Why do my characters look better in CC than in iClone?

iClone General
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1

Hello everyone,

I’ve noticed my characters look fantastic and high-end inside Character Creator. However, as soon as I send them to iClone, they lose their “punch.” They appear duller, flatter, and generally less polished.

I understand that while they belong to the same ecosystem, they don’t share the exact same viewport settings, and the default lighting setups differ significantly between the two programs.

1- Is it just the lighting? Is the difference purely a matter of Lightroom presets and Atmosphere settings, or are there underlying shader/render engine differences I should be aware of?
2- Is there a specific guide, manual, or community preset that allows iClone’s viewport to replicate the exact visual quality (lighting, shadows, AO) of the CC4/CC5 default stage?
3. If I animate a character in iClone and then export it to Unity, will the final visual result be identical to a direct export from Character Creator to Unity? Or does the “duller” look in iClone carry over to the FBX/Game Engine?

Miara CC5
Miara CC51293×1073 126 KB

Miara Iclone
Miara Iclone1920×1080 132 KB

Thanks in advance for your help!

2

Take a look for default CC5 lighting in the stage subsection. It should be a part of the CC5 characters Pack which is a free pack.

Theres a default CC background in there as well.

3

iClone and CC use the same engine, so as long as you use the same lighting setup, they can look identical.

Because iClone needs to be a bit snappier for animation, it can be switched to a lower display mode though to conserve resources. Have a look at the top menu bar, next to the camera icon you’ll see a dropdown for High/Medium/Quick Mode. When set to high, it should look like the CC viewport. Judging by your second screenshot, you may be in Medium or Quick Mode.

In addition, there’s an option to use Auxiliary Lighting (little sunlight icon in the toolbar). This gives a sort of camera headlamp, useful in dark areas. It’s a working light, check if it’s enabled (if it is, it means the viewport won’t reflect the light preset to help you in darker areas).

Hope this helps!