What do I need to do in order to get this stupid cape to quit flowing forward? I have tried so many settings but it still wraps around and forwards as if there is a steady wind from behind. This is why I HATE conforming cloth. I don't know what to do and I am at my wits end. Is it the settings? is the cape not modeled correctly? Is there some perfect settings balance that needs to be applied? I had though that conforming cloth was suppose to drape in such a way that would simulate a certain amount of gravity and pull it toward the ground. I will be animating this character eventually so leaning her backwards or doing some sort of half A$$ correctional pose won't solve the problem. What am I doing wrong?

 

If anyone knows who made this cape, I would love to get their input as well.

Could you please post a shot of the figure and cloak in their zero pose so thet we can see the starting point.

Thanks

Oh, thank goodness you responded PhilC. I was worried I would get about ten "Don't know. I don't use Conforming cloth" posts. Things are looking up already :)  Who better to help me with this than the master himself. OK, here is the best angle I could produce. It's supposed to be cocked over the shoulder like this. BTW, the settings were all set to the default when the previous pics were rendered but no other settings produced results.

Here is a front and top view, should it help. Sorry, had to splice them together :)

You keep saying conforming cloth and not dynamic cloth - that may confuse people :)

I think the problem is that it is totally horizontal in the starting pose, I would model it hanging down. This way, the gravity will get so much force that it will wrap around the figure.

You CAN try to lower the gravity settings, but I'm not sure it will be enough.

Did you model the cape yourself? It so I would consider making it as a more vertical model.Perhaps keep this for flying poses, and use the other one for standing :) 

I didn't even realize I was typing "conforming". I am so frustrated by this I can't see strait. No, I didn't model it. It was a freebie here at R'osity with no readme file. The other problem is that the cord seems to be the rigid anchor for the whole cape, though it does seem to bend during the process. I was thinking that the cape corners extend to far out and forward and thus the extra material falls forwards instead of downward. As far as positioning it before calculation, there is a very small window of positioning before the model ends up clipping into the figure.

BTW, good morning :) nice to see you here this early, TrekkieGrrrl. Don't you usually post in the evenings?

OK I suspected it was modeled that way. This is a good thing :)

What I would do is set up a few cloth simulations and use the result as a morph target for the original. Then when doing the animation use those morph targets rather than a cloth simulation.

For example:-
Set up the figure with right arm forward and left arm back as if half way through a walk cycle. Create a cloth simulation for this pose.
Select a frame that looks most natural, probably will not be the last frame but back a few.
Export out the cape OBJ at that frame.

Repeat for right arm back left arm forward.

Repeat for other useful poses.

When complete delete all cloth simulation and add in the morph targets.

Cloth simulation tip: try setting up a wind force blowing from the front to the back to aid movement.

Hope that helps.

Thanks PhilC, I'll give it a try. Oh, and good morning to you, also :D

And in try Blue Peter style here is one I made earlier which you may like to look at to see what I did.
http://www.philc.net/files/freestuff/romantixCape02.zip

Thank you very much :)

This particular cape is designed after another dynamic put out by OrcDesignStudios also found here in R'osity freestuff section.  If you D/L that version, there is a comprehensive tute how to use the product in the material room.  You are correct, the cape should drape downward during the simulation.  I have tested OrcDesignStudios cape and it does what it is suppose to do.  Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how to decrease it's size or length.

I was wondering when you would arrive :)

I'll go and check it out. Thanks.

Oh, yes! hborre... you are the man! I checked out ODS's pdf file on their (BIG) cape and used those settings for the Power Girl Cape and it worked. The whole 'calculate drape' options is nice. I'm assuming that if you have a person just standing around with subtle movement you use the 'calculate drape' button but if you have someone flying in the air you use the dynamics settings and use the calculate simulation?

You might think about using the grouping tool and selecting the outer bands of the cape, then assign the outer band a new material name like "Inv" for invisible. then set it's transparency setting to 1.000 and you have just shortened the cape.

Good you have it fixed. Sometimes it helps to add more frames to the cloth animation so the cloth has all the time it needs to settle fully. If the cloth is still moving during the final few frames I extend the animation . You may also find a frame earlier in the anim that looks like what you want and you can use that. Export the item and reimport to create a static prop.

Thanks everyone for your kind help :D