Way to create realistic cloth w/o soft bodies?

Support Modeling
1

Hi
Ive been using blender to create models for a game I’m making using Panda3d (game engine). Ive been trying to create an awning type model, complete with drooping cloth. I am aware of softbodies but the exporter for Panda3d/Blender doesnt export the softbodies. Im not very good w/ Blender so Ive been moving each vertice at a time, which is very tedious.
Is there someway to run the softbody animation and make the vertices stay in the same place they were at the end of the animation?
If no, is there any other way to model cloth easily?
Thanks and Cheers!

2

You could try the sculpt tool, or for simple sagging cloth, perhaps proportional editting?

Edit: And I don’t know if this works, but you could try applying the softbody modifier?

3

You might post this in the texture forum.

Im not sure what you want from your cloth. Are you talking about folds etc?

One thing to do for the GE is to fake it. Unwrap it and paint the image with creases, and highlights and movement, even tassles or whatever.

You can also create the texture in blender materials and bake the image to use when you unwrap it.

You can also, subdivide, or loop cut vertically, the vertex paint the creases and highlights.

Hope that helps

4

Can’t you just “Bake Settings” for the soft body on the soft body tab? You can set the start and end frame and the interval between baked keys, then you click “Bake”. Essentially, you can tell blender to memorize the position of the verticies at each key, instead of performing the simulation. Then you just switch to the frame you want for the cloth.

5

Then you just switch to the frame you want for the cloth.

And at that frame you can use the Apply Deformation script (in the 3D window header - Object >> Scripts >> Apply Deformation). You can use any of the Deform tools (Wave, Armature, Curve or Lattice Modifiers or SoftBodies) and apply their Deform. On Modifiers you can just press the “Apply” button in the modifier tab.

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6

It turns out all I had to do was apply the softbody. You don’t know how much time this saved me.
Cheers!

7

Ho!Ho! Hope this is also related within the new Blender Essential Book! This stuff turnes me on!