The 3.5D Populous Walking People Collections are an incredibly easy way to achieve an unprecedented level of realism within your 3D scenes. The walking people, created by ArchVision and House of Moves, are high quality CG characters, each with their own walking gait and look. Like all 3D RPCs from ArchVision, the Populous characters are viewable throughout their walking cycle from anywhere on the Z-axis. This means that your characters are camera independent, allowing for stunning 3D effects as your camera moves throughout the environment.

Populous characters are ideal for use as secondary and background characters in your scenes. And when combined with 2.5D and 3D RPC content, the effect is remarkable. But more than that, it is so incredibly easy to achieve. Using the RPC Plug-in, this content is a snap to place within the scene. And the 3.5D content utilizes a built-in spline tool, making the setting of the walking path as easy as 1-2-3.

Placing People and Setting Paths.
if you need help downloading and setting up your map paths click here.

Step 1: Selecting the RPC content you want

A. Under the Creation Menu Rollout select "RPC" B. Under Content Type: Select Demo (or, if you’ve purchased an 3.5D RPC collection, select the collection from which you’d like to select C: Select the demo content by clicking on the character's name. We are using Beatrice. If you just downloaded the demo, Penny (our free sample half-resolution character) should be picked or the character of your choice if you already have a complete 3.5D library. D: Place the RPC by clicking and holding the left mouse button down in the perspective viewport. Click at the point you’d like to insert the RPC into the scene. While continuing to hold your mouse button down, move your mouse to the left and then to the right. Beatrice rotates in the direction of your mouse. Release the mouse button to continue.

Step 2: Setting the character’s walking path

A. You will now notice that a line appears starting at the front point of the Beatrice icon in the viewport. This is Beatrice’s motion spline. B: Draw the spline out away from Beatrice in the direction you’d like her to walk. Click the left mouse button each time you’d like to adjust the direction of travel. The spline will curve to intersect the points you have placed. If you’re unhappy with the motion path you can edit the spline (instructions below). When you’re finished setting the motion path, right click your mouse button to stop setting new spline points. C: Move your time slider to see the Beatrice icon slide along its motion path. You may find that you need to extend the spline to cover the distance required for the number of frames you will animate. Instructions for editing the spline are below.

Step 3: Render your character’s walking path

A. Go ahead and render your work!

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Tutorials continued:

Walking people (part2 editing your spline),