Effects Tutorials >  Creating a Costume out of Cloth > 
Use the Garment Maker and Cloth Modifiers to Prepare the Skirt
 
 
 

Turning the skirt pattern into a skirt is even simpler than doing so for the pullover, except for the additional steps to prepare the pleats.

Set up the scene:

Isolate the pleat lines from the main outline of the pattern:

At this point, if you were to apply the Garment Maker modifier to the skirt pattern, 3ds Max would display the following warning:

The reason is the segments for the pleats, which Garment Maker does not know how to handle. The workaround is to assign a different Material ID to the pleat lines.

  1. Select the skirt and on the Modify panel, turn on (Segment).
  2. Drag and Ctrl+drag selection boxes to select all the pleat segments, but none of the segments in the skirt outline.
  3. Scroll down to the Surface Properties rollout, and change the Set ID field to 2.

    Now you are ready to apply Garment Maker.

Apply Garment Maker to the skirt pattern:

  1. In the modifier stack, click the Editable Spline entry to exit the Segment sub-object level.
  2. From the Modifier List, choose the Garment Maker modifier.

    Garment Maker turns the skirt panels into subdivided surfaces. (If the viewport is not displaying Edged Faces, press F4.)

Set up the pleats or creases:

The pleats of the skirt should have an alternating pattern, like that in the following illustration.

To accomplish this, you’ll set the values for alternating pairs of pleats.

  1. In the modifier stack, click (the plus-sign (+) icon) to open the Garment Maker hierarchy, if it isn’t visible already. Then click the Seams sub-object level to make it active.
  2. Click and Ctrl+click to select the first pair of seam segments, at the left side of the viewport.
    TipThe pleat segments are hard to see, because of all the face edges (but you can’t select the edges). Look for the straight lines that end at the hem of the skirt. It helps to zoom in a little. It can also help to do this work in the Front viewport.
  3. On the Seams rollout, change the Crease Angle value to 150.0. Change the Crease Strength value to 5.0.
  4. Select the next pair of seams, moving to the right.
  5. On the Seams rollout, change the Crease Angle value to –150.0 this time. Change the Crease Strength value to 5.0 again.
  6. Repeat the previous four steps for the remainder of the pleat segments, always assigning a Crease Strength of 5.0, but alternating the Crease Angle between 150.0 and its opposite, –150.0. Continue the alternation as you continue onto the back panel of the skirt.

    These pleats have a positive crease angle.

    These pleats have a negative crease angle.

Increase the density of the skirt mesh:

  1. In the modifier stack, click the Garment Maker entry to exit the Seams sub-object level.
  2. On the Main Parameters rollout for Garment Maker, change the value of Density to 1.5.

    The result is a much denser mesh. This will help give the skirt its flowing quality.

    (You can see why we chose to set up the pleats before increasing the Density.)

Move the skirt panels into position, and create the seams:

  1. In the modifier stack, click the Panels sub-object level to make it active.
  2. Turn on (Select And Rotate). Make sure (Angle Snap Toggle) is turned on, then as you did for the back of the pullover, rotate the back panel of the skirt 180 degrees about its Y axis (using Local coordinates).
  3. Move the back panel along the X axis so it has the same X position as the front panel, and then move it back along the Y axis so it is behind the body of the model.
  4. On the modifier stack, click the Seams sub-object level to make it active.
  5. For each side of the skirt, there are just two seams to create: the one defined by the short segments at the sides of the waistband, and the one that defines the length of the skirt.

    Click and Ctrl+click to select each pair, and then on the Seams panel, click Create Seam.

    Waistband seam created

    Side seam created

  6. Orbit the view, and repeat the previous step to create the two seams on the opposite side of the skirt.

    (You can use Shift+Z to undo the orbit, later.)

Use Cloth to Shape the Skirt

You use cloth for the skirt essentially in the same way you did for the pullover. The difference is that you also need to attach the waistband to the torso of the model. Because of this, local simulation proceeds in two steps.

Apply the Cloth modifier to the skirt:

  1. In the modifier stack, click the Garment Maker entry to exit the Seams sub-object level.
  2. From the Modifier List, choose Cloth.
  3. On the Object rollout, click Object Properties to open the Object Properties dialog.
  4. In the Object Properties dialog Objects In Simulation list, click Skirt Pattern to highlight it, and then choose Cloth.
  5. With Skirt Pattern still highlighted, choose Cotton from the Presets drop-down list.
  6. In the Cloth Properties group, change the value of U Stretch to 50.0 (this changes the V Stretch value as well). Change the value of Shear to 180.0. Leave the other cloth settings unchanged.
  7. Click the Add Objects button. 3ds Max displays a Scene Explorer. In the Scene Explorer, click to highlight the body object, and then click Add.
  8. In the Object Properties dialog, make sure body is still highlighted, and then choose Collision Object.
  9. In the Collision Properties group, change the Offset value to 0.5.

    The Offset value is a bit larger than the Offset used for the pullover (0.15), because the skirt does not need to be form fitting, and because the waist of the skirt should be outside the pullover.

  10. Click OK to close the Object Properties dialog.

Fit the skirt to the model’s waist:

  1. On the Simulation Parameters rollout, click to turn off Gravity, and turn off Use Sewing Springs as well.

    Eventually, we do want gravity to affect the skirt, but at this point, the skirt would simply slide right off the model!

  2. On the Object rollout, click Simulate Local (Damped).
  3. Watch in the viewport, and when the seams of the skirt have closed, click Simulate Local (Damped) againt to turn it off.

Attach the waistband to the body:

  1. Activate the Front viewport.
  2. In the modifier stack, click (the plus-sign (+) icon) to expand the Cloth hierarchy, then click the Group sub-object level to make it active.
  3. In the Front viewport, drag a selection box to select the vertices in the waistband. You don’t have to be accurate about this, but make sure the top row of vertices is selected.
  4. On the Group rollout, click Make Group.

    3ds Max opens a Make Group dialog. Name the vertex selection Waistband, and then click OK.

  5. On the Group rollout, click Surface.
  6. In the viewport, click the body object.

    The waistband is now attached to the body.

    NoteYou can pick the body because it is part of the Cloth simulation. You could not pick the Pullover Pattern, for example, because it has not been added to the skirt simulation.
  7. In the modifier stack, click the Cloth entry to exit the Group sub-object level.

Now you are ready to use gravity.

Use gravity to finish shaping the skirt:

  1. On the Simulation Parameters rollout, click Gravity to turn it back on.
  2. On the Object rollout, click Simulate Local to begin simulating the effect of gravity.

    Because you have already joined the seams of the skirt, you can afford to run the simulation a bit faster, this time.

  3. Watch the viewport while the simulation runs. When the skirt looks good, and does not appear to be changing any longer, click Simulate Local again to turn it off.

Save your work:

Next

Finish the Clothing and Animate It

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