 available. With the release of Open Brush 2.0, the app is also celebrating its two-year anniversary. The software is based on Tilt Brush, which was previously developed by Google. Digital Production last reported on Tilt Brush on 9 November 2017. Open Brush has been open source since 2021 and will no longer be pursued as a commercial project.

Open Brush v2.0

In toto: Below are some of the key features of Open Brush 2.0 – in addition to the fact that the app has been upgraded to the latest version of the Unity game engine.

• Support for a Layers System: Up to eight layers can be selected. This should improve clarity when working with large sketches.
• Pressure sensitivity for brushes: Some brushes now have pressure sensitivity – depending on how hard the user grips their input device, strokes appear more or less forceful.
• Up to 10 times the bit rate: Sketching is said to have become noticeably more performant – with a leap in performance from 5 frames per second to 50.
• Support for OpenXR extensions: Virtual reality and mixed reality applications are hereby supported – and Open Brush usable for a wider range of hardware offerings. This includes an extension that allows users of Meta Quest headsets to draw within a mixed reality environment.
• Two new tools: The Snip and Join tools have been added to the toolbox. With these tools, existing brushstrokes can either be halved using the control point or two existing brushstrokes can be joined together.

Clicked further: To the announcement of the release of Open Brush 2.0 or to the corresponding GitHub. Users can find out where Open Brush is available from via docs.openbrush.app . Digital Production reported on the previous version Open Brush 1.0 on 2 March 2022 – and on the new functions Lazy Input and other feature delights.

Source: cgchannel.com ( report by Jim Thacker)

The post Drawing with VR glasses – and in 3D space? first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

• What is the Virtual Production Lab? The workshop teaches core competences in the field of virtual and mixed reality production
• Cooperation with Film University Babelsberg: Experts from the field and professors from Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf will be lecturing
• The deadline: The application deadline is 31.01.2022. The workshops will take place between 14 and 18 March 2022 in German and English

In nuce: Apply for the Virtual Production Lab of the Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf and the Erich Pommer Institute!

What is the Virtual Production Lab? The workshop teaches core competences in the field of virtual and mixed reality production. The target group is film and television professionals who are interested in the new technologies. The lab is particularly suitable for creative professionals from the fields of production, editing, camera, directing and creative technologies.

Cooperation with Babelsberg Film University: National and international experts from the field as well as professors from Babelsberg Film University Konrad Wolf will impart their knowledge as part of the training programme. These include Prof. Dr Lena Gieseke (image-oriented media technology), Silke Buhr (production designer and film architect) and Frank Govaere and Adrian Weber (both from Halostage).

The key dates: The application deadline is 31 January 2022 and the workshops will take place between 14 and 18 March 2022 in German and English. All further information can be obtained from the Erich Pommer Institute itself.

Tip for those who are undecided: Today, 25 January at 19:00, you will get a little foretaste of what to expect in the workshop at the online info evening .

The post Filmuni Babelsberg organises the Virtual Production Lab first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

Reallusion has released the iClone Connector for NVIDIA Omniverse. The new Omniverse Connector adds a complete character animation pipeline to the Omniverse Create and Omniverse Machinima applications.
When the Character Creator (CC) Omniverse Connector launched in April 2021, designers of all experience levels were able to efficiently and easily create digital humans for any type of project. Reallusion is now expanding the pipeline and providing all the tools for full character performance with straightforward face and body control with the new iClone Omniverse Connector.
During the NVIDIA GTC, from 8 to 11 November 2021, interested parties were able to experience the tools live. At the show, Reallusion presented an exclusive session on the debut of the iClone Omniverse Connector. Reallusion also gave a presentation in the NVIDIA Omniverse User Group and demonstrated the iClone Character Animation Workflow for Omniverse.

The heart of animation production

Digital humans play an important role in the meta-verse, but creating character animations often involves extensive expertise and high costs. iClone offers an innovative way to customise animations for different characters with its fast and intuitive animation production system.

The iClone Omniverse Connector simplifies character facial morph animation, body animation, props, camera, lighting and scene setup and exports everything to Omniverse. By combining iClone 7 and Omniverse, individual users or design teams can create, animate and deploy digital humans and 3D characters for simulations and visualisations.

Omniverse is a fantastic addition that enables live coordination with other 3D tools or with other programmes via the USD Data Interchange Standard

Support for photorealistic simulation

NVIDIA Omniverse is an open platform for virtual interaction and real-time photorealistic simulation. Thanks to USD and Omniverse Nucleus Service technology, developers can connect different USD-compatible applications and interact in the same Omniverse rendering viewport or collaborate virtually across the world without boundaries.

Comprehensive character rendering with straightforward face and body controls

Whether you’re creating a functional crowd simulation or telling a cinematic story, iClone gives you the ability to animate scenes with impressive characters and provides you with the tools to make your animations even more flexible.
The iClone character animation system consists of tools for lip-sync, facial expression and body animation. Equipped with state-of-the-art mocap technology and a huge library of high-quality character assets and movements from ActorCore, developers can easily create character animations with this all-in-one platform.

Developers can send the entire iClone project to Omniverse with one click or selectively edit a specific element in an iterative design process and view the progress of the work in Omniverse in near real-time with enhanced graphics.

Seamless integration with Omniverse Audio2Face – multilingual, AI-driven voice output for animations

The combination of iClone and Omniverse helps a variety of industries to access characters and use them as actors, virtual presenters or people for simulations and visualisations. In this optimised combination, Audio2Face simplifies the process of head mesh wrapping with presets of CC characters. Audio2Face generates expressive point-cache lip-sync animations from voices, with optional facial styles and adjustable intensity levels. Finally, the facial animation can be baked as iClone face morphs and loaded back into iClone. Creators can further tweak the lip details with iClone’s proprietary lip sync technology and add natural facial expressions or body movements to complete the character animation.

Photorealistic lighting and post effects in real time

Automatically transfer lights and settings from iClone – IBL, directional light, spotlight, point light, light shapes and emitting materials. Physically accurate Omniverse path-traced lighting adds realism with global illumination, natural light reflections, accurate shadows, scalable light shapes and time-of-day simulation. Additional visual effects can be achieved with Omniverse post-processing.

Directing film cameras – DOF, motion blur

Automatically transfer the properties of your iClone cameras and DOF settings, with the option to save iClone multi-camera sequences to an animated Omniverse camera. Additional camera effects such as motion blur can be added by Omniverse.

Give all objects an authentic look

Automatic conversion of iClone PBR materials, SSS and Digital Human Shaders to Omniverse MDL materials. The associated textures and material attributes are mapped accordingly.

Extensive character assets & motions for USD

ActorCore allows you to quickly search, view and download photorealistic 3D people for AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) simulation. ActorCore also offers thousands of AAA quality mocap motions that can be further edited in iClone and transferred to USD for Omniverse.

download iClone 7 & Character Creator 3

Get the tools to create Omniverse-ready digital humans and character animations. Download a trial version of iClone and Character Creator to design customised characters and create character animations with ease. Get started with free video tutorials.

The post Reallusion releases iClone Connector for NVIDIA Omniverse first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.