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Inquiry about cloth simulation


chiess

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Hi odforce community,

My name is Christopher and I am currently studying Digital Effects at the Bournemouth University.

At the moment I am working on a personal inquiry for the university, concerning cloth simulation. It would be great if I could gather enough information about users experience and integrate it as part of the project.

I have six general questions about this topic:

- What software do you use for cloth simulation and why?

- Have you faced any problems so far?

- What could/should be improved (about the cloth sim tools and techniques) in your opinion?

- For what are you using the cloth simulation tools? Could you give some examples?

- Your general opinion about the cloth simulation tool?

- Do you use cloth simulation for/in your work (which area?) or only privately?

If a few of you could spend some time to answer these questions, I would be really grateful. If you don't want to post your answers here, please send me an E-Mail ( Christopher.Hiess@gmx.at ).

Any information would be really helpful.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Thank you very much in advance!

Best regards,

Chris

(also posted in other cg forums)

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- What software do you use for cloth simulation and why?

I've used cloth in 3dsMax and Maya, but not Houdini (yet). Cloth is a secondary effect, often associated with character animation. So where ever the character animation is being done, often you'll find the cloth sim done there as well. Doesn't have to be, but that's often the case.

- Have you faced any problems so far?

Yea, it often doesn't work. Often the character designers put clothing on characters that are just to impossible to simulate. Multilayer, tight fitting, to heavy, unrealistic clothing. I always have trouble with it.

- What could/should be improved (about the cloth sim tools and techniques) in your opinion?

Always faster, maybe support for real-time GPU, and better stitching features for making clothing.

I'd really like to see a cloth simulator that included some kind of volume to realistically calculate the resistance of air/fluid that the cloth is inside. This way you could simulate things like a parachute, swimming underwater, or filling a hot air balloon.

- For what are you using the cloth simulation tools? Could you give some examples?

Mostly character animation, or using the cloth sim to drive a VFX that is unrelated to cloth (i.e. deforming the body of a car to simulate a crash)

- Your general opinion about the cloth simulation tool?

When the job calls for a cloth vfx, then it really must work. It can't be something that your fighting with to get the results you need, and it can't be something that takes a lot of time. I think I've done a good job estimating the duration for works, but then comes cloth to suck up any spare time I allocated.

- Do you use cloth simulation for/in your work (which area?) or only privately?

Mostly work, as I don't like working with cloth. :)

What I'm tired of seeing are these CG characters in game schematics with long flowing cloaks blowing in the wind, or a character "striking a pose" while his clothing is slowly waving. You can always tell some TD in the production just discovered cloth simulation ;)

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- What software do you use for cloth simulation and why?

Qualoth (Maya) for character cloth simulation - its fast and relieble, Houdini and Maya's ncloth for effects

- Have you faced any problems so far?

Mostly problems regarding cloth design itself

- What could/should be improved (about the cloth sim tools and techniques) in your opinion?

Speed ofcource, and clothes creation process - an option to have more real world alike creation process (i.e. Marvelous designer)

- For what are you using the cloth simulation tools? Could you give some examples?

Character animation

- Your general opinion about the cloth simulation tool?

What hopbin said :)

- Do you use cloth simulation for/in your work (which area?) or only privately?

Work aswell

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