There’s a popular trend that’s taken off in the last couple of years called machinima, which is about using games or low-cost 3D software to create short 3D films on ordinary home computers (it's a combination of 'machine' and 'animate').

There are lots of machinima clips available on Youtube and there was even a recent soft drink advert done in machinima as a spoof of the Grand Theft Auto computer game.

The problem with machinima is that most 3D computer graphics programs are pretty complicated – even the less expensive ones such as iClone, which is specifically aimed at home users and amateur filmmakers. We’ve looked at iClone in the past, and while it does provide genuinely impressive 3D graphics tools at a very attractive price, it was then complicated to use.

Creating 3D graphics is simple enough, as the program provides an extensive selection of ready-made graphics that can be used, including models of male and female characters as well as props such as cars, animals and trees that can be used to populate 3D scenes. However, the process of animating 3D characters was rather laborious and time-consuming – and matters weren’t helped by some basic flaws such as the lack of undo and redo commands.

Thankfully, iClone 3 rectifies some of those flaws, starting with a multiple-undo command that makes it much easier to correct mistakes as you go along.
There are some bigger changes as well, such as the new twin-mode approach to animation. If you want really precise control over the animation process you can use the program’s standard Edit mode to adjust details such as the movement of a hand or even very fine facial expressions.

However, for quick and easy animation users can now switch to Director mode, which allows them to move their characters around using the W, A, S, and D keys on the keyboard. These are the same keys used to play most computer games, which makes it easy to move characters around the screen, and iClone will automatically record the animation sequence.

One other change is that there are now Standard and Pro versions of iClone. The Standard version costs just £65 (down from £99), while the Pro version costs about £140 and provides more powerful animation controls. To be honest, iClone is still a fairly complex program that will take some time to master, but the Standard edition makes sophisticated 3D graphics and animation accessible even to cash-strapped students and bedroom filmmakers.