Cloth Sim Magic

ebergerly

I am a huge fan of cloth sims, mainly because it can turn conforming clothing which, IMO, often looks very unnatural, into something that hangs very naturally, as well as fits and stretches far more realistically. And what you can do is take a conforming clothing, do a cloth sim, and apply the resulting mesh as a morph target for the original conforming clothing. And what may be surprising is we're not talking just some minor differences in the mesh, it can be a HUGE difference between base mesh and morph. 

As an example, below is an image of a (very healthy) G3 wearing a base gown from the store (on the left). I then changed the material (middle image). And then I did a cloth sim on the gown, and as part of the cloth sim I did what's called "scaling", which is basically a kind of "shrink fit". And it shrank the base mesh, converting it from a floor-length gown to a tight, shin-length dress. And note that it fits/stretches far more naturally around the chesticle area, as well as around the hem and between the legs. The result is the image on the right. 

The only difference between the middle image and the one on the right is I slid the new morph dial from 0% to 100%. Kind of amazing you can change from the middle image to the right image just by sliding a single morph dial. Maybe I'll do an animated GIF when I get a chance to see how cool it looks.

Anyway my only point is you can do some crazy powerful stuff with cloth sims. Another example I posted a while back, using the same gown, but doing a cloth sim without shrinking, and it showed how drastically more realistically it hung and fit. 

Oh, BTW, please no body-shaming comments on how, um, healthy she is. She's only like that for academic purposes, to show how drastic body shapes can be accomodated with cloth sims.  

Toonces

Which cloth sim software did you use for this?

The scaling option is kinda cool...

ebergerly

And here's just a simple drape without any significant scaling. Notice how realistic the folds are compared to what you get with a conforming clothing.

ebergerly

Oh, the sim software I used is called Virtual World Dynamics (VWD). It's a plugin for D|S and I think Poser too. And Carrara? Not sure. 

xyer0

Thanks for posting. What gown is that?

ebergerly

Umm...VE Gown or something like that.

Oh wait...Vogue Evening Gown. 

The Diigitals

Can you add wind like in marvellous designer?

ebergerly

Yes, and also a point force. And you can move and rotate them in real time during the simulation. Pretty cool. 

The Diigitals

Sold!

 

did you find it easy to install? I've been wanting marvellous design but seems this is much much cheaper!

ebergerly

Oooo....wind !! 

(forgive the lack of collision with the shoes...I was in a rush and didn't select them as collision...)

ebergerly

Yeah, it was pretty easy to install as I recall. You need to buy the Bridge for Studio along with the VWD itself, but I don't recall any problems with the install. 

Now keep in mind that Marvelous Designer is a whole lot more than VWD, and if you want to really quickly design some amazing and complex clothes you can't really beat MD. But if you want to just work with existing conforming clothing and do sims on that, or do like I do and sometimes make your own clothing meshes in Blender and import as OBJ into Studio for the sims, then I think VWD is absolutely awesome. And apparently they're working on GPU support for the sims, which could be insanely awesome and much much faster. But as it stands now I can rotate the object and change parameters while the sim is doing its thing, and watch the results in real time, which is amazing. 

Toonces

Interesting, I have VWD, but I've never found a 'shrink fit' option. Usually VWD expands the clothes a little, gravity causing them to stretch.

How do you get it to shrink fit?

ebergerly

As I said it's called "Scale". You first select the vertices you want to shrink (under "Vertices Selection"), and then under "Forces and Springs" there's a section called "Scale %", and a "Value". So for example if you want to shrink the mesh to 80% of its present size, set Value to 80. Then with the vertices selected click "Create". Then run the sim and the selected mesh should shrink.

BTW, you probably don't want to make this value too small or you might get some craziness. I usually stick with around 80-90%. And maybe do it in steps. Run a sim with 80%, then stop the sim, re-select the mesh and Create another 80%, and so on. That's what I did for this long gown that needed a lot of shrinking down near the floor.

Diomede

Yes, VWD works with Carrara.  It was designed for Poser, I believe, but there are plugin bridges that are compatible with Daz Studio and Carrara.  The bridges pass the necessary files from Studio (or Carrara) to VWD, where the sim occurs, then pass the results back to Studio (or Carrara).  VWD also supports animations, not just still images.

 

Also - cloth sims such as VWD are a great way to use content designed for one figure on another, although the initial setup sometiems requires a minor adjustment..  IMHO, these programs greatly increase the value of items sold in the Daz store.  In addition, cloth sims can often be used for other purposes, such as placing a picnic blanket on uneven ground.  

.

For those of you who say you don't like jack-of-all-trades programs and instead prefer specialized programs, and thus don't want Studio to become bloated, acquiring a cloth sim program with a bridge might be preferred to calling on Daz to put a cloth sim in Studio.

.

 

 

ebergerly said:

Oh, the sim software I used is called Virtual World Dynamics (VWD). It's a plugin for D|S and I think Poser too. And Carrara? Not sure. 

 

Llynara

I definitely need to dig into the settings more. Not sure how to add wind yet, but it's probably in the documentation. I'm using VWD a lot more lately when rendering for book covers. Even small differences it makes in how the cloth drapes can make a HUGE difference on the overall photorealism of the render.

ebergerly

Wind is real easy. There's a "Wind and Forces" tab I think. So you just select all the vertices you want to react to Wind, then under Wind and Forces click the button that says something like React to Wind. Then in the same tab check the "Show Wind", and an arrow should appear in the center of the view (near the character's feet probably). You then set the strength of the wind, and run the sim. You can rotate and move it in real time as the sim proceeds. 

Diomede

Here was a concept test using VWD with Carrara.  Subject is another healthy genesis figure.  Could just as easily be done with Studio (although you would have to model the cloth elsewhere).  Notice the folds in the arms and across the front of the skirt - and no worrisome pokethrough where the blouse lies over the top of the skirt. Buttons can be made rigid, and if desired "nailed" in place over a position on the figure mesh.

Toonces

ebergerly said:

As I said it's called "Scale". You first select the vertices you want to shrink (under "Vertices Selection"), and then under "Forces and Springs" there's a section called "Scale %", and a "Value". So for example if you want to shrink the mesh to 80% of its present size, set Value to 80. Then with the vertices selected click "Create". Then run the sim and the selected mesh should shrink.

BTW, you probably don't want to make this value too small or you might get some craziness. I usually stick with around 80-90%. And maybe do it in steps. Run a sim with 80%, then stop the sim, re-select the mesh and Create another 80%, and so on. That's what I did for this long gown that needed a lot of shrinking down near the floor.

Hey that worked! Super cool!

I also noticed collision dist under scale. I bet I could make the clothing fit closer to the skin with it -- another thing I've always kinda wanted.

I find it amazing how version 1 of this product includes so much functionality.

ebergerly

Also, I strongly suggest when you're done with the sim, it will produce a copy of the base mesh, with the suffix ".....VWD". Keep in mind you can apply a standard smoothing/collision modifier to that mesh in Studio, and it will eliminate any poke-thru. Just select the new mesh, and under Edit/Geometry/ select Apply Smoothing Modifier. Then in Parameters set the base character as the collision object and crank up the collision iterations if necessary. That will help to clean up and abnormalities in the finished sim mesh. 

Oso3D

I also suggest applying SubD to the VWD mesh. That and collision/smoothing really cleans it up and makes it spiffy.

I often also apply push modifier of ~.1. It helps with any lingering pokethrough and tends to 'pad' edges, making the clothing look more substantial.

 

ebergerly

Here's an animation of the morph dial....

ebergerly

The only thing I'd caution about adding a SubD to the mesh is if you're going to make it a morph target of the original mesh. Both the base mesh and morph target need to be the same number of vertices. Or something like that...

Toonces

The push modifier is a good idea! Didn't realize how easy it is to use.

One other tip: You can do Edit > Scene identification when the VWD object is highlighted. Rename it to something without VWD and then you can send it back through VWD (normally VWD will exclude these objects from host list).

Useful if you are doing lots of collision, more than you want to handle in a single sim.

Ruphuss

is this still working with newest Daz Studio Version ?

i always fear that an update breaks the app and you cannot give it back then

because the company doesnt care

did happen a lot already

Ruphuss

is the lite version very far away from the full version ?

and

wasnt there a demo ?

Ruphuss

Ruphuss said:

is the lite version very far away from the full version ?

and

wasnt there a demo ?

ok lite version: no animation

so not for me

but is there a demo still ?

 

nicstt

I use VWD a lot, and agree it does great things for the believability of cloth.

DaremoK3

Same as nicstt, I use VWD a lot...

 

For Ruphuss:

The lite version is identical to the full version in functionality with the only difference being that you can not send animation back to host (DAZ Studio, Carrara, Poser), but you can still utilize animation for draping for sending singular pose to host (on any given animation frame).  So, animation can go into VWD, but can not make the return trip.

Now, a savvy artist could still use the lite version to create an animation, but it would be a little bit of a convoluted work-flow.  It can be done, but will take some considerable time and effort.  Save some money, create animation the long way.  For a few dollars more, auto-send animation back to host program.

Also, yes, there is a demo still, but only Poser users can use it (direct link to VWD from Poser).  Only available to evaluate the software with no ability to send either animation or single frame to host (Poser).  Unfortunately, there are no bridge demos, which would be required to test VWD with DS or Carrara.

 

Toonces:

Could you please elaborate more on the technique you describe in your post above.  If possible, could you please show screenshots of your work-flow.  It sounds interesting, and I would like to know if it is very different from one I am already using.

Toonces

It's not really a workflow, just a trick I discovered.

Basically you just select the vwd item in Scene. Then in the little scene menu, go to Edit > Scene Idnetification. Replace the 'VWD' in node name and node label with '2' or something else.

That's all there is to it. Then it becomes eligible for VWD again.

I don't use the technique a lot. Usually 1 drape is enough.

But it comes in handy. For example, let's say you want to make a simple ghost costume for halloween. You drape a plane over a figure and use geometry editor (assuming you gave the mesh enough subdivisions) to cut out a few eye/arm holes. It looks rough, just like a home-made costume should. You like it so much you remove the 'VWD', convert to figure, transfer utility for rigging, and save it as a wearable preset: 'ghost costume'. Now you've made your own clothing.

Because you removed the VWD from it's name, it's also eligible to go through VWD again so you can add wind effects, bending, crumpling or whatever else the situation requires. Pretty neat.

DaremoK3

Oh, I thought you had discovered something new, but that is the defacto way VWD works.

Just to let you know, or anyone else who may not already know, this can be done for multiple drapes via same open VWD session.  No need to close VWD to envoke the changed cloth name if you wish to work further on same cloth piece, because a new VWD session creates a copy anyways.

What you do is when you are working in VWD, and you accomplish a drape you like, send the current pose to host, make a duplicate copy of that cloth object with Studio's Duplicate Node command (Edit Menu), change that _vwd suffix to whatever (2, new, drape01, etc), reselect the original sent pose to host _vwd cloth object, and continue working in VWD on another/further drapes.

Each subsequent drape can be sent back to host, repeat the steps above, and continue working until you have all drapes on the cloth you like.  These can later be used for creating morph targets, used as is, or sent back to VWD in a new session for further work per your description.

Ruphuss

DaremoK3 said:

Same as nicstt, I use VWD a lot...

 

For Ruphuss:

The lite version is identical to the full version in functionality with the only difference being that you can not send animation back to host (DAZ Studio, Carrara, Poser), but you can still utilize animation for draping for sending singular pose to host (on any given animation frame).  So, animation can go into VWD, but can not make the return trip.

Now, a savvy artist could still use the lite version to create an animation, but it would be a little bit of a convoluted work-flow.  It can be done, but will take some considerable time and effort.  Save some money, create animation the long way.  For a few dollars more, auto-send animation back to host program.

Also, yes, there is a demo still, but only Poser users can use it (direct link to VWD from Poser).  Only available to evaluate the software with no ability to send either animation or single frame to host (Poser).  Unfortunately, there are no bridge demos, which would be required to test VWD with DS or Carrara.

 

Toonces:

Could you please elaborate more on the technique you describe in your post above.  If possible, could you please show screenshots of your work-flow.  It sounds interesting, and I would like to know if it is very different from one I am already using.

thank you very much

so only the full version is interesting for me

Mr Daz said theres something big coming later this year so i will wait for the surprise box