Understanding Cloth

If you drop a shirt over a chair, how does it land? It folds and bunches as it drapes over the solid object. Also notice how different types of cloth drape differently. Compare how silk reacts verses a terry-cloth towel. Being able to accurately simulate how cloth reacts to scene objects and forces is yet another critical element that can really make a difference in your final scenes.

Cloth in Max is created using a modifier. This modifier can be applied to any object to make it a cloth object, or you can specifically create a set of clothes using the Garment Maker modifier. During the process of making an object into a cloth object, the object is divided into multiple faces using one of several subdivision methods. This provides the mesh with enough resolution to be deformed accurately.

Cloth objects are endowed with characteristics that let them respond to external forces within the scene including gravity, wind, and collisions with other scene objects. After all the scene objects, forces, and cloth objects are added to the scene, you can start a simulation that defines how the cloth moves within the scene under the effect of the other scene objects and forces.

CROSS-REF 

This chapter focuses on creating and defining cloth objects. The dynamic nature of cloth is covered in Chapter 38, "Animating Hair and Cloth."