Hello, I'm at a bit of a loss here. I'm new to P5 and trying to learn the cloth room. I have seen many helpfull "how to" threads here in the forum which I intend to read--in time. But I would like to know what the purpose of the cloth room is, which CL seems to come short on explaining? Is it only used for simulating the MOVEMENT of cloth? If so, then this room would only be needed if creating figure movement as one would need if creating a movie.
Or can it be used like the Material room; to apply clothing to a figure as one would simulate--say, the look of Spandex on a figure by just changing the material of the skin and applying the spandex morphs? What is the purpose of "frames" if not for creating movement or can it be used for static work too? The manual seems to elude to it's purpose but comes up short. I get the impression that one could create clothing almost like it is a modeling program. There--I think I've asked all the questions!

Thanks in advance, Larry

It is there to turn a previously created mesh of clothing into a more realistic simulation of cloth. It simply causes the mesh to sag and fold to simulate the behaviour of cloth, not to create new clothing. Unfortunately.

One can also use it-- as Serge Marck shows-- to transfer clothing from one character to another, mush as Tailor does but, in some cases, slightly better. For instance, Mike clothes can be fitted to V3Male and V2 clothes to Vicki3. This, if I could just figure out exactly how, is extremely handy. tutorials as www.poserfashion.net Emily

You're mistaking frame movement for animation. While the cloth room can be used as such, it also will simulate still pictures of cloth, such as tablecloths, blankets, and yes, clothing. As an example, place a figure lying down in poser 5, maybe using one of the "sleeping" poses in the library. Go to props and place the hi-res square directly above them, then go to the cloth room and clothify it. Set "drape" frames to around 20, and run your simulation. The cloth room will let the cloth drape for about 2/3 of a second (20 frames at 30 frames per second), and then you'll have a realistic blanket covering your figure for a one frame render. It would probably require specialized plug-ins for 3rd party 3d modellers to get the same effect without the cloth room, and you'd have to re-import the cloth model every time you repositioned the figure. Now, you can just re-calculate the simulation.

Thanks, I think I'm getting it now. Then let me ask you this: as in "EsnRedshirt's" reply, would you use/do the same scenario for a mens P4 shirt applied to a P5 character--say "Don or Judy"? and (theoretically) should that shirt conform--then--to the afore-mentioned figures without skin showing through? I had just such a problem recently when I tried to use hi heeled shoes with V3 and they did not conform to the feet well. I spent a laborious amount of time using the "transform" dials to try and make them fit better, but still the skin showed through some, so I had to retouch in Adobe PS. If I am understanding you all correctly, the cloth room should eliminate that?

No, not really. The cloth room simply takes all the vertices of an object and attempts to drape them against figures and space in a manner that simulates the way real cloth performs. It's not a tailoring program, although in some cases it can be used like one. Don't expect it to easily resize conforming clothing like high-heeled shoes. In fact, the cloth room often runs into difficulty with clothing that's so tight it sorts through your figure's skin.

I should clarify a bit more- yes, you can turn the P4 male shirt into a shirt for Don, but it takes more work than you think. Imagine the P4 shirt as a solid rubber block. It's got bones in it that are the same size as the P4 guy, so you can put it over him and it will move the same. To make it work in the P5 cloth room, you'll need to basically hollow out the shirt and pull out the bones, then squeeze Don inside it. (Most of the tutorials you're referring to tell you how to do this.) The cloth room will then take the rubber and transform it into silk, so it lays realistically against Don's skin. The main advantages of dynamic clothing in P5, apart from looking way more realistic than conforming figures, are that they're slightly easier to make, and that, since they have no bones, they're a lot easier to resize to fit other figures (unlike conforming clothes for the P4 fem, or Vicki, or Judy).

Okay, I think I get it now. Thanks! I'll try a few experiments. By the way, I'm a fisherman and I'm used to pulling bones (a lot of bones) out of things. LOL

LOL! Basically, for most of us, it's just a different way to conform clothing when you change a figure's pose. In Poser 4: add figure, add clothes, conform clothes, pose figure and the clothes go with it. Do another pose, and the clothes go with that pose too. In Poser 5: add figure, add dynamic clothes, set up an animation with the pose you want your figure to be in as a frame towards the end. Do the clothroom/calculate thing. That will fit the clothes to the figures new position. But if you decide you don't like the figure's pose you have to start all over. You can't just change the pose like with conforming clothes. When it works right, the clothes hang great. But it's a lot of work...more than I'm willing to do on an everyday basis.

That's why I always pose my figures nekkid (or at least turn their clothes invisible) until I get my animation finished, then I calculate hair and cloth dynamics last. Saves time in the long run.