The 3D character animation software Cascadeur has been updated. According to Nekki, the company behind the product, this is a long in the works update that brings many new features.
One of the most significant new features is the Finger AutoPosing that is now available in the Pro version of Cascadeur. It is similar to the AutoPosing feature for humanoid characters which simplifies the body posing process considerably.
Finger AutoPosing adds AutoPosing controllers to the characters fingers. Whenever the user modifies the position of a finger, the advanced AI of Cascadeur automatically adjusts the entire hand, resulting in a natural and realistic pose.
In addition to Finger AutoPosing, there's now a new Video MoCap feature. Cascadeur now offers the capability to import images and videos and automatically detect poses within them. These detected poses can then be applied to characters.
The MoCap feature is currently in the early stages of development. It's then important to note that the performance is still relatively slow at this point in time. Nonetheless, Nekki intends to improve this feature and increase the capture speed in future updates.
This update also presents a new Control Picker where you can quickly select different parts of the character's rig. You can select the limbs, head, body, and so on. With the inclusion of customizable buttons, there's now a more convenient way to access groups of controllers. This eliminates the need to individually select them within the viewport window.
Cascadeur is now also available on MacOS. This version is currently in Beta and joins the previously available builds for Windows and Linux. Notice that Cascadeur for Mac requires an ARM CPU, like the M1 or M2.
For a complete list of features and improvements in this update have a look at the release notes.
Cascadeur 2023.1 is now available for use by choosing a plan on Cascadeur's website.
