How FCN brought the Bible to life with Reallusion 3D tools

FCN Producciones, based in Heredia, Costa Rica, operates as the production division of US-based non-profit Fore Christ, Inc., creating value-driven media content and community programs that transcend cultural barriers.

Starting as a small operation, FCN has evolved into an advanced studio specialising in virtual productions for international television and digital platforms, focusing on immersive visual storytelling that brings biblical narratives to contemporary audiences through cutting-edge 3D animation and virtual production technology, exemplified by their flagship series Walking by the Word, which combines scriptural stories with modern virtual environments.

Through innovative use of technology, FCN Producciones has pioneered a real-time production workflow that combines tools like Unreal Engine, Aximmetry, and Reallusion’s Character Creator and iClone, its AI-enhanced AccuPOSE tools, and the iClone Unreal LIVE LINK plugin. This workflow allows them to create, animate, and integrate 3D characters and scenes with a level of efficiency and detail that matches the visual demands of today’s media landscape.

How FCN Recreated Biblical Stories with Reallusion 3D Tools | Character Creator, iClone, ActorCore - YouTube

Watch On

The creative process

FCN Producciones recently had the opportunity to bring its content to an international network broadcasting via satellite throughout the United States and Latin America. This new partnership required it to adapt to precise formatting and duration requirements, prompting the team to re-record three pivotal episodes: Bethlehem, The Ministry of Jesus, and The Crucifixion.

Character creation with Reallusion tools

When FCN first began producing Walking by the Word, one of its greatest challenges involved animated character quality. As Jonathan Williamson, the President of Fore Christ, Inc., explains, “If you look at some of our earlier episodes, you’ll notice that the quality was honestly a little bit low. The animations were very blocky, very jumpy, and we didn’t have any way of actually customising the clothing they were wearing.”

Everything changed when they discovered Reallusion’s software suite. “Once we began working with Reallusion, it gave us a new ability to make more real characters,” Jonathan notes.

“We were able to start creating and customising clothes, customising the animations to make it seem as if they were interacting. It made them seem more real, and that lent to a much greater quality in production for all of our episodes and programs.”

Character Creator became the primary platform for generating biblical characters from scratch. The team designed everything from body types and skin tones to period-appropriate clothing and accessories.

For the Bethlehem episode, they created detailed characters, including baby Jesus, while The Ministry of Jesus and The Crucifixion required diverse figures with historically accurate attire and props such as vessels and Roman weaponry.

Each character was meticulously crafted using Character Creator‘s sophisticated toolkit, including Transfer Skin, Wave, Comfort Adjust, and Edit Mesh functions to achieve realistic and contextually appropriate appearances.

The character base technology within Character Creator proved invaluable for ensuring historical accuracy while maintaining visual coherence across different scenes and episodes.

Animation workflow and integration

Once characters were designed, FCN utilised Reallusion’s animation tools to bring them to life. iClone served as the team's primary animation platform, allowing them to apply base animations from extensive motion libraries while making precise adjustments for each scene.

iClone AccuPOSE became an essential tool for refining character movements and expressions.

Giovanni Rojas Alfaro, 3D Generalist for Virtual Production, explains, “For scenes that required more complex movements or specific postures, we turned to iClone AccuPOSE, which allowed us to intuitively manipulate the character’s entire body. We could move one part of the body and see how others adjust automatically in a natural way.”

For crowd scenes, the team used iClone Crowd Simulation to create believable background activity and navigation paths that enhanced the environmental storytelling without overwhelming their system resources.

The iClone Unreal LIVE LINK feature proved particularly valuable, enabling seamless transfer of characters and animations directly into Unreal Engine scenes, maintaining visual fidelity and animation quality throughout the pipeline.

Technical integration

One key technical challenge that FCN faced was the use of Aximmetry as the final production engine. Unlike standard setups, Aximmetry operates on a modified version of Unreal Engine, which often creates compatibility issues with third-party plugins.

“One of the key points of our workflow is that we use Aximmetry as the final production engine. Unlike other systems, Aximmetry operates on a modified version of Unreal Engine, which often causes incompatibilities with many plugins. However, Reallusion tools like iClone and LIVE LINK are fully compatible with this customised version of Unreal,” said Minor Cortés Chinchilla, Virtual Production Technical Director.

This compatibility proved decisive in their tool selection process, as it allowed for a seamless workflow from character creation through final production. Minor’s team developed a systematic approach.

Their workflow involved accurately replicating terrain and environmental elements within iClone to test animations, utilising the Unreal LIVE LINK plugin to select and transfer meshes or element sets directly from Unreal Engine as reference meshes.

These reference meshes enabled precise character positioning and interactions, ensuring natural walking on terrain and proper alignment with environmental obstacles throughout their animation process.

Problem solving

The FCN team tackled numerous technical challenges using Reallusion's comprehensive toolset, from costume physics and collision management to specialized character animations.

Giovanni notes that collision management tools and physics simulations were essential for preventing garments from passing through characters during movement, while complex scenes like Roman horseback riders required combining iClone's preset animations with AccuPOSE refinements for natural posture and movement.

To enhance production value without straining their limited resources, the team strategically leveraged Reallusion's Content Store, Marketplace, and ActorCore for period-appropriate accessories, costumes, and hairstyles, eliminating the need for costly custom modelling.

The workflow from iClone to final production involved exporting fully animated characters and organising them in Unreal through independent sequences managed by a master sequencer.

Minor explains their systematic approach: "Each group – Romans, merchants, animals– has its own sequence. These sequences generated from iClone can be integrated within a blueprint in Unreal, and once the project is exported to Aximmetry, it's possible to control it using triggers during live production."

This streamlined pipeline allowed for efficient real-time control during live broadcasts while maintaining the quality and complexity of their biblical narratives.

The Reallusion Advantage

For a small studio like FCN Producciones, Reallusion’s character designer and animation tools have been transformative. Giovanni summarises it well: “The flexibility of Reallusion’s tools gave us creative control that wouldn’t be possible with a small team otherwise.”

The Reallusion ecosystem transformed FCN's production capabilities by making professional-grade character creation accessible to their small team. With intuitive interfaces and comprehensive libraries, the studio could focus on storytelling instead of wrestling with technical complexities.

The seamless integration was particularly crucial, as Minor explains: "Reallusion's compatibility with the version of Unreal used by Aximmetry was key. Everything worked without technical barriers."

This compatibility gave FCN complete control over their characters from initial design to final animation, while the extensive content libraries and ability to customise existing assets allowed them to achieve results that would normally require much larger teams and budgets.

Conclusion

FCN Producciones demonstrates how modest-sized teams can achieve impressive virtual production results by selecting the right tools and establishing efficient workflows.

Their success with Reallusion's character creation and animation software illustrates how modern technology can revitalise traditional storytelling, with Jonathan noting, "What matters to us is telling meaningful stories. These tools helped us do it with clarity and quality."

You can explore the complete story and behind-the-scenes details in the full article here.