When someone in the know tells you that there’s no such thing as an easy-to-use 3D animation suite, point them in the direction of iClone 2 Studio, the latest 3D package from Reallusion.

Unlike costlier animation packages, which can take an age to fathom, the emphasis with iClone is on user-friendliness, albeit at the expense of versatility.

In essence, it’s a film-making tool by which you can create and clothe characters, based on a variety of male and female body types, place them in an environment of your own devising, light it as you will, add effects and control how the camera captures the action.

This is by no means a package for the power animator. Instead, it's more of an environment in which newcomers to machine-animation, or machinima as it's often referred to, can learn the ropes, while more advanced users will find it a time-saver when creating simple shorts.

Workflow is very elegant. A series of easy to understand icons at the top of the screen, along with a tool bay at right, gives access to avatar types, face types, clothing options, numerous pre-authored scenes and special effects.

Generating an avatar is merely a case of choosing and customising a body type, selecting a face and hairstyle, then fine-tuning various bodily attributes.

You’ve 31 facial animation templates from which to choose, the strength of the animation adjustable via a slider, and 107 character poses and animations to deploy.

Character movement is nicely fluid, thanks to motion capture from real-life subjects, although there’s an inevitable cartoonish quality to one’s creations. You’ve also the means to map facial photographs on to an avatar – useful if you want to get yourself into the production.

A Clonecloth function, new to this version of iClone, offers various clothing options and is cleverly implemented in that when apparel moves, the skin underneath is revealed.

You can customise clothing and add props to fully fit out a character before placing it in a choice of 2D and 3D scenes, each of which can be populated with household objects, animated props, billboards and more.

There’s also a choice of 74 highly detailed Liveplants that move in the wind, adding a welcome shot of realism.

Users of 3D Studio Max will find the facility to import custom 3DS creations a boon, while novices will not have to acquaint themselves with the complexities of polygon manipulation, such is the software’s ease of use.