Now that I have gotten used to the cloth room, I have decided that dynamic clothing is the way to go.   I save my conforming clothing as an obj and I THINK I have fixed the two-sided cloth issue by manually adding "ATTR_cull" to the beginning of the obj file with a text editor.  No scientific results to back that up, but it seems to work so far.  The new problem I have is that no matter what I do, I cannot get the faces to weld.  I have tried everything I can think of, to include exporting and importing the .obj with the weld vertices option checked, opening the obj in 3ds max and comverting it to a single poly, exporting as one group, welding in the group editor of Poser and spawning a prop,....  But no matter what I do the item always flies apart during the simulation.  Anybody know how I can correctly weld the groups into one item?

 Edit: Oops, nevermind.  I just found PhilC's tutorial.  Gonna try that with UVMapper before I cry wolf.

 Converting conforming clothes to dynamic can be tricky. 

I've been at it for a while myself, and some clothes work fine, others are more tricky. :)  I'd be curious to find out which clothing you have converted, and how you went about it!

Well, that didn't work.  It still flies apart.  I am trying with Bat's bikini, by the way.  My reasoning is that if I can get that figure sorted out I can do anything. 

 Can you post a screenshot?

Usually, the prop falls apart at the seams.  What I usually do to solve that is to make the seams into soft decorated, if I want them to flow with the rest of the fabric, or, if I want the seams (maybe for a bikini panty in your case), stick to the figure and be kept up, make them into constrained.

If you notice that the figure falls apart at the seams, you may want to make the vertices of the fabric piece  that connects to the seams into the same group (soft decorated or constrained). I converted quite a few clothes that normally would fall apart this way. 

Many people who model conforming clothes don't care wether different parts of the mesh truly stick together or not, because it's not relevant. And sometimes not having to worry about that makes modelling certain parts easier.

 Yeah. :)

Ok, try making the seam/strings around the breast fabric into soft decorated. Make sure that the vertices on the edges of the breast fabric is also soft decorated. That way the breast fabric will get cloth calculations, and the seams just around them will simply follow..

I see what you're getting at.  In that case, how can I select vertices in the group editor without using that obnoxious box select or clicking individual vertices? 

 Well, what you could do is to add the seams as a group, then deselect all the vertices for the should straps and the back..

Also, you can run a cloth simulation and "let it" fall apart, that way you can more easily select the vertices on the edges of the breast fabric, and the "triangle" of seams around them.

Gotcha.  I'll do that and post back the results.  I'm glad you said that, because I'm realizing that mathematically the seams can't be welded automatically anyway, without telling 3DSMax or the Poser group editor which distances to use as a seam. 

 Yeah. I tried importing some clothes into Wings and welding stuff, but it ended up more difficult than I thought, lol.   Sometimes the only way is to manually select stuff and getting them into the right group.  

For some items the only solution is to discard the part, like a pocket of a shirt, or go in with a modelling program and move the vertices around so they can be welded.  Conforming clothing may have bits just placed together with no actual connection of the mesh. That will fall apaart during the cloth simulation.

Looks great already. :) And you're welcome!

Quote - Here's what I came up with.  MUCH better, thanks Grappo.  It still needs some work around the edges, but I'm a lot farther than where I started. 

I think what's happening with the right side on this image is that you didn't check the Ignore Hands checkbox ;o). Since the pose brings her hand fairly close to the bikini top, you'll need to make sure you check that before you run the sim. And maybe make the cloth on the string a little stiffer ;o).

Laurie

 Oh, no on the right side I didn't do anything with the edges.  I just tested it with the other side to see what would happen.

Hey Laurie, by the way.  You've been around Poser for a while, do you know how I can control the backface selection in the group editor, and get some kind of lasso tool for selecting vertices?