Paint nCloth property maps

User Guide > Dynamics and Effects > nDynamics > nCloth > Creating nCloth >

You can paint nCloth properties to create vertex maps or texture maps. When you paint vertex maps, the nCloth property values you are painting are stored per vertex on your nCloth. Vertex maps do not require clean UVs. When you paint texture maps, the nCloth property values you are painting are stored to a texture file on disk. Texture maps require clean UVs.

You can paint collisions or dynamic nCloth properties, as well as nComponent properties. Collisions properties determine the attribute settings for an nCloth, dynamic properties override certain Maya Nucleus settings, and nComponent properties control the intensity of an nCloth constraint.

ImportantYou can only create painted vertex maps for constraints that connect vertices to vertices.

Tip

When painting nCloth properties, flood the vertex or property map with a high value and then gradually paint the property value down until you achieve the effects you are looking for.
When applying a wrinkle map to an nCloth mesh, the wrinkle offset is to one side only, in the direction of the normals. To make positive and negative wrinkles, set the Alpha Offset value to -0.5 on the wrinkle map texture node.

To create nCloth vertex maps

Select the nCloth object for which you want to paint nCloth properties on its vertices.
Select nMesh > Paint Vertex Properties > [nCloth property].
The Paint Vertex Properties Tool becomes the current tool, and its settings appear in the Tool Settings panel. This tool is a modified version of the Paint Attributes Tool. See Artisan Tool Settings.
Set the Paint Vertex Properties Tool settings as desired.
Paint the vertex properties as desired.
The painted vertex properties are automatically saved to the selected nCloth’s vertices.

To create nCloth texture maps

Select the nCloth object for which you want to paint a texture map.
Select nMesh > Paint Texture Properties > [nCloth property].
The Paint Texture Properties Tool becomes the current tool, and its settings appear in the Tool Settings panel. This tool is a modified version of the 3D Paint Tool. See 3D Paint Tool.
Set the 3D Paint Tool’s settings as desired.
Paint the selected property’s value over the surface of your nCloth.
In the Tool Settings, click Save Textures in the File Textures section.
The painted texture map nCloth property values are saved as a file texture to the \maya\projects\default\3dPaintTextures directory by default.

To convert an nCloth vertex map to a texture map

Select the nCloth object whose vertex property values you would like to convert to a texture map.
Select nMesh > Convert Vertex to Texture Map > [nCloth property].
The selected property’s values are saved to disk as a texture map (file texture) and the property’s value on the nCloth’s vertices are not removed.

To convert an nCloth texture map to a vertex map

Select the nCloth object whose texture map you would like to convert to per-vertex property values.
Select nMesh > Convert Texture to Vertex Map > [nCloth property].
The selected property’s current texture map (file texture) is converted to per-vertex property values, those values are then stored on the selected nCloth’s vertices, and the texture map is not deleted from disk.