Is it possible to make a piece of clothing with modelled in edging, seams, buttons, etc, actually dynamic?

It is possible, but the models do have to be selected with care. The main thing it doesn't like is intersecting faces, which can wreak all kinds of havoc and can cause dynamic calculations to slow down or even halt.

Clean, one-sided meshes DO calculate much more quickly, so that may be one reason why people recommend them more readily (I have done that myself). However, it doesn't necessarily mean that anything other than that is impossible ... it just takes a lot more thought and a lot more calculating time to make it work. When you start assigning vertices to the special groups it adds more to the calculation time.

Bevels and similar edges that make clothing look thicker in certain points will have to be assigned to soft decorated groups, as would trimmed edges. Pockets are also for the soft decorated group category if they are not attached to the clothing (otherwise they'll fall on the floor). Rigid decorated group can be used for buttons, pins, clasps, and whatnot. Some of the effects desired for finished looking edges and seams can be compensated for with displacement mapping as well, which would make the construction of the clothing lighter in polygons. Less polygons means less calculation time.

Message edited on: 04/15/2005 21:36