SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 23, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Reallusion's 2021 iClone Lip Sync Animation Contest launched in July 2021 with the aim of delivering the best 30-second animations that showcase lip-sync, facial animation, and great characters. Within 3 months, there were 468 submissions documented among 60 countries. Contestants were inspired by comedy, movies, music videos, storytelling and remaking them into detailed lip-sync animation performances. Besides using iClone and Character Creator software, the contest also welcomed diverse entries using different renders and engines including Blender, Cinema4D, Unreal, Unity, and more.

The final result exemplified iClone's game-changing facial animation workflow for accurate voice lip-sync, puppet emotive expressions, muscle-based face key editing, and professional iPhone facial data capturing. A third of submissions using Blender and MetaHuman demonstrated that iClone is a highly compatible facial animation pipeline tool used by Unreal MetaHuman and Blender users, along with Replica's AI-voice plugin that made text- to-animations easier than ever.

"At Reallusion we are proud to see an influx of high-level artists that are adopting Character Creator and iClone into their pipelines. The contest proved the viability of using iClone's powerful lip-syncing and facial animation tools in professional production when time and budget are of the essence. We congratulate all who participated, and look forward to bringing more innovations to the industry." – Enoc Burgos, Reallusion Director of Partnership Marketing

The 2021 iClone Lip Sync Animation Contest was hosted by Reallusion and sponsored by industry leaders including; NVIDIA, Epic Games, Noitom, Rokoko, Replica Studios, Pixologic, CLO Virtual Fashion Inc, FXHome, Boris FX, and Razer. Through this contest, iClone and Character Creator prove to be one of the most powerful facial and body animation pipelines for all animators.

Watch overview video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c1HvTBFycY

WINNERS

The iClone Lip-Sync Animation Contest 2021 offered cash and prizes valued at over USD$40,000 thanks to A-list sponsors that partnered with Reallusion.

BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION CATEGORY

Animations that captured the best lip-sync accuracy, delivering realistic and believable facial expressions.

1st Place: Ice Queen
By Loic Bramoulle, Cinematics for indies and AA studios. Render: Blender
Video: https://youtu.be/R3-V1t-LJWg
See their process: https://www.artstation.com/liok/blog

2nd Place: Do Right, Jessica Rabbit
By Jasper Hesseling, Story loving, professional 3D Artist. Render: iClone
Video: https://youtu.be/SnTnsfhuk_Y
See their process: https://www.artstation.com/mastajappa/blog

3rd Place: Love, Rosie
By Petar Puljiz, Unreal 3D Artist. Render: Unreal
Video: https://youtu.be/pJCs4nIu2Uk
See their process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvJkzwcNPZY

BEST CHARACTER DESIGN CATEGORY

Characters that showcased exceptional character design, character-setting, and voice matching.

1st Place: The Pumpkin Cave
By Varuna Darensbourg, Artist & Game Developer. Render: Unreal
Video: https://youtu.be/SZhOVjVr0Xc
See their process: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/v2Lr4v

2nd Place: Judar
By Gergana Hristova, Freelance 3D Artist. Render: iClone
Video: https://youtu.be/LIag5UG3mU0
See their process: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR94-vbrsGhkPPBrQhJKCh_C4Zry_42vR

3rd Place: Animal Farm
By Jason Taylor, Videographer and Director. Render: Unity
Video: https://youtu.be/mu3Vf6oNQDQ
See their process: https://youtu.be/7iN-FnY_Kfc

SPECIAL AWARDS & HONORABLE MENTIONS

The judging process for the "Lip-Sync Animation Contest 2021" proved to be quite difficult and took many hours of deliberation. Besides the top 3 placements from Best Character Animation & Best Character Design, Reallusion also selected 41 winners for special awards and Honorable Mentions. See the Winner Page for winner details and showcases.

Media Contact

Finnie Lu, Reallusion Inc., 886975912701, Email Contact

JOHN MARTIN II, Reallusion Inc., 6156738814, Email Contact

SOURCE Reallusion Inc.