Using Cloth with Bipeds

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Cloth is a complex system, so it makes sense to learn how it functions in concert with another character animation tool, namely the Biped functionality in 3ds max.

The following concepts are covered in this tutorial:

How to slow down the character’s initial pose so the initial Cloth simulation can occur. The idea here is that motion-capture data imported into both products will position a character at frame 0, which can cause problems for Cloth because it wants to simulate over at least 30 to 90 frames before motion begins, generally in a neutral pose.
Truncating a simulation
Capturing an initial state

Clothe an animated biped:

Load tutorial_7.max from your \tutorials\cloth folder.

This scene has a biped standing in the “Da Vinci” pose.

Biped in Da Vinci pose
Select all the biped parts and then go to the Motion panel.
On the Copy/Paste rollout, click Copy Posture.

Now this posture is saved for you to get later.
On the Motion Capture rollout, click Load Motion Capture File, and then load the file backkick.bip from your \tutorials\cloth folder. Click OK through the dialogs that follow, accepting the default settings.
Open the Dope Sheet for Track View, and select all of the Biped keys. Move the keys 30 frames to the right.

This will give you 30 frames to transition between the copied pose and the first motion-capture frame.
At frame 0, on the Motion Panel > Copy/Paste rollout, click Paste Posture.
On the Key Info rollout click Set Key.

Now when you scrub the time slider your animation should transition smoothly between the Da Vinci pose and the first frame of the motion capture.
Unhide the Shirt object.
Select the Shirt object and then go to the Modify panel and click Cloth modifier > Object rollout > Simulation group > Simulate to get the shirt to deform. At frame 30, press Esc to halt the simulation.
At frame 30, click Cloth modifier > Object rollout > Selected Object Manip group > Set Initial State.

This sets the initial state of the shirt to be in sync with the first frame of the motion capture. Because Cloth requires some pre-roll for the simulation, it provides you with the tools needed to copy the cloth at any stage back to frame 0.
Next, go to frame 0 and click Truncate Simulation.

This removes the simulation after frame 0.
Choose File > New, and on the New Scene options dialog, choose Keep Objects And Hierarchy.

This removes all animation from the scene.
Import the motion capture file again. The cloth will be in sync with it at frame 0, and you can simulate the rest of the animation at that point.

This tutorial gave you a method for "staging" your Cloth simulation.

Creating Pleats

Using Cloth with Bipeds

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