I think it’s a safe bet
In general I´m conteplainting to write down all the info, read and look through it, and then make a list of tasks in order to organize the steps. I think it could benefit other members and make life easier to them. Of course, whoever wants to edit or comment that list is more than welcome to. This is a community, not a one man show.
The more, the marrier.
Count me in on this! As I’m working my way thru things, I tried ideas that worked, and ideas that didn’t work. I’ll gladly share my experience with everyone, as I already plan on doing that once I finish it anyway.
Have you looked at Clo3D? When I was looking at other cloth sim software, it popped up. 2x the users of MD and 2x the price tag.
Maybe this could become a community project. Like a cloth sim jam session…
Randy
Thank you so much Randy. I would love to do this list because frankly I do not know anything about animating clothes Blender, but I want to learn and really do it well and there alot to go through on this thread. Im sure it is not that complicated but, you know, input from more cunning members is vital at this point. I just have to finish sculpting the little rascal and I´ll be making the list.
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Then be prepared for a world of pain…sure it all looks doable, but once you move past a basic flag in the wind or a sheet falling on top of a cube, it all gets messy very fast.
There’s a few cloth addons for Blender and while they likely make things easier, they ALL suffer from the same final problem. They all still use the built in Blender simulation system. Meaning that most of the time, the final solution to any issues, is to just convert it all to a shape key per frame and manually fix everything that is wrong.
Unlike say fluid simulation, where if Blender fails, you can just get Flip Fluids, no one has done the same thing (built their own cloth solvers as part of the addon).
It will be interesting to see what solutions you come up with, but if something like Disney/Pixar level of cloth sim is the goal, then Blender starts to hit a wall pretty fast.
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Agreed. I’m at that stage of pain. I’m ready to consider other options at this point, like MD. I can’t seem to get it smooth/jitter free, if you know what I mean…
But TBH, my animation is a bit jerky too, not the smoothest. I need to work on that…
What would you recommend to do the cloth?
Randy
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Frankly I’m still somewhat trying to figure that out. Short of Blender/Geometry Nodes simulation bursting on the scene big time and for Cloth/Hair simulation I really don’t expect that any time soon (think a year+). I’m mostly coming down to two options really.
- Model/animation that limits the need for actual cloth simulation as much as possible, so more Blender Studio then Disney.
- Yup, start to look at something like MD and see how the whole workflow, etc can achieve the results one wants.
Really neither of those two options are great, first limits artistic choice and producing what one really wants to make and the second ties you into a subscription system where the moment you stop paying the tools die, not just for doing any new work but even being able to adjust or make minor changes on stuff you have already done.
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Thank you for the heads up. Well, the animation Im looking for is very simple. It is meant to be part of a turntable. A little humanoid dragon character is shifting his weight from left to right and back. Very simple. At the end he stomps his staff on the ground and opens his mouth to release a little smoke simulation. He has a cloak, a shirt and paints. I´m at the conceptual level with all this atm. Still have to figure out the rigging (Rig pro) and the movement of the clothing which is not advanced at all. We will see. I´m still sculpting it, and another portfolio piece is scheduled before it. This is a great place to discuss this as I know I will fall. Someone perhaps gives me a hand and show me a better way. Happy New Year.
I´m also concidering MD for this. One I want to learn it for character work. Two, I think it is a better choice to get it right.
For small, simple movement, where the simulation mesh or more or less already sitting or created in it’s starting look, then Blenders cloth simulation will likely be fine.
Having said that, it may not even be needed. You can use a mix of simulation and then direct sculpting to get the cloth parts to look right and with that done just apply it all down to a single mesh and then weight paint as usual for small movements. The result would likely be much the same and easier in the end.