I just discovered the cloth room. Well I figured I'd try and make a simple piece of clothing for Judy (Should I buy Victoria & Michael, or wait and learn with the included models?). Basically I placed a hi-res square into the scene, put Judy on her back, and scaled the square so that it resembled a long strip, then placed it over her chest. I then clothified the strip, and ran the simulation which resulted in the strip draping over her breasts. What I noticed however is that there was some bunching at the cleavage where the cloth fell between her breasts. Thing is, I wanted the cloth to stretch between the high points of her breasts, instead of kind of sucking to her chest. How do I acheive that? Also, how do I make the hanging bits of cloth manipulateable so I can wind them around her arms?

For the problem with the clevage, you might try playing a bit with the cloth's dynamics controls, particularly the stretch/fold/shear resistance settings before running a test simulation. The higher the settings, the more "stiff" the cloth will react, and vice-versa for lower settings.

Another option is to take a frame in the resulting simulation where the cloth is actually in a position you like (doesn't always have to be the final frame), and while on that frame, export the cloth as an .obj file (using default settings). Then clear the animation (set last frame to 1, then back to 30). Import your cloth .obj, and the draped cloth should appear exactly where it was when you saved it, but this time at frame 1. Now you can parent it to your figure, and use it as a prop.

As far as manipulating the hanging bits of cloth to wrap around the arms, etc. That can be more tricky. The only way to do this with the cloth plane you're using is to experiment a lot with the WIND FORCE modifier, and keyframe it to different locations throughout your animation/simulation to "guide" the parts of the cloth where you want them to go. It may become difficult and frustrating, even for more experienced users.

Your best bet is probably just to find a piece of dynamic clothing (already made) that is similar to what you are looking to achieve, and use it instead. Making your own dynamic clothing in the simplistic manner you are attempting will be laborious to say the least. Pre-made dynamic clothing is still run through the simulator, so it reacts to your figures movements and outside forces like wind.

Or, if you know how to model, it's best to model the clothing in an outside app, then "poserize" it for use with the dynamic cloth simulator and then run the simulations on it.

Message edited on: 07/18/2004 23:24

Also, take note that you have control over how much of your cloth will be affected by the dynamics. If you click on Edit Constrained Group in the cloth room you can select the portions you do NOT want to be dynamic.

Ok Im starting to see how this works... Im going to read a few tutorials while Im at work today (Yeah, Its a great job) on creating clothing. On the recommendation of several users here I downloaded Wings 3D, though I honestly havent had a chance to play with it much yet. Its a damn shame Maya PLE cant do .obj exports, I was just starting to get good with it! Finally, should I keep using the basic models for learning, then pick up Vic3 & Mike3 when I have a better grasp on the software, or should I pick them up now and begin familurization with them?

Attached Link: http://www.philc.net

Have you picked up the Poser 5 freebies from my site yet? Those and the Poser 5 tutorials there may smooth out the learning curve somewhat. Click on the link then "Freestuff" and "Tutorials". Both the cloth room tutorials include the model as a freebie so you can really see what is going on.

Hope that helps.

...should I keep using the basic models for learning...

I would say yes, learn all you can with the P5 figures, see how far you can push poser. It's a great way to learn, and a challenge. I guess it all depends on what you want to do... at some point you might get frustrated with the limitations, or maybe not. :)

Message edited on: 07/20/2004 02:27