Question about Marvelous Designer.
node
Hey so I'm trying to make a pair of baggy pants for my character for me to animate without cloth physics but I am having an exceedingly difficult time getting the topology right (https://polycount.com/discussion/221957/how-can-i-improve-the-topology-of-these-pants#latest) so I'm considering MD. I know I can make a pair of the pants I'm trying to make in that software but my question is does it have a tool to export it with topology suitable for animation without the cloth physics? Hopefully that question makes sense. Basically I want to make a cloth in MD, import it to blender and incorporate it as a part of my mesh as a singular object instead of a separate item with cloth physics.
Replies
Without cloth sim? Yes. Suitable topology? Uh...
As far as I know MD can't automatically create good topology. It's possible to start doing a manual retopo straight in MD, but unless they updated it in the month or so that I didn't touch MD this tool isn't perfect, making a hybrid approach the most efficient one.
I'll copy and paste a piece of a reply I posted in a related thread if you don't mind.
This MD to Blender retopo method uses three meshes (Posed high poly, flat high poly and flat retopo) and goes like this:
- Create clothing and do a quick retopo in MD just to get the silhouette and edge flow right. Don't bother trying to align vertices, it's nearly impossible.
- Export thin version of posed high poly clothing and its flat version after resetting it to 2D. Also export thin flat retopo.
- Import everything into Blender. Transfer high poly posed mesh to high poly flat as a shape key. Fix and improve flat retopo using vertex and edge snapping tools.
- Bind retopo to flat HQ mesh through Surface Deform modifier and use shape key containing posed version to transform all flat clothing into posed clothing. At this point you can bind/unbind and pose/flatten the patterns to further improve the retopo:
- Select edges requiring thickness, add to a vertex group and add a Solidify modifier targeting it. Enable Fill Rim and Only Rim.
- When in need of real rounded edges I add a Bevel modifier on top of it, again using vertex groups to control it:
Having never used one of Blender's sewing addons I'm in no position to compare them to MD. The good simulation performance is one thing that initially drew me to MD and the vector drawing tools got me to stay. I know something about real-life sewing, so extracting clothing from body meshes always felt rather counter intuitive for me.
Those are two features these addons need to have to get me to switch from MD. If they manage it and more I'll happily adopt them—particularly now MD killed their perpetual license.
- Import everything into Blender. Transfer high poly posed mesh to high poly flat as a shape key. Fix and improve flat retopo using vertex and edge snapping tools.
- Bind retopo to flat HQ mesh through Surface Deform modifier and use shape key containing posed version to transform all flat clothing into posed clothing. At this point you can bind/unbind and pose/flatten the patterns to further improve the retopo:
Mesh 1
High poly/HQ posed version = simulated version
It's the jacked on the left in the image below.
Mesh 2
Flat High poly/HQ = High poly after a Reset 2D Arrangement
Resetting it will yield the something like the image on the right. This is basically what the pattern looks like in the 2D window, but in the 3D space. I also export this flat version. You can briefly spot it guiding the quad mesh in that animated gif I posted earlier; it's the triangulated mesh.
Mesh 3
Flat retopo
The flat retopo is a 2D reset version of a quick retopo done in MD. Here's a tutorial showing this tool. I start the retopo in MD because it gives me a faster idea of what the final mesh needs to look like to retain the silhouette than trying to do the entire thing in Blender. But the lack of snapping/alignment/knife tools makes it impossible to do a full retopo pass there, hence the export to Blender.
You won't need the posed version of the retopo, only the flat one to bind it to the HQ flat after transferring the pose to a shape key.