Features Covered in This Tutorial

Using the Garment Maker
Applying the Cloth modifier
Locking points on the cloth
Adding space warps and collision objects to the cloth
Running a Cloth simulation
Adjusting fabric properties

Tutorial Files

All the files necessary for this tutorial are provided on the program disc in the \tutorials\cloth directory. Before starting the tutorials, copy the \tutorials folder from the disc to your local program installation.

In This Tutorial

For best results, follow the tutorials in this order:

Creating a Billowing Flag
Designing a Shirt (in three parts)
Tailoring and Fine-Tuning
Using Cloth with Bipeds
Creating Pleats

Creating a Billowing Flag

This quick-start tutorial will introduce you to some of the basic concepts you'll need when using Cloth. It is meant simply to provide an overview to the Cloth modifier. Do not be concerned if you don't understand the entire process, as the "why" will be explained further in the later tutorials.

Create a cloth flag from a spline object:

Load quickstart.max from your \tutorials\cloth folder.

This scene contains a rectangular spline object named Flag and a cylinder named FlagPole.
Select the rectangle shape named Flag and apply the Garment Maker modifier to it.

Modifier stack with Garment Maker modifier applied to the Editable Spline object Flag

The resulting Flag object is now a 3D mesh.

This turns the 2D spline into a 3D mesh that you can use as cloth.

The corners of the new mesh get "rounded" because the flag spline was not set up correctly.
Delete the Garment Maker modifier.

The spline object reverts to its original status.
Access the Vertex sub-object level and then select all four vertices of the spline (press Ctrl+A).
On the Geometry rollout, click Break.

Flag with vertices broken

This causes the segments within the spline to become independent, as shown above. This preserves the corners when you apply Garment Maker. Whenever you have a spline that changes appearance after the application of Garment Maker, check the vertices and break the ones that cause this kind of issue.
Exit the sub-object level and then reapply the Garment Maker modifier.

Flag with Garment Maker applied

Apply and set up the Cloth modifier:

With the Flag object still selected, apply the Cloth modifier to it.
On the Object rollout, click the Object Properties button.

This opens the Object Properties dialog.

First, you'll tell Cloth which objects should be part of the cloth simulation. Currently only Flag is present in the left-hand column of the Object Properties dialog; the FlagPole object should be part of the simulation as well.
On the Object Properties dialog click the Add Objects button, select FlagPole, and then click OK.

This adds the FlagPole object to the simulation.

Next you'll set which Objects are to act as cloth and which objects the cloth will interact or collide with.
In the list on the left side of the Object Properties dialog, click Flag, and then click the Cloth radio button.

This tells the simulation that Flag is to be a cloth object.
In the list on the left side of the Object Properties dialog, click FlagPole, and then click the Collision Object radio button.

This tells the simulation that FlagPole is a collision object with which the cloth object can interact.
Click OK to close the Object Properties dialog.

Run the simulation:

Before you simulate, it's a good idea to check the cloth scale to make sure you get the results you might expect. To do this, you'll measure the flag as it relates to the cloth simulation. Cloth works in real-world units to create its simulation, so it's important to make it a habit to check the size of your objects.

Go to the Create panel and click the Helpers button.
Click Tape, and then in the Front viewport drag out a Tape helper to determine the width of the flag.

You'll find that it is approximately 165 3ds Max units in width. Currently, Cloth is set (in the Simulations Parameters rollout) to 2.54 cm/unit, which equals 1 inch per unit (2.54 cm=1 inch). So at 165 inches wide, the flag is 13.75 feet wide, which is a big flag. That's not unrealistically large, but it is big, which is something to keep in mind because it affects the cloth behavior.
On the Cloth Object rollout, click Simulate. Let the simulation calculate for a few frames. After about 35 frames, press the Esc key to stop the simulation.

The flag falls to the ground because it is not attached to the flagpole in any way. To attach the flag to the flagpole, you will need to access the Cloth Group sub-object level and create a group of vertices to attach to the flagpole.

Attach the flag to the pole:

Go to the Group sub-object level of the Cloth modifier.

The flag vertices become visible.
In the Front viewport, select the column of vertices on the Flag object nearest the flagpole, as shown below.

Vertex selection for FlagPole binding
On the Group rollout click the Make Group button, and then name the group FlagPoleSelection. Click OK to close the dialog.

Now that you've made and named a group, you need to assign it to the flagpole.
On the Group rollout click the SimNode button, and then pick FlagPole by either selecting it in the viewport or by pressing the H key and using the Select Objects dialog.

Alternatively you could attach the flag to the flagpole using the Surface constraint, but that method locks each vertex to the triangle on the chosen object whose center is closest to the vertex. In the case of the flagpole, some of the vertices would be pulled toward the cylinder cap triangles to which they are closest, which might create unexpected results.
Exit the Group sub-object level.

Run and refine the simulation:

On the Object rollout click Simulate.

The flag drapes down and is held up by the flagpole, but it doesn't seem to drape very naturally. This is due to the size of the cloth. Remember that you determined that the flag is almost 14 feet wide, so you now need to edit the cloth properties for the flag so that it behaves more realistically.
Click the Object Properties button, and then in the left-hand column of the floating dialog click Flag.
Change the Shear value to 350.0.
Change the U Bend value to 50.0.

Altering these two parameters forces the cloth to be less flexible, cause more realistic folds in the cloth drapes.
Close the Object Properties dialog, and then click Erase Simulation to remove the existing simulation data.
Click Simulate again to see the flag drape.

Add a wind force:

To make the simulation more realistic, you'll use a Wind space warp to make the flag flap in the breeze.

Go to Create panel > Space Warps > Forces and then add a Wind space warp In the Left viewport.
Rotate the space warp to point in the same direction as the flag, as shown below.

Wind space warp placement in the scene
With the Wind space warp selected, go to the Modify panel and change the Strength value to 10.0.

Next you'll tell the Cloth simulation to take the wind into account by adding it as a force.
Select the Flag object and then on the Object rollout click the Cloth Forces button.

This opens the Forces dialog.
In the Forces In Scene column, click Wind01 and then click the right-arrow button in the center to move it over to the Forces in Simulation column. Click OK to exit the dialog.
Erase the simulation again and then click Simulate and let the new simulation run to completion.

Flag blowing after simulation is complete

You can see how easy it is to create a simple cloth object with Cloth. Now that you've had a taste of how the system works, you'll use the major Cloth features to build a realistic shirt for a character model.

Designing a Shirt

In this tutorial, you will go through the process of building a shirt for a character from scratch.

The first lesson will lead you through several key features of the Garment Maker modifier that let you design the patterns that will be used to create the garments.

The concepts covered in this lesson are as follows:

Drawing splines for the pattern
Applying Garment Maker to the pattern
Working with MultiSegment splines
Positioning the Garment Maker panels over the character
Creating seams

Create the shirt pattern:

Load tutorial_1.max from your \tutorials\cloth folder.

This scene contains a character for which you will make a shirt.
Select the character named Jester. In the Front viewport, rotate it -90 degrees on the X axis.

The Jester character model should now be facing upward in the Top viewport. Garment Maker requires that you create patterns in the Top viewport. Rotating the character will allow you to use it temporarily for fitting while creating the pattern. When you've finished creating the patterns, you will rotate it back.

Next you'll start to make a pattern for a shirt. First you'll create the panels that will make up the front and back of the shirt.
On the Create panel click Shapes > Line, and create a spline in the Top viewport that resembles the front of a shirt without sleeves. This will look something like a vest, as shown below.

Front of shirt in the Top viewport

Next you'll make the sleeve for the shirt. The sleeve is basically one long piece of fabric that wraps around the arm, with a seam at the bottom. The end of the sleeve that will attach to the shirt should be curved to better fit the shoulder area.
In the Top viewport, create a spline sleeve that fits the arm's length, and is about three to four times the arm's width.

Sleeve in the Top viewport
Copy the sleeve and front panel splines of the shirt so that you have a front and back plus two sleeves. Also, rotate the sleeve on the left so that it is properly oriented, as shown below.

Pattern panels copied and arranged

Next you'll combine all the pieces and set them up to be sewn together.
Use the Attach function to combine all the editable splines into one object and name it Pattern.

In order for Garment Maker to work, all of the panels that are created as part of a single piece of clothing must be part of the same object. That's why you attached all the splines. Next you'll break off different segments of the pattern so that these edges can be sewn together.
At the Vertex sub-object level, select all four corner vertices of both sleeves and then click Break.

Vertices selected for breaking

This will give you four separate splines to select and sew together instead of having only one spline. When you work with Garment Maker, you need to make sure that your shape contains separated splines to use as the seam edges.
Select the eight corner vertices on both the front and back pieces of the shirt, and click Break again.

Vertices selected for breaking

Now that the pattern is ready, you'll apply the Garment Maker modifier to make this 2D spline pattern into a 3D mesh.
With the Pattern spline selected, go to the Modify panel and apply the Garment Maker modifier.

When you apply Garment Maker to the closed splines it fills them in with an irregular triangular mesh that is designed for cloth deformation.

Fit the shirt to the character model:

Now that you're done with the preliminary creation and sizing for the pattern, you'll rotate the Jester back into standing position.

In the Front viewport select the Jester object and rotate it 90 degrees around the X axis.

The next step is to position the panels of the pattern around the character.
Go to the Panels sub-object level of the Garment Maker modifier and select the panel that makes up the front of the shirt.
Move the panel into place in all four viewports so it lines up well with the front of the character. This panel will need to be rotated 90 degrees around X and moved up and forward a bit to line up with the character as shown below.

Positioning of the front shirt panel
Still at the Panels sub-object level, select the panel that makes up the back of the shirt. Move and rotate this panel into place. This panel will need to be rotated 90 degrees around X as well as 180 degrees around the Z axis so the mesh is facing outward.
Move the sleeve panels into place above the arms.

Positioning of the back and arm shirt panels

You'll adjust a few parameters of the panels before adding the seams to the shirt's panels.
At the Panels sub-object level select one of the sleeve panels. In the Panels rollout's Deformation group choose the Curved radio button option. Set the Curvature value to -3.0 and choose the Y-axis option.

This causes the sleeve panel to bend around the arm.
Using the Move and Rotate tools, reposition the panel to fit more closely around the arm.

If the sleeves are not wide enough to curve around the arm, go back to the Editable Spline level on the stack to make them a bit wider. To get Garment Maker to recognize this change, tweak the Density spinner up and down in the Garment Maker > Object rollout after editing the splines.
Repeat these steps to curve the other sleeve and position it to resemble the following illustration.

Sleeve panels with curvature

Make the shirt seams:

All the panels are in place, so next you'll make some seams for sewing them together. You can make seams at both the Curves and Seams sub-object levels. The Curves level is a good place to make seams quickly if you know exactly how they need to connect. However, this method can be a bit confusing at first. Therefore, you'll use the Seams level because it gives more visual feedback.

Go to the Seams sub-object level of the Garment Maker modifier. Select the edge on the front panel of the shirt above the left shoulder. It turns red to indicate it is selected.
Press and hold the Ctrl key, and then select the corresponding edge on the back panel of the shirt. On the Seams rollout click Create Seam.

If a dialog box comes up that reads, “Seamed segments not within tolerance,” increase the value for the Seam tolerance on the Seams rollout. You might also get a twisted seam. If this happens, click Reverse Seam on the Seams rollout.

Left: Twisted seam

Right: Correctly aligned seam

Most of the seams for clothing can be made as easily as this: Select two edges and then click Make Seam.

The exception to this is creating the seam between the sleeves and the arm holes. There are three seams involved here instead of two: the front half of the arm hole, the back half of the arm hole, and the sleeve edge itself. You must first make the arm holes on the front and the back of the shirt into one segment. You will do this by making a "MultiSegment" seam.
Select both segments for the arm hole on the front and the back of the shirt. It is important that you select the segments on the same side of the body on which you just made a shoulder seam. When both edges are selected, click Make MultiSegment on the Seams rollout.

Segments selected for making MultiSegment

Now, if you deselect and select either the back or front segment, both will be selected or deselected because Garment Maker now considers them to be one segment.
Select the MultiSegment you just made, and then select the sleeve edge. Click Create Seam to attach the sleeve.

Seam attaching sleeve to body
Create the seams for the rest of the segments on that side of the body. Don't forget the underside of the sleeve.

Seams for left side of body
Use the same method to create the seams for the other side of the body.

Remember to create the shoulder seam first and then make the MultiSegment seam. When dealing with MultiSegment seams, the order of creation is important. If you attempt to create seams in the wrong order, you might get a “Seamline topology is wrong” error, and the seams will not be created. When dealing with MultiSegment seams, create the minimum number of seams necessary to make the MultiSegment seam match the topology of the other piece to that you are going to connect. In this case, you have an arm seam that is open at the bottom, and a MultiSegment that is open at both the top and the bottom. By closing the top of this MultiSegment with a seam at the shoulder, you've created proper topology to make the MultiSegment seam.

To recap this first lesson, you created a pattern for a shirt from standard splines, applied Garment Maker, positioned them over the character and then created the seams that will be used to sew the panels together. In the next tutorial, you will see how to make the flat panels look more like a shirt.

Designing a Shirt, Part 2

In this next tutorial, you'll take the patterns you built in the first tutorial, and you'll apply Cloth to begin the process of turning the panels into a shirt.

This lesson covers the following concepts:

Assigning cloth and collision objects
Bringing the seams together
Assigning clothing properties
Running the local simulation to fit a garment

Open tutorial_2.max from your \tutorials\cloth folder.

This scene contains the Jester character and the shirt pattern with seams in place from the previous lesson. Now that all the seams are in place on the pattern, you will add the Cloth modifier to form the pieces into the shirt. The first task is to decide on the scale of the scene.

If you use the Measure utility, you can see that the Jester character is about 77 3ds Max units tall. If we set one unit to one inch, what would make him 77 inches (6 feet, 5 inches) tall, including the hat, which seems reasonable. Since we want to use 1 3ds Max unit=1 inch, that means 1 unit=2.54cm, so the cm/unit setting in Cloth will be set to 2.54; this is the default.
Select the Shirt object, go to the Modify panel, and apply the Cloth modifier to it.

Since we want cm/unit=2.54, there is no need to change this value, but please keep in mind that it is very important to set this value correctly before attempting a simulation.

The Object Properties button on the Object rollout opens the Object Properties dialog, where you add objects to the simulation and assign them different properties.
Click the Object Properties button. In the left column of the Object Properties dialog, click the Shirt entry and then choose the Cloth radio button on the right.

This sets the shirt to be a cloth object in the simulation.

Take note of all the Cloth Properties parameters that can be adjusted when an object is set to be cloth. You can use these parameters to get the fabric type you want, or you can use a preset.
With the Shirt still highlighted in the left column, choose Cotton from the Presets drop-down list.

This sets all of Cloth Properties to simulate cotton.

If you were to simulate now, the shirt would simply fall to the floor because it's the only object in the simulation currently. You'll add an object for the cloth to collide and interact with.
On the Object Properties dialog, click the Add Objects button.

This opens a list of objects in the scene.
Click the Jester and then click OK.

When you add objects to the simulation, it is the same thing as instancing the Cloth modifier to those objects. Each object that is part of the Cloth simulation will have a Cloth modifier assigned to it. Be aware of this as you set up your own simulations.
With Jester still highlighted in the left column, click the Collision Object radio button on the right near the bottom.
Set the Offset parameter to 0.25, which will keep the cloth a quarter of a 3ds Max unit away from the body (the default of 1.0 is a little large for this scene).
Click OK to close the Object Properties dialog and set the parameters.

At this point, you have set the shirt to react like cloth, and the Jester's body to collide with it. You are now ready to convert the panels into a shirt. You do this with a local simulation.

Before you simulate sewing the garment together, you'll turn gravity off.
Scroll down to the Simulation Parameters rollout, and click the Gravity button so it is no longer highlighted and active.
In the Perspective viewport, zoom in a bit to get a closer look at the shirt, then still within the Cloth modifier, go to the Object rollout, and click then Simulate Local. When the seams have pulled the shirt mostly together, press the Esc key to stop the simulation.

As you can see in the image above, the panels have pulled together and are draped over the Jester character. However, the seams have not come together to form a single garment and the green sewing springs are still visible. In order to get the seams to snap together completely, you will need to perform one more operation.
On the Simulation Parameters rollout, turn off Use Sewing Springs.

The green lines disappear.
Turn Gravity back on, and then back on the Object rollout, click Simulate Local again.
Let the simulation run until you are satisfied with the fit, and then press the Esc key to stop it.

Now the shirt is complete. Next, you can animate the character and simulate the cloth over the animation. But before you animate your character, you're going to give the shirt a pocket to add some detail to it.

Add a pocket:

Now that the shirt is coming together, you'll add a pocket to it in order to give it some more detail. This tutorial will introduce you to the idea of attaching one cloth object to another as well.

The following concepts are covered in this lesson:

Garment Maker creation
Creating and using groups
Assigning separate cloth properties

Load tutorial_3.max from your \tutorials\cloth folder.

This scene contains the Jester character and the shirt simulated from the previous lesson. If the scene opens with the panels apart and the garment looking stretched out, there's an easy fix. Occasionally you will see a scene file with the panels not together and the triangles distorted. To fix this, just turn on Use Sewing Springs, click Reset State, and then use Simulate Local to rebuild the shirt as it was at the end of the previous tutorial.

Now that the shirt is in place, you will add a pocket to it to make it look like a fancy T-shirt.

You'll start by creating a pocket to add in the same way you made the shirt pattern.
In the Top viewport, zoom into the front of the Jester's body, then draw out a pocket shape with the line tool using Create panel > Shapes > Line. Make the pocket an appropriate size for the shirt and name the object Pocket. Be sure to go to the Vertex sub-object level and break all the vertices.

Spline pocket in the Top viewport
With the Pocket object selected, apply the Garment Maker modifier to it.
Go to Panels sub-object level of the Garment Maker modifier, and then move the pocket into place just in front of the shirt. You might want to rotate the pocket a bit to more closely align it with the chest portion of the shirt. When you're done, exit the sub-object level.

Pocket positioned at the Panels sub-object level

Now that the pocket is in place, you will need to add it to the simulation.
Select the shirt, and then click Object Properties. On the Object Properties dialog, click Add Objects to open a list of objects in the scene. Click Pocket and then click OK. With Pocket still selected in the left column, click the Cloth radio button on the right. Click OK to close the Object Properties dialog.

Before attaching the pocket to the shirt, it's advisable to make the mesh densities of the two objects similar. Right now, the mesh density of the pocket is higher than the shirt, which can cause crumpling at simulation time.
Select the Pocket object, and then access the Garment Maker modifier in the stack. On the Object rollout, change the Density value so the mesh density of the pocket more closely matches that of the shirt. A value of 3.0 should work.

Next you'll attach the pocket to the shirt. You can do this at the Group sub-object level of the Cloth modifier.
Select the Pocket object, and then go to the Group sub-object level of its Cloth modifier. This level lets you select vertices. Select the vertices at all edges of the pocket except the top edge, as shown below.

Pocket vertex selection
Click the Make Group button and name the group PocketEdge.

You'll see a new group in the Group rollout list named “PocketEdge (unassigned).”
With this group still selected, click the Cloth button and pick the shirt by selecting it in the viewport or by pressing the H key and selecting it by name.

Now the Group should be named “PocketEdge (cloth to Shirt).” This lets you know that you have attached the group of vertices to the shirt object as a piece of cloth.
Return to the base level of the Cloth modifier, so you are no longer in Group sub-object mode. Make sure Gravity is not active on the Simulation Parameters rollout.
Click Simulate Local to conform the pocket to the shirt.
This should take only a few frames, and you should also realize that this process will also further refine the shirt's fit itself, so don't let the simulation run too long.

Pocket conformed to the shirt

As you have seen, adding extra detail to a piece of clothing is not a very difficult process. Attaching one cloth object to another is simply a matter of creating a group of vertices and choosing the other cloth object to attach it to. In the next lesson you will expand on this knowledge to create a collar and cuffs for the shirt, as well as assign different material properties to them.

Designing a Shirt, Part 3

Add a collar:

Now that you've had a taste of adding detail to a garment, it's time to look at some of the more advanced attributes within Cloth. In this tutorial, you'll add a collar and cuffs to a simple shirt design, and change their seams to create creases within the garment.

The concepts that will be covered in this lesson are as follows:

Creating seams and positioning Garment Maker panels
Using the Seam Strength and Seam Angle controls
Simulating multiple times to get a garment into position

Load tutorial_4.max from your \tutorials\cloth folder.

This scene contains a character and the shirt from the previous lesson. This shirt has some additions to it as shown in the following illustration. Two extra pieces have been added for the collar, and one extra piece per arm for a cuff. The cuff is a bit narrower than the sleeve.

Shirt layout with collar and cuffs added to the basic pattern
Select the shirt, and on the Modify panel, turn on the Garment Maker modifier so the panels move into place.

The shirt is set up as in the previous lesson with most of the seams created for the arms, back and front of the shirt. You'll adjust the curve of the cuffs and collar and apply seams to them.
Go to Panels sub-object level of Garment Maker, and select one of the cuffs. In the Deformation group on the Panels rollout, choose Curved, and set the curve to -5.0 around the Y-axis.

Now that the cuff is curved around the arm, you can add its seams.
Go to the Seams sub-object level of Garment Maker and create a seam between the sleeve and the cuff. Then create the seams for under the sleeve and under the cuff. Create your seams in this order or you might get topology dependency errors.

Seams for the underarm and cuff

Now that you have made the seams for the cuff, you will edit the seam attaching it to the sleeve to get a cuff-like result. Where the cuff meets the sleeve, there should be a clear crease and a bunching of the sleeve.
At the Seams sub-object level, select the seam (the green sewing springs) that joins the cuff and the sleeve. On the Seams rollout, set Crease Angle to 90.0 and Crease Strength to 100.0.

This will make the seam try to maintain an angle of 90 degrees.
Complete steps 3-5 for the other side of the body.

Now you'll take a look at the collar. It would probably be best to make the seams for the collar first, and then change the curve afterward.
At the Seams sub-object level, create a seam between the back of the shirt and the bottom of the closest collar piece.

Seam from the back of the shirt to the bottom of the collar
Next, create a seam between the tops of the two collar pieces. If necessary, click the Reverse Seam button to straighten out the seam.

Next you'll bend the collar panels and move them into place.
At the Panels sub-object level select the base of the collar and apply a curvature of -3.0 around the X-axis. Select the other piece of the collar and apply a curvature of -2.0 around the X-axis.
Select each of the collar places and move them into place around the neck and above the shoulders, as shown below.

Collar bent and positioned

Next you'll edit the seam of the collar as you did the cuffs. This will let the folded part of the collar stand out a bit.
Select the seam between the top of the two collar pieces in Seams sub-object mode. Set Crease Angle to -75.0 and Crease Strength to 25.0.

Now you are ready to add the Cloth modifier and simulate.
Apply the Cloth modifier to the shirt.
On the Object Properties dialog, set the shirt to be cloth, and choose the Cotton preset from the drop-down list.
Add the Jester to the simulation, and make the Jester a collision object. Close the Object Properties dialog by clicking OK.
Turn off Gravity, and then Simulate Local with Use Sewing Springs on to bring the panels together.
Stop the simulation and then, on the Simulation Parameters rollout, turn off Use Sewing Springs.

Turning off Use Sewing Springs tells Cloth to compute the seam angles and strength for the cuffs and collar.
Turn Gravity back on, and then Simulate Local again with Use Sewing Springs off to further refine the garment's position and fit.

If you don't get the right result the first time, you might want to turn Use Sewing Springs back on and Reset State. This will allow you to perform the local simulation again.

Simulated shirt with collar and cuffs

This lesson has provided you with additional ways to control how your fabric behaves and is joined together. In the next lesson you'll look at how you can further refine the look and behavior of your clothing by assigning different cloth properties to the panels of garments.

Apply various cloth settings to different parts of the shirt:

In the last lesson you looked at different controls that help define how your fabric behaves. In this lesson you'll apply different cloth settings to various parts of the shirt to create a more convincing look.

The concepts that will be covered in this tutorial are as follows:

Assigning separate Cloth properties for panels
Assigning different materials for panels
Assigning separate Cloth properties with a material

Load tutorial_5.max from your \tutorials\cloth folder.

This scene contains a character and the shirt from the previous lesson. You'll add some different properties to the cloth panels themselves.
Select the shirt and then, on the Cloth modifier Object rollout, click Object Properties to open the Object Properties dialog. Highlight the Shirt entry in the left column and then turn on Use Panel Properties. Click OK to exit the dialog.

This will let you set the cloth properties for the entire shirt on a panel-by-panel basis.
Go to the Panel sub-object level of Cloth and select one of the cuffs. It will turn red it indicate that it's selected.

You can change all of the parameters for how the fabric reacts here on the Panel rollout.
From the Presets drop-down list, choose Generic Heavy.

This sets the cuff to deform like a heavy or stiff piece of fabric.
Select the different panels of the collar and the other cuff and set them to the Generic Heavy preset. Be sure to choose the preset even if it is already displayed in the list.
Select each of the other shirt panels, and set the preset to Cotton.

This will make most of the shirt behave like cotton except for the collar and cuffs, which will be heavier and less flexible, as if they were starched.

Now it's time to rerun the simulation.
Exit the Panel sub-object level and go to the Object rollout of the Cloth modifier. Be sure Use Sewing Springs is on in the Simulation Parameters rollout, and then click Reset State from the Selected Object Manip group of the Object rollout.

This resets the state of the shirt so you can run the local simulation again.
Run the local simulation again, first with Use Sewing Springs on for a bit, and then run the local simulation with Use Sewing Springs turned off. You might also use Simulate Local (damped), which adds a heavy damping to the fabric as it simulates.
If you are not satisfied with the results, click Erase Simulation and then rerun the simulation until you like the positioning and drape of the shirt.

Now that you have different fabric properties for the cuffs and the collar, you'll set up some different materials and densities. If you take a look at the end of the cuff, you will see it seems a bit low-poly and chunky.

Slightly chunky-looking cuff
If necessary, select the shirt, and then go down the modifier stack to the Garment Maker modifier.

You're going to change the density of different parts of the shirt next. In order to do this so you don't have to re-simulate the garment afterwards, you'll first check to make sure that you preserve the shirt's position.
In the Garment Maker modifier, make sure the Preserved Surface radio button is chosen.
Go to the Panels sub-object level and select one of the cuffs. On the Panels rollout, change Density to 3.0 and set the Mat ID to 2. Do this for the other cuff as well.

This will let you apply a different material to the cuffs only.
Select each panel of the collar and change its Density to 2.0 and its Mat ID to 2.
Use the Material Editor to create a Multi/Sub-Object material with two sub-material slots. Change the two sub-materials to any colors you like, apply the material to the shirt, and then render.

Smooth cuffs with separate materials applied

You changed the cloth properties via the Panel sub-object level; you'll now learn about an alternative method that can add some flexibility to assigning cloth properties. You'll use a grayscale map to determine which parts of the shirt are made of which types of fabric.
Go back up the stack to the Cloth modifier, and open the Object Properties dialog by clicking Object Properties on the Object rollout.
Highlight the Shirt entry on the left, and then turn off Use Panel Properties.
Choose the Cotton preset.

Now the entire shirt is set back to cotton.
In the upper-right corner of the Object Properties dialog, click the Property 2 radio button. Choose the Cotton Generic Heavy preset.
Click OK to exit the dialog.

Now you have two different sets of cloth properties you can modify and assign to the shirt.
Open the Cloth modifier's Material Params rollout.

Note: This rollout is available only when a single object is selected.

Note: The Interpolate option is currently active. This option lets you move the slider to interpolate between the two properties you just set for the cloth, and even animate between them if you wish. But for now you'll use the other option: Texture Map. This lets you to use a grayscale texture map to assign fabric properties. White pixels will assign Property 1, black pixels will assign Property 2, and values in between will blend between the two sets of properties.
Open the Material Editor and create a new material. As the Diffuse map type choose Bitmap and choose the shirtprop.bmp from your \maps folder.
Apply this material to the shirt.
Reset the initial state, making sure Use Sewing Springs is on. Go to the Object rollout of the Garment Maker modifier and choose the Flat Panels option.

This lays out the panels in a manner that is appropriate for UVW mapping.
Above the Garment Maker modifier apply a UVW Map modifier. Keep the Planar default mapping type and adjust the size to fit properly. Make sure Show End Result toggle is off below the modifier stack display so you can see the panels.

UVW modifier in the Top viewport

Modify panel with UVW Mapping modifier
Go back up to the Cloth modifier in the stack.
On the Material Params rollout, choose the Texture Map option and then click the None button to get the texture. On the Material Map Browser dialog choose Browse From > Mtl Editor, and then choose the Diffuse map you just added to your shirt.

You're now ready to simulate again.
Use Simulate Local as before to conform the shirt to the character with the new settings.

Now the fabric parameters are defined by the black-and-white map to make the cuffs and collar a bit stiffer than the rest of the shirt. You can now apply any material you want to the shirt.

Simulation with cuffs and collar properties set by material

As you can see, giving a single piece of clothing multiple cloth properties is not difficult, and can generate results that would be impossible otherwise. Now that you can construct garments and give them properties to make them behave as you would like, you'll start looking into how you can refine the design of the clothes you build so they fit the characters better.

Tailoring and Fine-Tuning

As you begin to create more complex clothing, you're most likely going to want to create the garments for your characters, then be able to go back and refine them to make them fit better. In essence, you'll be acting like a virtual tailor. This tutorial introduces you to the traditional sewing concept of darts, and how they can help you build better clothing.

The concepts that will be covered in this tutorial are as follows:

Using darts with Garment Maker
Creating seams for darts
Modifying darts after simulation to get a better fit

Fit a dress with darts:

Load tutorial_6.max from \tutorials\cloth folder.

This scene contains a character model and a pattern for a sun dress. This sun dress has darts in it to help it fit the character's body closely while still being a very simple pattern.
Select the SunDress object.

The darts in the pattern appear as thin diamonds.
Go to the Modify panel and turn on the Garment Maker modifier.

Most of the seams for the dress are already made. The ones you'll focus on are the darts.

Darts marked in red
Go to the Seams sub-object level of Garment Maker. Select the two seams of one of the darts and then click Create Seam.

Seam made for one dart (far right) and selected edges to create a seam for the next dart
Proceed around the dress making seams for each dart.
Apply the Cloth modifier to the dress.
On the Object rollout click Object Properties. Highlight the SunDress entry in the list on the left, click the Cloth radio button, and then choose the Cotton preset from the drop-down list.
Click the Add Object button and then add the Girl to the simulation. With the Girl entry highlighted click the Collision Object option. Click OK to exit the dialog.
On the Object rollout choose Simulate Local (damped). Once your dress is partially formed to the figure, stop the simulation, turn off Use Sewing Springs in the Simulation rollout, and then simulate locally again for a bit.

The shoulder straps are floating too high above the shoulders, so you'll decrease the offset a bit.
Open the Object Properties dialog again and choose the Girl entry in the list at the left. In the Collision Properties group reduce the Offset value to 0.6. Click OK to close the dialog.
Click Simulate Local (damped) to tighten up the dress.

The resulting dress has some bunching on both sides under the chest. This bunching is what the darts are designed to minimize or eliminate. You should be able to get a better fit by repositioning the darts and making them a little larger.

Bunching on both sides of the dress
Go to the spline level at the bottom of the modifier stack and then access the Vertex sub-object level. In the Top viewport, reposition the outside darts to be larger, and position them more toward the top of the dress as shown below.

Darts moved up and widened
Garment Maker doesn't register changes in the spline shape until the mesh is regenerated, so now you need to click the Mesh It And Preserve button, which lets you keep the dress in place as it adjusts to the new dart positioning. If you clicked the Mesh It! button instead, the dress would revert to the pre-sewn configuration.
Go up to the Cloth modifier, turn on Simulation Rollout > Use Sewing Springs, and then click Reset State.
Run the simulation locally again until you're satisfied.

You should get a much better fitting dress.

Results after manipulating the darts

Using Cloth with Bipeds

Cloth is a complex system, so it makes sense to learn how it functions in concert with another character animation tool, namely the Biped functionality in 3ds max.

The following concepts are covered in this tutorial:

How to slow down the character’s initial pose so the initial Cloth simulation can occur. The idea here is that motion-capture data imported into both products will position a character at frame 0, which can cause problems for Cloth because it wants to simulate over at least 30 to 90 frames before motion begins, generally in a neutral pose.
Truncating a simulation
Capturing an initial state

Clothe an animated biped:

Load tutorial_7.max from your \tutorials\cloth folder.

This scene has a biped standing in the “Da Vinci” pose.

Biped in Da Vinci pose
Select all the biped parts and then go to the Motion panel.
On the Copy/Paste rollout, click Copy Posture.

Now this posture is saved for you to get later.
On the Motion Capture rollout, click Load Motion Capture File, and then load the file backkick.bip from your \tutorials\cloth folder. Click OK through the dialogs that follow, accepting the default settings.
Open the Dope Sheet for Track View, and select all of the Biped keys. Move the keys 30 frames to the right.

This will give you 30 frames to transition between the copied pose and the first motion-capture frame.
At frame 0, on the Motion Panel > Copy/Paste rollout, click Paste Posture.
On the Key Info rollout click Set Key.

Now when you scrub the time slider your animation should transition smoothly between the Da Vinci pose and the first frame of the motion capture.
Unhide the Shirt object.
Select the Shirt object and then go to the Modify panel and click Cloth modifier > Object rollout > Simulation group > Simulate to get the shirt to deform. At frame 30, press Esc to halt the simulation.
At frame 30, click Cloth modifier > Object rollout > Selected Object Manip group > Set Initial State.

This sets the initial state of the shirt to be in sync with the first frame of the motion capture. Because Cloth requires some pre-roll for the simulation, it provides you with the tools needed to copy the cloth at any stage back to frame 0.
Next, go to frame 0 and click Truncate Simulation.

This removes the simulation after frame 0.
Choose File > New, and on the New Scene options dialog, choose Keep Objects And Hierarchy.

This removes all animation from the scene.
Import the motion capture file again. The cloth will be in sync with it at frame 0, and you can simulate the rest of the animation at that point.

This tutorial gave you a method for "staging" your Cloth simulation.

Creating Pleats

In this final tutorial, you will learn more about creating specific pleats within a garment to make it look as if it's just been ironed and pressed.

The concepts that will be covered in this tutorial are as follows:

Using a pattern with pleats in Garment Maker
Creating seams for pleats

Sew the skirt sections together:

Load tutorial_8.max from your \tutorials\cloth folder.

This scene contains a mannequin figure and a pattern for a pleated skirt. This skirt has been broken into several sections for a pleated look when it gets sewn together.
Select the Skirt object.

Skirt pattern

This pattern object contains five sections that will have pleats between them. You'll connect the five sections to the five segments on the bottom of the waistband portion of the dress.
Apply the Garment Maker modifier to the Skirt object.

Garment Maker applied to the skirt panels

Next you'll position and rotate the pattern into place at the Panels sub-object level of Garment Maker.
Go to Panels sub-object level and then position and rotate the waistband portion of the pattern near the character's waist.
In the Panels rollout > Deformation group choose Curved. Enter a Curvature value of -1.7 around the X-axis.

This bends the waistband portion of the skirt around the character's waist.
Move and rotate the skirt panels so they encircle the character, as shown below. Take your time and rotate the view around the character to get a better sense of where the panels are in relation to one another.

Panels rotated and placed around the character

Once the panels are in place you can make seams to attach each panel to the waistband.
At the Seams sub-object level of Garment Maker, select a segment on the bottom edge on the waistband and the corresponding edge on the top of a skirt panel.

Edges selected to make a seam
On the Seams rollout click Create Seam.
Attach the remaining panels to the waistband with additional seams.

Seams created attaching the waist band to the panels
Create a seam for the back of the waistband to close it off.

Each adjacent pair of skirt panels need a seam between them to keep them together and define a pleat.
Select the edges of the two back panels to create a seam between them and then click Create Seam.

Seam created between back panels of the skirt
With this seam still selected, go to the Seams rollout and change Crease Angle to 90.0 and Crease Strength to 25.0.

Setting Crease Angle to 90 makes the seam try to achieve a 90–degree angle during simulation. The Crease Strength setting defines how hard the seam will try to reach the set crease angle. All of this happens during simulation when Use Sewing Springs is off.
Repeat steps 11 and 12 with each pair of adjacent panels in the skirt.
Exit the sub-object level and apply the Cloth modifier to the Skirt object.
On the Object rollout click Object Properties.
On the Object Properties dialog, highlight the Skirt entry in the Objects In Simulation list and choose the Cloth option to designate the skirt as a cloth object.
From the Presets drop-down list choose Cotton.
Click the Add Objects button and add Manny to the simulation. Choose the Collision Object radio button to designate the mannequin as a collision object. Click OK to exit the dialog.

Now it's time to simulate and see how the dress looks.
On the Simulation parameters Rollout turn Gravity off and make sure Use Sewing Springs is on. Click Simulate Local (damped) and let the sewing springs pull the skirt together for a few seconds. Press the Esc key to stop the simulation.
Turn off Use Sewing Springs and turn on Gravity.
Run the local simulation again to snap the seams together and to define the pleats. After a couple of frames, press the Esc key to halt the simulation.

Skirt after simulation is complete

Pages

Cloth Tutorials

Features Covered in This Tutorial

Tutorial Files

In This Tutorial

Creating a Billowing Flag

Next

Designing a Shirt

Next

Designing a Shirt, Part 2

Next

Designing a Shirt, Part 3

Next

Tailoring and Fine-Tuning

Next

Using Cloth with Bipeds

Next

Creating Pleats

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