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Since the release of Maxons Cinema 4D 9,

Mocca the softwares character animation

module has included an extremely

powerful cloth simulation engine calledClothilde. For any current Cinema 4Duser who doesnt

have one of the more comprehensive C4Dmodule bundles

(such as XL or Studio), this feature alone makes the Mocca

module worthy of consideration, even if character rigging

and animation isnt your usual cup of tea.

Clothilde allows for the quick creation of natural-looking

cloth elements and garments, and is as suitable for still

renders as it is for those in motion (which would often take

considerably more time to model by more manual means).

In this tutorial, well demonstrate how you can dress up a

scene with some basic, and easily created, cloth items. It will

help to add that all-important organic touch, and will hopefully

demystify some of cloth simulations primary features for

those who want to try it, yet were daunted by its apparent

complexity. Well attempt to create three original items us ing

the powerful Clothilde engine: a simple cushion, a pulled-back

net curtain and a large ceil ing cloth. Finally, you will clothify an

existing clothing model, to integrate it better with a character

and make it more natural-looking.On the CD, you can find full-sized screenshots for the

tutorial, along with pre-built scene files corresponding to the

start and end of each section of the walkthrough. Load these in

and refer to the settings if you get stuck at any point.

As a bonus, DAZ Productions (www.daz3d.com) has also

provided most of the stock Poser-related characters and props

used in this image, although Poser itself is not needed to

complete the tutorial. For full details, see page 114.

Adam Benton is a freelance CG artist.

He produces imagery and animation

for advertising, editorial, and

corporate clients including

Saatchi and Saatchi

www.kromekat.com

ACTFILE

FOR

inema + ith

occa module

DIFFICULTY

Intermediate

TIME TAKEN

to hours (depending

on processor speed)

ON THE CD

ull-size screenshots

Supporting Cinema 4D

scene files onus roductions

Posercontent

044 | 3D WORLD February 2006

From cushions to clothing, fabrics can really add the finishing touches to a 3D image. Make use of the new

Clothilde engine in Cinema 4D 9 to add natural-looking cloth elements to this fantasy scene BY ADAM BENTONdressto

kill

CINEMA 4D


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Cloth simulation | TUTORIALS

February 2006 3D WORLD | 045

ON THE CD DAZ Productionscharacters and propsas sold for $145SEE PAGE 114


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046 | WO L

D WORLD February 2006

TUTORIALS | Cloth simulation

w t c to po n t mo e an use t e ve e ect o n

ool to select each of the corner points (holding

own t e t ey an t en a num er o ran om,

but evenly spaced, points scattered around the area of the

rectangle. These points represent where youll pin the cloth

s eet to t e ce ng.

STAGE ONE |Hanging ceiling cloth

tart up nema an oa t e ce ng_c ot .

4d file from the CD. In here, you have the basic

tructure o t e room s own n t e scene, w c you

can use as a guide for the draped ceiling sheet. A plane object

has already been created and placed just below the ceiling.

ncrease ts su v s on to t egments y e g t

Segments (to give us square polys), and make it editable.

01 02

ac n t e resser ta , c c e ax sett ng teps

to 2) to settle the form further, and click Init State.

Now the cloth starts from this form, which means it

can further interact with other elements and forces, which is

particularly useful in animation! Were using this as a static

prop e ement, owever, so you can now sa e t e c ot

engine by unchecking it in the Tag tab.

07

mpty your c ot cac e agan, se ect t e p ane an

go to Functions > Subdivide > 1. This now gives you

, po y s to p a y w t . our po nts s ou st

be selected and will need fixing again in the Dresser tab;

recalculate the cache. This yields a much better result, as

you can see n t e next screens ot.

06

t t e p ane o ect se e cte , app y a ot tag

rom the Clothilde Tags menu and click on the

Cloth tags icon in the Object Manager. We want

t s mater a to appear g t an t n, e s , so sett n g a

Stiffness of 1 should be adequate. Flexion is related to the

bendability of the cloth, and affects how finely it folds, so

t s can e set to , a ong w t ounce.

03

n t e resser ta , an w t your ponts st

elected, click Fix Points > Set. In the Cache tab,

lick on Calculate Cache and watch as your cloth

s s muate . a went to p an, t e seecte ponts are

nchored to the ceiling and the plane will have become

raped cloth. You will see that the cloth never really rests

propery, so go to t e orces ta an set t e o a rag to .

04

eca cuate t e cac e your a r c s ou now come

to rest. Select your plane, hold down [Alt] and add

HyperNURBS object. Even with the HN object,

e mes snt as smoot or as e ne as we wou e or

uch a thin material. The cloth engine doesnt have enough

polygons to begin with, so more need to be added.

05

na y, rename t e yper o ect to e ng

Drape, open the Scene Default.c4d file from the

CD and Copy and Paste the drape into the scene file.

Locate the Ceiling Drape material and apply it to the object.

08

EXPERT TIPHidden pointsDuring the process of selecting

multiple points, polygons or edges,

especially those along a particular

axis, you may find that the axis

handles get in the way, which may

prevent you from making further

selections. To rectify this problem,

you can choose to toggle the

handles visibility on or off by using

[Alt]+[D]. Another useful command

(and one used in this tutorial) is to

hold down [Alt] when selecting a

modifier such as the HyberNURBS

or Cloth NURBS objects. This makes

the currently selected object a child

of the modifier.

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February 2006 WO L3D WORLD 047

Cloth simulation| TUTORIALS

Its now a case of experimenting with the tag

ett ngs to get t e r g t ee or t e mater a . o see

he settings we used, refer to the scene file on the

CD. Each time, simply tweak, rewind and play again (or empty

t e cac e . en you r e appy w t t e as c oo a n ee ,

enable the Self Collision option under the Expert tab and run

the simulation again.

15

Place the object in a HyperNURBS and apply the

et urtan mater a to t. gan, n t s case, t e

object isnt going to be animated, so disable the

Cloth Engine on it (see Expert Tip box). Rename the object

n opy an aste t nto t e scene ocument.

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STAGE THREE |Tied-back curtain

or a curta n to oo e ts een pu e ac , we

need to do just that, and well use some simple

animation to help. Open the Tie Back Curtains.c4d

e rom t e an ncrease t e p ane s su v s o n to

Width Segments and 60 Height Segments. Make it editable

and apply a Cloth tag. Were going to use the half torus

o ect to pu t e curta n ac , so app y a o er tag to t .

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e ect t e orus o ect an recor a pos t ona

keyframe (click on the red record button). Note that

the Y value is currently at 300 and X is -440. Move

your t me ne orwar to rames an move t e orus to

Y=500, and X=340, then record another keyframe. The X

movement gathers the curtain inwards, and the small

movement s ou e p t t nto a n cer s ape.

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ow we nee to x some ponts at t e top o t e

curtain to hang it. In point mode, select every fifth

point, and in the Dresser tab of the Cloth tag, click

et next to x o nts. ress t e an mat on p ay utton,

or click on the Calculate Cache button in the Cloth tag. Our

curtain is now pulled back.

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pen t e u s on.c e rom t e . e ect t e

ube object, make it editable and, in polygon mode,

elect the top and bottom faces. Use the Subdivide

uncton aga n w t a settng o . ppy a ot tag to t e

cube object and a Collider tag to the sphere.

09

nvert t e se ecte poys so t at ony t e s es are

selected. In the Dresser tab of the Cloth tag, click on

Seam Polys > Set. Stiffness is fine at the default 10,

ong w t a exon vaue o . n t e resser ta aga n, set

the Dress-O-Matic Width at 1m, which will be the height of

t e seam po y s. ow c c on ress- - at c .

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STAGE TWO |Simple cushions

For this scene, the cushion no longer needs Cloth

functionality, so delete the Cloth tag and the

p ere o er o ect. t t e seam po y s st

elected, use the Hair Departmentplug-in (on the CD) to

dd tassels. Make individual adjustments and place it all

n a yper . ename t e o ect, copy t to t e cene

Default and apply the Cushion Textures from the CD.

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EXPERT TIPDynamic fixesClothilde isnt simply for animation.

One of the great things about

the engine is that you can simulate

a material into a default relaxed

state, fix it, and then keep trying

more interactions and external

forces on it, with repeated fixing

until you get the result you want.

This means that you can create very

dynamic sculpted forms within your

still images and all without having

to pull points around by hand. Tomake an object static again after

running the cloth simulation, turn off

the Cloth Engine from within the Tag

tab of the Cloth tag.

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TUTORIALS | Cloth simulation

e o o o t e c o a as e en e erate y

oversized using the available morphs. The cloak

needs editing, however, as its currently double-

s e , an ot e seems to wor est w t a s n g e ayer

of polys. We can easily select and delete the inner polys

using the Selection tags.

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Next, click on the Belt tag. You need to define the

o ect t at t e c o a w attac to, so rag t e

Collision object into the tags Belt On field. Now

click Set and the points should turn yellow to indicate that

t ey r e now e te .

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Back in the Cloth tag, click on Calculate Cache

aga n. s t e s muat on progresses, t e c oa

stays in place and the hood falls over the top of the

head, partially obscuring the front of the models face. As

e ore, some exper mentat on w t t e t ness an ex on

settings is required to achieve satisfactory results. Again,

refer to the scene file on the CD to see the values we used.

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ot e s capa e o creat n g comp e x c o t ng,

nd simple geometry can be converted into fitted

garments quite easily using the techniques already

out ne . owever, you may a rea y ave some premo e e

clothing youd like to clothify. Weve set up this character

(Cloaked Figure.c4d on the CD) in oserand imported it using

o ert emp etons nter oserp u g- n not nc u e .

17

he solution is similar to the way in which we

prev o us y xe t e c o t to t e ce ng, ut t s

ime were using another tag. From the Clothilde

Tags menu, apply a Belt tag to the cloak. In point mode,

se e ct some po n ts e t er s e o t e c oa s s ou er area.

Only a few points will be needed along the front, and perhaps

a couple more from the second row.

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STAGE FOUR |Clothification of existing clothing

Using the Selection tags, delete the Lining and Trim

of the cloak, as well as all the unnecessary Texture,

e ect o n an orma s tags. tr -c c o n t e a n

Figure and scroll down to Select Children, then choose

Connect from the Functions menu. Hide the original Main

gure an rename t e new gure o s on.

19

Now youre ready to simulate the cloth onto the

gure. eve c osen to ma e t e c ot a t te

stiffer than previously, so weve used a Stiffness

setting of 40. Remember to add a Global Drag value of about

to prevent too muc mot on. e ve a so ragge a s mp e

material onto the cloak, making it easier to see.

21

In the Cloth tag, click on Calculate Cache. At frame

, t e c oa oo s , ut as you get urt er nto

the simulation, you can see that the weight of the

cloth is actually causing it to slide off the figure until it just

rests on t e ac o er ea e x t s n t e next sect o n

of the walkthrough. At this point, empty the cache.

22

STAGE FIVE |Belting up

he cloak is intersecting the left arm, so you need

o e t t e mes . e ect tructure > rus an

arefully pull the cloak mesh backwards, away from

the arm and hand. The hair polys are also sticking out at the

ac , an t ese can e e te n t e same way, or s mp y

deleted. Once this is complete, apply Cloth and Collider tags.

20


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February 2006 WO L3D WORLD 049

Cloth simulation| TUTORIALS

In the Dresser tab, relax the cloth a couple of steps

n c c t e n t t ate e t utton. e c o a s

efault position is now set, and the Cloth engine can

e sw t c e o or t e sa e o o ur st ren er scene. rop

the cloak hierarchy into the Main Figures hierarchy and Copy

and Paste into the scene file; position as required.

28

n t e ma n scene e, arrange your new y create

loth elements to your individual requirements.

We decided to add a gold, silky edge to our cloak

t a exture e ecton tag ot textures are n t e scene

le). Sometimes, you may find that, despite all the cloth

imulations, youre still not entirely happy with the look of

e o ects s ape, yet t eres not ng to stop you us ng t e

rus too or w atever you pre er to use to scu pt

the mesh even further towards your desired form. We

did exactly that in this instance (see above), reducing

t e st ness an n at o n o t e o o . s sn t a

comprehensive exploration of all of Clothildes many

features by any means, but weve hopefully whetted

your appet te or more

STAGE FIVE (Continued) |Belting up

30

Select the Cloth NURBS object and set the thickness

to . . s goes some way towar s smoot ng t e

mesh and will add thickness, but the cloak could still

benefit from more smoothing, so add a HyperNURBS object,

too. ow, t e t c ene e ge s roun e , a o ng w t t e rest

of the cloak.

27

fter applying settings, go back into the Cloth tag

n ma e sure e o s on s t c e un er t e

Expert tab, then recalculate. Select the Cloak object

in the Object Manager, hold down [Alt] and, from the Mocca

menu, a a ot o ect. e c oa s now a c o

the NURBS object.

26

ust or un, ets go ac a coup e o steps n our

previous cloak document, reactivate the cloth

engine, and see the effect of adding wind forces to

t e c o a . n t e orces ta , ma e t e n rect o n = m,

and the Z=-1m. Make the wind strength 5. Ensure that

the Hyper and Cloth NURBS are deactivated and click on

a cuate ac e.

29

EXPERT TIPDo-it-all fabric powerWith its sophisticated dynamics

and collision detection, you can

use Clothilde in the simulation of a

number of other real-world objects.

For example, a cloth car crashing

into a collider wall, fronds of kelp

moving in the currents of the sea, or

the wings of a butterfly flapping. A

single piece of cloth can also have

a number of different propertiesacross its surface with the use of

vertex weight maps. For example, for

a dress that is tightly fitting around

the torso and flared around the

legs, you might use a weight map to

control how much each area can flow.

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