Okay, first, confession time: I've never done any modelling from scratch whatsoever. What modelling I have done has been limited to sculpting morphs of existing models, mostly using Argile.

Given that context, I'd like recommendations for a good program/application for clothing creation. It obviously needs to be an intuitive app, and not expensive. And obviously, an app that I can load the human figure into, lock it, and create a separate clothing mesh around it.

I've seen some people mention Hexagon as their weapon of choice for this - I downloaded the demo once and it didn't seem very intuitive, but I'll admit I didn't play with it very much at all. I'm also aware of Phil C's Clothing Designer (I own his Hair Designer too, but haven't really used it).

Any content creators (or artistic geniuses who go to the bother of creating new models for the renders) out there who can give me a recommendation?

Any modelling program you like the interface of  can manage clothing. So blender,silo,shade, lightwave,Cinema4d, 3dsmax, maya, modo etc etc .

Hexagon is a good modeller, but the way you do some things I find odd. 

There was also a clothing application that one of the sites was pushing but that was a version of a professional clothing design application. (i dont remember the name)

For the price Philc has to be considered.

All the modellers have trial downloads, so look at a few before you buy. Blender is free, so are anim8or and wings3d.

Only You can decide what is the best modeling software is best for YOU.

Modeling apps are ver personal. What works best for us may be nothing but a hair pulling event for you.

You need to try every demo of every modeling software and see which one fits your way of thinking.

Free - Wings3D, anim8tor, blender, truespace I think is still free.

Payed for are so many from low and mid like hexagon, shade, silo, milkshape( I think is still around). To higher end such as 3dmax, c4d, modo, lightwave, xsi, maya, ZBrush(is that high end, what ever)

That is just the start for a few.

It does not matter what any of us think is the best. That is a debate that will never have an ending because we are all different.

LOL pretty much a cross post.

Another free alternative: www.artofillusion.org/

3D Coat is excellent for creating clothing and very easy to use. Also reasonable in price @ 200. US

Hi Phantom. I have 3D Coat. Can't say I've found it easy to use, although maybe version 3 is moreso than version 2. But of course I suppose most things are going to seem difficult given my experience level. I guess what I'm afraid of is investing a lot of time in an app and discovering that I'd find something else far easier.

Have you watched Fugazi's tutorials on using 3DCoat for clothing?

www.youtube.com/user/Fugazi3D       

Thanks, I hadn't, although I had subscribed to his YouTube page a few days ago (all I'd watched was some texturing stuff). Doesn't look too overly difficult, although in truth watching something like that you don't see all the interaction he's doing with the interface... he also does that all that with the voxel capabilities of version 3, which I haven't upgraded to.... hmm.

I especially didn't understand how he made the transition from Girl 4 to the shirt mesh. (Told you I was completely clueless.) But I imagine I just need to learn the interface.

Hexagon is a tricky beast, and has not been fixed, saying that i use it regularly and have found ways round its problems

Wings3d is a great alternative and it is free, I use it and for modeling from scratxh, I don't change it for anything. I

I'm c4d and all i have to say is demo demo demo always use the demo before you buy somthing get to know it find out if you like it.
I myself like c4d coz i'm a  speed poly modeler. I cant box model to save my life cant even model a box  with box modeling lmao. On that note  find out what kind of modeling your good at  Box model Poly modeling so on so on

just to check (I could be wrong). Google has something called 'Sketchup' for free, but it only creates in a native format that requires you get the 'spendy' version (is this still true?)

I use Wings3d as well. It's pretty easy to pick up and use, loads of tutorials out there (the best one for beginners was Draculaz spaceship tutorial, which walked you through the basics; alas, I don't think it's available in the Tutorials section here. Maybe through the Wayback machine...but we have a forum here, stop by for questions)

Doc Geep has a lot of tutorials (and I mean a lot), on Poser. You'll need to consult them for rigging, texturing etc (though there's hundreds of tutorials for Poser, it's just Doc has easy to understand ones). What you may not know is the good Doc has been dabbling in WIngs as well, and has some tuts up in the Wings forum.

Good place to start. I'm thinking I downloaded Milkshape about half a year ago, but not sure if it's still there. There's literally thousands of modeling programs out there, so you never know what will work for you.

Quote - Thanks, I hadn't, although I had subscribed to his YouTube page a few days ago (all I'd watched was some texturing stuff). Doesn't look too overly difficult, although in truth watching something like that you don't see all the interaction he's doing with the interface... he also does that all that with the voxel capabilities of version 3, which I haven't upgraded to.... hmm.

I especially didn't understand how he made the transition from Girl 4 to the shirt mesh. (Told you I was completely clueless.) But I imagine I just need to learn the interface.

The voxel bits are quite minimal so far, they are just there to get a good clothes horse to model over :)

The cloth mesh is made using the retopology tools.  Basically you draw points on your base voxel model (g4 in this case) then when you have 4 points you can join them up to make a polygon.  All the voxel model is, is a quide for the retopology tool.  You can only add points to the voxel model, and 3d coat works everything else out for you :)

Imagine the voxel being a clay model, if you used a pencil to draw points and lines over your clay model, you'd end up with a visual idea of the squares that made up your model. 

The retopology tool is just like that.  And when you have finished adding all the squares you can export it to an obj file for use in Poser.

I hope that makes some sense :)

John

I'm a hex user and I'm finding it ok when I can work around issues (having problems with trim right now).  Someone I know suggested blender to me but I haven't used it yet.

Hexagon all the way!

Another Hexagon fan here! :)

Does anyone use PhilC's clothing creator?

Another thing to consider when shopping for a Modeller is how many tutorials (in your area of interest---clothes) are available for THAT Modeller (and preferably a video).  I was very pleased having gotten Hexagon..still am. Money well spent. It was addictive making clothes, but also very frustrating. Not the modelling itself, but the lack of (clothing)tutorials...especially for THAT application. You'll find indepth tutorials on, "How to build a car from scratch" or "How to build a human character" before you can find them on clothing/hair. It's very odd to me considering how long Poser has been out and that characters need clothes. I wondered if it's about keeping secrets to ones self?

Either old links are broken, the tutorial you had to follow was for another program, or it was a tutorial for creating (let's say a boat) that you'd be told to adapt the same skills for making clothes.

There ARE a few dress, pants and skirt tutorials out there, but I haven't come across any which talk about adding the finishing touches. Or how to UV map and texture these. How to UV a head? Yes. How to UV map clothes with different parts(pockets, hems, frills etc)? No.

Quote - I wondered if it's about keeping secrets to ones self?

To some degree this happens.  Some people keep some things secrets so other people can't make clothing as well as they can and take your sales.  :

Quote - > Quote - I wondered if it's about keeping secrets to ones self?

To some degree this happens.  Some people keep some things secrets so other people can't make clothing as well as they can and take your sales.  :

That's what I figured. I mean, if everyone knew how to make clothes who'd do the buying? Still, not EVERYONE will want to take the time to learn to model, UV Map, add morphs, and texture.

Sharing techniques shouldn't cause an issue if you have a strong customer base and are always coming up with newer, different products.

I wanted to learn for when I saw an outfit/hairstyle...so I could model it myself instead of waiting around for others. How many straight styles and bob's will be sold? How much fantasy/fetishwear?

Quote - Does anyone use PhilC's clothing creator?

I do. Mostly I use Hexagon though together with PhilC's OBJ2CR2 program (part of the Clothing Creaor Suite)

But for simple (and sometimes Not so simple) things, Clothing Creator is GREAT!

Both my V4 Librarian and te G2F clothing pack is mainly made with Clothing Creator.

Fugazi, thanks for dropping by and commenting. How does 3DCoat know to export the mesh you've created and not the figure mesh you imported to begin with? Does this have to do with the way in which you import?

SSAfam: honestly, I can't blame people too much for keeping secrets to themselves. This isn't just an art form, it's a competitive business. The level of sharing and cooperation is already amazing.

Not that I think there's much danger of every Poser user making or even texturing models. It's just too much work, even if everybody could learn it.

Quote - Fugazi, thanks for dropping by and commenting. How does 3DCoat know to export the mesh you've created and not the figure mesh you imported to begin with? Does this have to do with the way in which you import?

When you create the mesh you use the retopology tool, which has its own export option which you use to export the mesh you created without the original mesh you used for a base.

John.

Ah, cool... thanks so much for answering such a novice.

I'll have to look at my version of 3D Coat and see what I can do with it. No voxel sculpting, unfortunately... just not sure if I can part with $80 for an upgrade.

There is an .obj exporter for the free version of SketchUp bu according to the author, it's somewhat of a WIP.GeralDay uses Anim8or for all of his wonderful freebies. GMax is still available, though AutoDesk doesn't support it. It's a somewhat stripped down version of 3DS Max. Supposedly you can use MilkShape to convert its proprietary format to .obj. 

For the REAL modelers, there's always Notepad :-)

Quote - Ah, cool... thanks so much for answering such a novice.

I'll have to look at my version of 3D Coat and see what I can do with it. No voxel sculpting, unfortunately... just not sure if I can part with $80 for an upgrade.

You could always try the evaluation version :) see if you like it.