Group Parameters Rollout (Cloth)

The Group Parameters rollout appears after you use Make Group on a vertex selection to create at least one group. Thereafter, highlight the group in the Group rollout list to display and edit the group's settings with the Group Parameters rollout.

Interface

Constraint Parameters group

If the currently highlighted group is unassigned (that is, not a constraint), then controls in this group are not available.

On

When on, enables the constraint specified for the current group in the group list on the Group rollout, using remaining settings in this group box.

Soft

Sets the constraint type to soft. A soft constraint uses springs between vertices. When off, the constraint is hard or rigid. The constraint types Node, Surface, Preserve, Drag, and SimNode can be hard or soft. Cloth, Group, and Forcefield constraints are always soft.

ID

Uses a Material ID to attach the group to an object. This option applies only to Surface and Cloth constraints. If, when the constraint is created or initialized, the cloth vertices are not over a triangle, then the constraint will be created to the center of the nearest triangle that has the requisite Material ID. This could mean that several vertices might be constrained to the center of the same triangle. In this case, you should only use soft constraints. A hard constraint would pull all those cloth vertices to the same exact point on the triangle, which would look strange.

Offset

The variance in the distance between a constrained group and its constraining, or target, object. The default value is 1.0 with Rel on (see following). This sets the constrained group to maintain its original distance from the target object. When set to 0.0, the constraint seeks to set the distance to the target object to zero.

  • rel Specifies the offset as a ratio of the original value. Available only with the Surface and Cloth constraint types. For example, if you want to move a constrained vertex by half its original distance, turn on the Rel. checkbox and set Offset to 0.5. Default=on.
Strength

The stiffness of the springs used if the constraint is soft.

  • vc Sets vertex colors to determine the strength of the constraint. Default=off.
Damping

The damping of the springs if the constraint is soft.

1-to-1

(The default.) When the mesh density is changed in Garment Maker, the group selection is reassigned. The 1-to-1 option selects the vertex closest to the original vertex.

Blob

When the mesh density is changed in Garment Maker, the group selection is reassigned. The Blob option selects the original vertex and the ones created within a certain radius of it. The radius can be left at default or auto, or it can be set manually.

  • Radius When on, lets you set the radial distance used by the Blob option. When off, Blob uses an automatic radial value. Default=off; default value = 2.0.

Behavior Settings group

Behavior Settings

Toggles the availability of the other settings in this group. When off, the other settings have no effect.

Solid Coll

When on, the group vertices are used in solid-collision detection.

Self Coll

When on, the group vertices are used in self-collision detection.

Layer

Indicates the correct "order" of cloth pieces that might come in contact with each other. Range=–100 to 100. Default=0.

If your garments and/or panels are all correctly orientated to begin with, then cloth-to-cloth collision detection should keep items from interpenetrating. However, the initial state of a garment/panel might have some interpenetration that cannot be resolved. For example, suppose you make a jacket with Garment Maker where the front right panel is supposed to sit on top of the front left panel. When you sew together the garment (generally with self-collision off), the front panels will interpenetrate, so to make sure that the right panel sits outside the left panel, you might have to use constraints or Live Drag. Using the Layers option on the panels can help here.

Here is the logic of layers: When two pieces of cloth (A and B) are in collision-detection range, their layers (layerA and layerB) are compared and the following rules are applied:

  • If either layerA or LayerB is 0, then Cloth uses the regular cloth-to-cloth collision method.
  • If layerA=layerB, then Cloth uses the regular cloth-to-cloth collision method.
  • If abs(layerA) > abs(layerB), then piece A is pushed to the appropriate side of piece B. Which side? If layerB > 0, then to the side indicated by the face normals. If layerB < 0, then to the opposite side.

The sign of the Layer value indicates what the "outside" of that piece of cloth is. A positive sign means "The side that the normals face is the outside".

Keep Shape

When on, preserves the shape of the mesh based on the Bend % and Stretch % settings. In normal operation, when Cloth creates a simulation, it tries to "flatten out" the cloth. Default=off.

  • Bend % Modulates the target bend angles to a value between 0.0 and the angles defined by the target state. A negative value inverts the angles. Range=–100.0 to 100.0. Default=100.0.
  • Stretch % Modulates the target stretch angles to a value between 0.0 and the angles defined by the target state. A negative value inverts the angles. Range=0.0 to 100.0. Default=100.0.

Presets group

Sets the Cloth Properties parameters to the preset selected in the drop-down list. Any presets that are built into the system or that have been loaded will show up here.

Load

Loads presets from the hard drive. Click this button and then navigate to the directory with your presets to load them into your Cloth Properties. Presets have the file name extension .sti.

Save

Saves your Cloth Properties parameters to a file that you can then load at a later time.

[Group properties]

Use These Properties

Turn on to set the cloth properties for the individual group, using the controls on this rollout. Default=off.

Get From Object

Click to sets the cloth properties of the group to be the same as the object to which the group belongs.

The remaining Properties controls are the same as those found in the Cloth Properties group of the Object Properties dialog for Cloth.

Soft Selection group

The Soft Selection controls apply on a per-group basis to permit soft selection of vertices neighboring the explicitly selected group members. This works the same as soft selection of vertices in other parts of 3ds Max. For details, see Soft Selection Rollout. Alternatively, you can select vertices for a group based on a texture map.

Use Texture Map

When on, Cloth uses a texture map to specify a soft selection of vertices that belong to the current group. Click the button (by default, labeled “None”) to choose a texture map. Use the Mapping Channel controls to choose a map channel or vertex color channel.

You can add a grayscale texture map in this slot to blend between unselected and fully selected pixels in the group. Black represents unselected and white represents fully selected. Any grayscale value blends between the two. You can drag a texture map onto this button.

Note: For a texture map to apply to a group, at least one vertex must be explicitly selected. However, when Use Texture Map is on, the group's explicit vertex selection has no effect.
Parent topic: Group Sub-Object Level (Cloth)