8

Cloth Modifier 561
Here is the procedure to follow to determine what
setting to use here.
1. Usethemeasureutilityortapehelperto
measure some dimension of your cloth (or
character) in 3ds Max units (call this number
x).
2. Decide how big you want this object to be in the
real world Convert this number to cm. If you
have the dimension in inches, simply multiply
by 2.54. (call this number y).
3. cm/unit=y/x
Here is a quick example: You import a file,
man.obj , into 3ds Max, and want to put a shir t on
him.
1. UsingtheMeasureutility,youfindthattheman
is 170 3ds Max units tal l. So y=170.
2. You determine that this man is about 6 feet tall.
6feet=72inches.
And 72 inches=72x2.54=182.88cm. So
x=182.88
3. So now you have the values to make
sure the shirt behaves correctly.
Cm/unit=y/x=170/182.88=0.929. Or
you can round the spinner’s value up to 1.0,
since pinpoint accuracy is not needed here.
Fabric Behavior
In Cloth there are many different ways to set up
fabric behaviors. You c an make your cloth behave
like leather, sil k , burlap, and anything in between .
The Simulation
Once al l of your parameters are set and you’re
ready to go, it ’s time to simulate. In many cases,
you will first perform a local simulation to fit your
fabric to your character. Once your fabric is in
place, you c an simulate over t ime.
Ru nning a simulation in Cloth is ver y freeform.
You are able to make many changes and edits to a
simulation, making it more of a work in progress
than a click and a “hope for the best” scenario.
Constraints
You can constrain fabric in various ways to create
different fabric effects during simulations. Cloth
can constrain cloth to have extra drag as it flies
through the air, or can cause it to be affected by
a space warp in the scene. Linking a portion
of the fabric to an animated object or attaching
to a surface are other common constraints. If
you wanted to create a pair of pants you would
constrain the top portion of the pants to the waist
of the character or a curtain can be constrained
to a rod. Constraints are a very important and
robust part of Cloth. Cloth has the ability to mak e
multiple groups of constrained vertices for great
flexibility. You can constrain m any different parts
of a piece of clothing to different nodes’ surfaces or
other cloth objects.
You build constraints in Cloth at the modifier’s
Group sub-object level (page 1–569) .Atthislevel,
you can see vertices of all selected objects, b oth
cloth and collision. You can then select these and
place them in groups. Once a group is defined,
you can then attach or "constrain" the selection
settoanotherobject,orhaveitaffectedbysome
external force.
Procedure
Torunaclothsimulationwithanetworkedrender
farm:
A complex cloth simulation can require extensive
computation and take a long time. Cloth includes
commandsthatmakeiteasytorunasimulation
onanetworkedmachine(partofarenderfarm),
freeing up your machine for working on other
parts of the scene.
1. Set up the simulation.
2. For each cloth objec t in the simulation, select
the object, and then on the Selected Object