very nice attempt, really. I examined my own jackets, since emulating the real thing is usually the way to go. I found that the "shape keeping" effect mostly results from

a) the very thick and non-flexible stitching of the sleeves to the jacket-body

b) a filling in the jacket-body from the top-breast (say; the breats pocket) up to slightly over the shoulder.

senior business suits have a thick filler, frivole summer jackets hardly have a filler at all. Your pads serve as those fillers, but they appear a bit (too?) stiff to me, at least in the upright standing position. The black suit on the posed guy looks pretty good, though.

I'm still under the impression (nothing more or less) that the effect also can be obtained by creating zones in the jacket with different cloth properties (high fold resistence etc), and perhaps some modelling adjustments (larger polys make stiffer cloth). Since jackets are woven cloth, I should prefer tri's over quads.

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Usually I'm wrong. But to be effective and efficient, I don't need to be correct or accurate.

visit www.aRtBeeWeb.nl (works) or Missing Manuals (tutorials & reviews) - both need an update though