Hey peeps,

I'm working on a series of tutorials for beginners, ones more generally based so they can hopefully be beneficial no matter what modeling app people use. Planning some 3dsmax specific ones after I get these finished, but I figured there might be a need for something more general to help people start the process.

I'm starting at the beginning - from getting ready to model, to modeling, to Poserizing and beyond. Am planning to cover as much as I can, broken down into separate pieces so a person only needs to read the ones they'd find most benefical to their purpose if they don't feel like reading through all of them.

What I'm looking for right now are some interested "testers" to do a read through before I put these up on my site for general downloading. I want to make sure that first and foremost, they're fun to read and make the process more enjoyable while imparting the desired information.

I have the Introduction one pretty much done (need to do my rambling check edit before sharing...my fingers get away from me when I type sometimes), and should have another part done this weekend. It's not a rush job by any means, as it will take me a while to get them all done, but doesn't do me much good to write them if they don't make any sense to the intended audience.

Don't need a whole lot, maybe about 4 or 5 interested people at most, but if you'd like to help, let me know.

Thanks!

I could take a look at it for you..I have 3DS but  i mostly use Hexagon 2.5 but am happy to help

That would be perfect actually, my goal for these tutorials is to make them as non program specific as possible and still be usefull.

So rather than opening one up and seeing "Open 3dsmax, go to this tool, and do this with it" - it would be more just general clothing contruction techniques for people to apply to what they already know how to do in their modeler of choice. I just need to make sure it can be as generalized as I've planned and still make sense to people.

I remember when I first got the bug to make my own clothing, I tried to find as many clothing modeling tutorials as I could, but most were specific to other programs and I had a hard time translating them to max to figure out what I needed to do since I didn't know a whole lot on just basic ideas behind making 3D clothing.

I would like to give it a try, what must I do to get started

Just post here, after I get another part done that actually involves modeling, I get both it and the intro links PMed to those interested. And then the others as I get them finished.

While they will be designed to exsist relatively free of each other, need to make sure they all work together ok too.

Basically the intro part deals with getting the project planned out and makeing the figure to model around ready for use. Then the next parts will be modeling a certain article of clothing (broken down into separate ones for skirts, dresses, shirts and pants...in that order of difficulty) then would be setting up UV maps, then poserizing for each one. So lots of pieces, but rather than one giant tutorial, mix and match pieces depending on what people are wanting to make.

I can help to anyway, I am not a newbie with this but can help to know if its what people ar elooking for. I still can translate it to Portuguese if want to. Just let me know.

PMs incoming...I have the first two done. Don't feel you have to rush a response back to me, I'm not going to have extra free time to work on the tutorials again till next weekend. (ok, links as soon as I fix what happened with my PDF export...grrr)

GKD - if you would like to do a translation, that would be great. Only if they seem like they'd be worth it though. I'm not the worlds greatest writer...but we can see how they end up after the first round of "testing".

Thinking too that I'll release some of the finished models I've worked up while making the tuts so people can take them into their modelers for a peek, and see how they're rigged up in Poser also.

I can help as well. I've never modelled anything, but I have Hexagon and TrueSpace.
I just never managed to get anything done, and gave up.
So you'd have a bleeding edge beginner here. :)

If you want another newbie (modeling that is ) I would be happy to help - just started trying to get my head round Hexagon

As of right now (time/date stamp of this post), I think I have enough people lined up for the inital batch of tutorial testers. Those of you I've PMed with links should be good to go. Will keep things updated as I get stuff done.

Although, if anyone else keeping an eye on this has anything speical they'd like to see in the proposed tutorials, don't hesitate to post here and let me know. If I can work it in, I'll do so, or keep it in mind for later tutorial sets.

Thanks everyone! Is going to be a fun project! 

Getting some great feedback (I'm a bit behind on answering my PMs...)

So things are moving along. Thanks everyone!

i'm not sure if i'd be a good example of what you want to do, but i'm just beginning to learn to make clothes in Blender with the aim of making them dynamic. i'd be interested in anything you have to teach.

These are for people that know enough about their app to do a few basic things, with some general tips/tricks for clothing creation to apply as they can.

And since I'm taking the "modular" approach to them, you'd only need to download the ones you need (since you're wanting dynamic cloth, you wouldn't need to go through the poserizing tuts untill you wanted to)

Going to try and get the first two polished up a bit more this weekend and hopefully get them out for a more "general beta" as I move onto the others on the list. So can get you a sneaky peaky if you like cobalt.

Just an update guys....I haven't forgotten about these, just have some family things going on right now that have taken up my time lately and are going to delay the next few tuts a bit.

Hang in there with me and know that they will appear, just not right away now like I'd hoped.

Well, I guess there's always room for more tutorials.  However, if I may suggest, there is already a good deal of info out there (some for pay) for beginners.  The problem is there is literally nothing out there for the next step...advanced detail techniques.  Everyone makes their tube shirt with extruded collar and cuffs...but then what?

Seams, buttons, folded collars, hems, and how, by the way, do the experts put it all together? 

Now a lot of modellers have previous experience working in these programs and already know all the commands because they've used them while working for Pixar or whatever...but for us everyday joe poser enthusiasts we don't have a clue.

I would pay $50 dollars for a tutorial on these topics.  I learned a few tricks by myself yesterday, but I feel like I could still be doing things oddly, and without the best possible result.

-WTB

Hi William... after the "tube dress" you can work with some utilities from MarkDC:

You will need to transfer the groups to the new "tube dress" and here you can use AutoGroup Editor to do that, isnt perfect but with a little of tweeks it will do the job.

Next step: using QuickConform to transfer CR2 information and create your own CR2 file...

After that you can load it in Poser and adjust the joints so the cloth will pose better. Here you can create morphs to your cloth and add at this stage...

Then just add to the Library and you are done.

I know that isnt the perfect place to talk about that but theres two tutorials that cover all basic about modeling and creating Poser content here at Renderosity:

From MarkDC:

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/index.php?ViewProduct=16487&vendor=44570

From PhilC:

http://istore.mikrotec.com/philc/index1.html?page=catalog&category=a&vid=668437709&pid=842974680&oldvid=2143420604

The tools from MarkDC:

Autogroup Editor (you can do the same in your 3D pack):

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/index.php?ViewProduct=21081&vendor=44570

Quickconform (this people do in notepad...irccc)

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/index.php?ViewProduct=56097&vendor=44570

With this you only need to learn how to model and follow the tips from our friend here to get the best Poser products...

GK - Thanks but no, of course all tuts cover grouping and cr2 and all that.  If you read my message, you'll understand the kind of advanced stuff I'm talking about. 

But to repeat:

Pockets, buttons, seams, hems, bows, ties... I added a couple.

Quote -

Pockets, buttons, seams, hems, bows, ties... I added a couple.

I agree with you on these points. I would love to figure out to create a bow using my limited means of software and how to create hems for pants that don't look painted on or stiff

Guys...whoa....I'm the first to admit I'm not the worlds greatest modeler....I'm putting these together as a general guide to people relatively new to modeling that haven't a clue on how to start with clothing but really want to make their own stuff.

Because despite "all that's out there" some don't find what they're looking for, or it's for a specific app which for a new modeler can be difficult to translate into their program if it's a different modeling app. (been there, done that, had to resort to just futzing around till I had something that was a crapy model but approximated what I wanted).

I'm just doing a base of tutorials for people to build from for their own works at an entry level. All this was for were those that might like a more "newbie" friendly tutorial series...which is what I'm trying to make without making it app specific.

I'm a self-taught idiot who blunders along....doing this to hopefully save some new people from doing as much blundering. I don't think I have anything new or special, but I can send you links to the tuts if you want to take a look. (just remember they're still in a beta phase...and I'm still adding to them atm)

Seamstress talking now (actually comes in handy when planning clothing models...):

As far as pant hems - it would depend on the type of fabric for the look you're going for. If you look at a pair of jeans, the denim is generally thicker than most average fabrics. The folding done to create the hem causes it to pucker slightly on the outside visible edge. So while it may be relatively uniform along the bottom, going around it's got a bit of a "wave" to it. Adjusting some verts here and there slightly would probably give you a decent looking hem to a pair of modeled jeans. (I can see it in my brain...but may not be explaining it in the best way here...I'd need my modeler open...so I'll do some experiments and post results)

Dress slacks are a different fabric, and the hem (on women's at least) is generally very faint and not as noticable and would probably be better served as a displacement map to show the stiches if desired as the hem is tacked up on the inside so there's only a slight difference in thickness. Mens....relatively the same, though khakis would be between dressier slacks and jeans.

Seams...since I generally do simpler toony type things I do a raised "trim" if I want something defined in such an area....however, couple ways a person could do this - mark your seam areas (like a small chamfer to a centrally located edge collection) then do a small extrude on either just the seam OR do a very small extrude on everything but the seam. (shirts and the like).

For something like the thicker seams on a pair of jeans, you'd need to have more of an overlapping look to the one on the inner side, and a more toned down one for the outer.

Anyway, ya'll have given me some things to think about to add in...or do another mini-series of tuts on.....I need to run some experiments as to the best results first and then I'll get back at you. (as I said, I give people a base to build from....so don't expect the Mona Lisa or some other massively brilliant masterpiece)

Ok...my english isnt so good. So model details its really an art, but you can learn a lot looking some video tutorials. I dont know what software do you use to model so I am showing some videos that can help a lot and theres lot more at those sites:

http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/dvds/ijo01.html

http://gnomonology.com/tutorial/343

Just dont give up when you saw that this inst the software that you use, because almost all softwares have the same or similar tools that can do the same thing at all, you just need to know how to use it.

Here a ZBrush tutorial about details:

http://www.digitaltutors.com/store/product.php?productid=3461&cat=91&page=1

PS. Dont forget GeekatPlay free tutorials:

http://www.geekatplay.com/hexagontutorials/weekly.php