Animate for Concept Art: The New Workflow Combining AI By Bart on May 22, 2025 3D News Redefine Concept Art with Animation and AI Guidance using Reallysion's iClone.Hello, I’m Jakub Kaźmierczak, a concept artist specializing in environment concept art and key frames. I have been in the industry for the past 7 years. In my professional career, I work mostly for movies and game cinematics. Some projects being: “Three Body Problem”, “Shōgun”, “Concord”, and “Call of Duty BO6 Libertyfalls”.Integrating iClone into Your Concept Art WorkflowAs a concept artist specializing in environments and keyframes, I’m always on the lookout for tools that can streamline my workflow and help me deliver high-quality work to my clients. One such tool that has become indispensable in my process is iClone, a powerful animation software that complements Character Creator. In this article, I’ll walk you through how I use iClone to create dynamic scenes, particularly for sequence keyframes, and how it integrates seamlessly with Blender to enhance my workflow. Bridging the Gap Between Concept and AnimationiClone is primarily known as an animation tool, but as a concept artist, I don’t consider myself an animator. So, why do I use it? The answer lies in the growing demand for sequence keyframes in my professional work. Sequence keyframes involve creating multiple shots within a single location, and traditionally, this required setting up multiple cameras and manually copying characters across the scene to match each shot. It was a tedious and inefficient process.With iClone, I can now set up simple animations, export them to Blender, and animate my camera to capture all the necessary shots. This allows me to deliver multiple shots to clients with ease, iterate quickly, and focus on the overall design without worrying about the characters’ movements. The best part? You don’t need to be an expert animator to use iClone. Reallusion has made the process so intuitive that anyone can integrate it into their workflow.AccuPOSE: AI-Powered Posing Made EasyOne of the standout features of iClone is AccuPOSE, a posing assistant that uses AI to help you pose characters quickly and efficiently. In the past, I had to pose characters in Blender by moving each bone individually or importing animations and adjusting them manually. With AccuPOSE, whenever I move a bone, the rest of the body reacts to the adjustments and eventually generates a naturally balanced pose.A subscription to AccuPOSE INFINITY offers tons of AI-trained pose presets across different themes that I can directly apply to my characters. This is especially useful for creating combat scenarios or other dynamic poses for keyframes. The result? A significant reduction in posing time, allowing me to focus on the bigger picture.Creating Animations with iCloneTo create animations in iClone, all I need to do is drag motion capture data from the content library onto my characters. I should also mention that Reallusion’s ActorCore offers a wide variety of motions to choose from, and they can all be further edited.If I need to include different animations for storytelling purposes, I can easily drag the next animation onto the timeline and blend the two together for smooth transitions. I can also break the animation and rotate it to change the direction, giving me full control over the scene’s dynamics.For sequence keyframes, precision isn’t always necessary. I’m not creating a full movie — I’m presenting an idea. This flexibility allows me to experiment with different animations and camera angles without getting bogged down in the details.Crowd Simulation: Bringing Scenes to LifeOne of the most impressive features of iClone is its crowd simulation capability. In the past, animating multiple characters was a daunting task that forced me to repeat the process for each character, leading to repetitive poses and a lack of variety in the scene.With iClone’s crowd simulation, I can generate a navmesh from a ground plane, select the characters I want to include, and assign animation sets to them automatically. This creates a dynamic, lifelike crowd without the need for manual adjustments. The result is a scene that feels alive and avoids the monotony of repeated poses.Seamless Integration with BlenderBlender Auto Setup has undergone a significant overhaul, making it easier than ever to link Character Creator with Blender. Gone are the days of exporting and reimporting files; Now, everything works as one cohesive system. With just a click, I can pose, edit, and dress my characters in CC and instantly see the changes reflected in Blender’s 3D viewport. This seamless integration has been a huge time-saver, allowing me to focus more on the creative aspects of my work.Like Character Creator, iClone uses the same plugin to link with Blender. This allows me to export all my animations and see how they fit within the broader scene. The workflow is seamless, significantly speeding up my process and enabling me to make creative changes on the fly. Once the character animations are in place, I can set up simple camera movements, record the scene, and send it to my client for feedback. This iterative process ensures that the final product aligns with the client’s vision.Refining and Delivering the Final ProductAfter setting up the scene and capturing the necessary shots, the next step is to refine the keyframes, render out the final images or short videos, and deliver them to the client. This streamlined process allows me to focus on the creative aspects of my work while ensuring that the technical details are handled efficiently.Conclusion: Expanding Your Skillset with iCloneIntegrating iClone into my workflow has been a game-changer. It has allowed me to experiment with new tools, expand my skillset, and deliver high-quality work to my clients more efficiently. As a freelancer, I don’t always have the luxury of sitting next to a director and discussing shots on the spot. Creating simple animations in iClone allows me to communicate my ideas more effectively, especially when working with clients in different time zones.I encourage you to explore iClone and see how it can enhance your own workflow. Whether you’re a concept artist, animator, or somewhere in between, the ability to experiment with different creative tools can open up new opportunities and take your work to the next level.I hope this article has given you some insight into how I use iClone in my workflow. For a more detailed walkthrough, please find the full article here. Happy creating! #animate #concept #art #new #workflow