Think, Draw, Art!

for art lovers

  • Home
  • Gallery
  • Contact
  • Recent Articles
  • Article Categories
    • Daz Studio
    • 3D Art
    • 2D Art
    • Contest
You are here: Home / Daz Studio / Daz Studio Dynamic Cloth (dForce) Tutorial for Beginners

Daz Studio Dynamic Cloth (dForce) Tutorial for Beginners

We are a Daz3d affiliate and we use affiliate links in our pages.
Tweet

by shibashake 17 Comments

When Daz Studio’s new dynamic cloth system (dForce) was released, I was happy with some of the simulation results I got. However, I had trouble with older V4 cloth items that were created to work with Poser. After a bit more experimentation though, I was able to get even older items to work with very satisfying results, so I am fast becoming a big fan.

With dForce, I can not only use Poser dynamic dresses on Genesis figures, but also older V4 dresses that did not autofit well on Genesis.

In this tutorial, I will outline how I simulate two V4/Poser dynamic cloth items (the over-sleeves and over-skirt from Angeloi – the Outfit) on a Genesis 8 Female figure. The final result is shown in the image below. You may also view a larger version in my Daz Gallery.

Sexy darked haired fantasy woman sitting on the floor with lace dynamic cloth draped around her. Night time fantasy art scene with fireflies.
Daz Studio Dynamic Cloth (dForce) Tutorial for Beginners with two V4/Poser dynamic cloth items on a Genesis 8 female figure.

1. Add Cloth Items and Pose Figure

  1. We start by adding a Genesis 8 Female figure.
  2. Add in a floor or background environment so that there is a ground collision item for our cloth simulation. In my example scene, I add in the Oremus set.
  3. Go to our Poser directory and add in the over-sleeves and over-skirt props from Angeloi – the Outfit.
  4. Screenshot of Daz Studio Scene tab with both Angeloi Overskirt and Angeloi Oversleeves parented to Chest Upper of our Genesis 8 figure.
    Parent both cloth items to Chest Upper in our Genesis 8 figure.
  5. Next, parent both cloth items to Chest Upper in our Genesis 8 figure (see right). At this point, I only add in items that are necessary for the cloth simulation. More objects (or geometry) in the scene, especially on the figure, will slow down the simulation.
  6. Go to the Pose tab and frame 0 in our timeline.
  7. In the first frame, set our G8F figure to the old T-pose (see below). We can do that by using a pose converter product such as the one by Zev0 or RiverSoft Art. Some pose packs may also contain the T-pose.
  8. Daz Studio viewport showing our G8F figure in the T-pose, on the first frame of our timeline.
    In the first frame, set our G8F figure to the old T-pose.
  9. To give our cloth items time to properly drape, we also want to increase the number of frames in our timeline. I set my total number of frames to 51, but you can adjust this to suit your scene and taste.
  10. Screenshot of Daz Studio Pose tab, where I set the total frames in my timeline to 51.
    I set my total number of frames to 51, but you can adjust this to suit your scene and taste.
  11. Go to frame 15 and set the end pose of our figure. In this way, we have 15 frames to simulate the cloth into our figure end-position, and 35 frames for the cloth to drape.
  12. Daz Studio viewport screenshot at frame 15, where we set our figure end-pose.
    Go to frame 15 and set the end pose of our figure. Note that I only included the underwear set here so that you can clearly see the figure end-pose.

This finishes our figure set-up. Next, we work on the cloth simulation parameters.

2. Daz Studio Dynamic Cloth Setup

  1. First, we want to set up our global simulation parameters. To do that, open up the Simulation Settings pane.
  2. Screenshot of Daz Studio dForce cloth simulation panel. We can set global cloth simulation parameters here.
    Go to Simulation > Initialization and set Start Bones From Memorized Pose to Off.
  3. Go to Simulation > Initialization and set Start Bones From Memorized Pose to Off (see right).

    [List and descriptions of all global cloth simulation settings.]

  4. Screenshot of Daz Studio dForce cloth simulation panel. We can set global cloth simulation parameters here.
    Go to Simulation > Duration and set Frames to Simulate to Animated (Use Timeline Play Range).
  5. Go to Simulation > Duration and set Frames to Simulate to Animated (Use Timeline Play Range) (see right).
  6. Now we are ready to add dynamic cloth settings to our cloth objects. Go to the Scene tab and select both the Angeloi oversleeves and overskirt objects.
  7. On the Simulation Settings pane, click on the Options Menu button (the little button with a triangle and lines) next to the blue Simulate button. Select dForce > Add dForce Modifier: Dynamic Surface (see below). This will make both selected objects dynamic and add new cloth simulation parameters in the Surfaces tab.
  8. Daz Studio screenshot of how to make our Angeloi over-sleeves and over-skirt dynamic.
    Click on the Options Menu button (the little button with a triangle and lines) next to the blue Simulate button, then select dForce > Add dForce Modifier: Dynamic Surface.
  9. Go to the Sufaces tab and click on Editor. Select all surfaces and change the Bend Stiffness parameter from 0.5 to 0.25 (see below). This will help prevent exploding meshes. Mephoria has more useful tips on exploding meshes in the Daz Forum.
  10. Daz Studio screenshot of the Surfaces >Editor pane. Here we select all surfaces and set their Bend Stiffness parameter to 0.25.
    Select all surfaces and change the Bend Stiffness parameter from 0.5 to 0.25.
  11. Select ANG Overskirt > constrained and set the Dynamics Strength parameter to 0 (see below). This will hold the top of the over-skirt together.

    [List and descriptions of each dynamic surface parameter.]

  12. Daz Studio screenshot of the Surfaces >Editor pane. Here we set the constrained surface in Angeloi over-skirt to 0.
    Select ANG Overskirt > constrained and set the Dynamics Strength parameter to 0.

This finishes our cloth simulation settings. Now go to the Pose tab, click on the blue Simulate button, and enjoy the cloth simulation! At frame 15, we get the simulation image below.

Daz Studio viewport screenshot at frame 15 of our dForce cloth simulation.
At frame 15, we get this Daz Studio Viewport simulation image.

At frame 51 we get the final simulation image.

Daz Studio viewport screenshot at frame 51 of our dForce cloth simulation.
At frame 51 we get the final simulation image. Here, the over-sleeves have had the chance to settle down and drape over our fantasy girl.

3. Adjust and Finish

We may adjust draping by changing the initial rotation of our figure. Alternatively, we can tweak any of the interim poses or add in new key-frames. Once we are happy with the simulation, we finish up our scene by –

  • Smoothing out the geometry of our cloth items,
  • Applying appropriate Iray shaders, and
  • Adding in new objects and details to our fantasy scene.
  1. Go to the Scene pane and select both the Angeloi over-sleeves and over-skirt objects. Do Option Menu (triangle + lines button) > Edit > Geometry > Convert SubD and Option Menu > Edit > Geometry > Add Smoothing Modifier. Both of these operations will help to smooth out our cloth items.
  2. Go to Parameters > General > Mesh Smoothing and set Collision Item to our Genesis 8 figure. This helps to remove pesky poke through between our cloth objects and fantasy female figure.
  3. There may also be some collisions with the floor. Therefore, I slightly move the floor down until the collisions are no longer visible. For this reason, I like to start with the floor a bit raised during the cloth simulation.
  4. Next, we add in details, accessories, and more, to enrich and finish up our scene. In my Sultry Night scene, I added in the Bean Sidhe outfit on my figure, as well as some fireflies as a light accent.
  5. Finally, apply appropriate Iray shaders on surfaces that need them, and we are done!
  6. Daz studio viewport image of my final scene after increasing mesh resolution, applying smoothing and Iray shaders, as well as adding details and accessories.
    Daz Studio viewport of my scene after adding in the Bean Sidhe outfit and applying Iray shaders to the cloth items.

After render and postwork, I get the finished fantasy woman image below.

Sexy darked haired fantasy woman sitting on the floor with lace dynamic cloth draped around her. Night time fantasy art scene with fireflies.
After render and postwork, I get this finished fantasy woman image.

Daz Studio dForce Q&A

  1. When should I fit the dynamic clothing and when not?

    I fit clothing when there are pieces/surfaces within it that are not dynamic but should fit to the body. In this case, I fit the clothing, select the surfaces that should not be dynamic, go to the Surfaces pane, and set Visible in Simulation to Off.

  2. Will all clothing work with dForce?

    The dForce simulator should work on any object, however, it may not work well on clothing objects that were not designed for it. For example there may be unattached pieces that fly off, exploding meshes, etc. Here is a good list of reasons from Richard Haseltine.

Related Articles

Daz Studio Iray Tutorial for Beginners

This tutorial describes how I create a simple scene, from start to finish, for the Daz Studio Iray renderer. In particular, I discuss how to assign Iray materials, and how to create simple but realistic lighting in Iray with an image based light (IBL).

How to Save a Single Frame in Daz Studio

To facilitate sharing scene files, we may sometimes only want to save-out one or several frames in our Daz Studio scene. This tutorial describes a simple process to do this.

How to Create Fantasy Art in Daz Studio (for Beginners)

I have always loved fantasy art. I am not trained as an artist, but even as a Daz Studio beginner, I can use it to create cool looking art that I previously would never be able to produce. Here, I talk about my early experiences with Daz Studio, how I add fantasy figures and environments, how I set up some simple lights, and ultimately make my imagination real.

DAZ Studio FREE 3D MODELS AND SOFTWARE

Comments

  1. Alex says

    June 3, 2019 at 4:23 pm

    This has been very helpfull, your tuts care nice and clear and to the point.
    You wouldn’t happen to be thinking of doing one on how to make ony parts of an outfit dforce would you?

    Reply
    • shibashake says

      June 11, 2019 at 5:46 pm

      You can do that by setting Dynamics Strength to 0 for those surfaces that you do not want dForce on.

  2. Mary says

    March 29, 2019 at 8:07 pm

    Boys. I have daz Studio, nvidia but I do not have Opengl for clothes simulation. can not be used… ? thats weird!.???. 🙂

    Reply
    • shibashake says

      April 1, 2019 at 10:39 pm

      You may need to update your graphics card driver. What error message are you getting? When does the message appear?

      https://helpdaz.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/207530473-OpenGL-and-DAZ-3D-Software

  3. Alisa Williams says

    February 9, 2019 at 7:51 am

    I’m sorry to be a slow learner – I’m still having trouble – tried this with the V4.2 (which Angeloi is made for) and the weird rigid tulip sleeves on the overgarment simply can’t be applied to posed figures at all and don’t drape. Followed all these steps with no results and no idea where things are going wrong.

    Reply
    • Alisa Williams says

      February 9, 2019 at 8:23 am

      When you go to frame 15 to pose, do you just *leave* the oversleeves where they were (which doesn’t work), or attempt to position them correctly? If the latter – how? Because they are paired and in a straight line and can’t be easily manipulated onto a posed figure with arms in a different configuration. I’m just confused.

    • shibashake says

      February 10, 2019 at 3:17 pm

      I leave it. The simulation should take care of the transition. You need to run the dforce dynamic simulation on the sleeves. I think it only works with dynamic simulation (like dForce or dynamic cloth in Poser).

  4. Anonymous says

    November 4, 2018 at 2:33 pm

    thank you!

    Reply
    • shibashake says

      November 4, 2018 at 3:31 pm

      Glad you like it and you are very welcome! 🙂

  5. Cristalderoca says

    July 18, 2018 at 5:06 am

    Great tutorial and explanation. It makes things understandable.
    Thank you very much! Sooo valuable.

    Reply
    • shibashake says

      July 19, 2018 at 4:47 pm

      I am so glad. Thank you!

  6. Mary Dell says

    January 24, 2018 at 9:04 am

    This is a fantastic tutorial! I’ve been struggling with understanding dForce and this allowed me to get perfect results. Thank you! –Mary/Canary3d

    Reply
    • shibashake says

      January 26, 2018 at 3:16 pm

      Thank you! I am so happy to hear this. Btw. love Robo-Knit. Great idea and texture looks great!

  7. Karim says

    January 17, 2018 at 7:06 am

    how to simulate pants and make it move with the foot.

    Reply
    • shibashake says

      January 22, 2018 at 9:27 pm

      I simulate it in the way described above and the cloth moves with the figure.

  8. Ferretmania says

    December 20, 2017 at 4:20 am

    I haven’t gotten around to play with Dforce yet
    This might be the push I need to start, since it’s a step to step tutorial without any in between comments to get me sidetracked lol

    Thank you!

    Reply
    • shibashake says

      December 20, 2017 at 1:59 pm

      I really love it. Once you start, it is difficult to stop. 😀

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

Recent Posts

  • Shiba contest qualifying items used – Greeble City Blocks, Greeble City Blocks 2, Greeble City Blocks 3; and Greeble City Blocks 04 by Stonemason.3D-Art Contest Winners ~ October 2019
  • Shiba Contest Featured Vendor Petipet. Used: Car Edi, Unicycle Bob, Bus Maxis, Bus Pegasus & Motorbike ZAZ3D-Art Contest Winners ~ September 2019
  • Qualifying item for shiba contest - Z Almost Human Poses by Zedicuss3D-Art Contest Winners ~ August 2019
  • Qualifying items used – Rei HD for Genesis 8 Female by Mousso.3D-Art Contest Winners ~ July 2019
  • Qualifying product used: Archaeological Dig Site3D-Art Contest Winners ~ June 2019
  • Qualifying product ALphaKini AlphaKini Fantasy by Aeon Soul3D-Art Contest Winners ~ May 2019
  • Qualifying item used – Fantasy Skins for Genesis 8 by Cake One3D-Art Contest Winners ~ April 2019
  • Qualifying Items: Tyrannosaurus Rex 3,Hell Creek Modules by Herschel Hoffmeyer. Carnivorous Plant HD by Mechasar.3D-Art Contest Winners ~ March 2019
  • Qualifying item: Iray Storm by KindredArts3D-Art Contest Winners ~ February 2019
  • Qualifying item used: Lexy HD for Genesis 8 Female by Mousso3D-Art Contest Winners ~ January 2019

Recent Comments

  • Shiba contest qualifying items used – Greeble City Blocks, Greeble City Blocks 2, Greeble City Blocks 3; and Greeble City Blocks 04 by Stonemason.3D-Art Contest Winners ~ October 2019
    • Thoreandan
      - Congrats to the winners, all of them are excellent selections!
    • G-abi-K
      - Congratulations to all winners :)
    • BavarianR
      - Congrats to all and thank you very much :)
    • Dennis
      - Well rendered everyone. Thank you for the honorable mention. Thank you PA's, for the wonderful content ...
    • Tracy L.
      - Congrats to everyone, fantastic entries
    • Swan
      - Did you get my earlier post? I was a 3rd place winner - Portrait of a Demigoddess. Please send me an ...
    • dawnblade
      - Congratulations All!
    • Jewel Designs
      - Thanks for selecting my image. Fantastic pictures by all!! Such fun!!
    • SMR
      - Thank you very much for selecting my image!Congrats to all winners and participants! Great stuff ...
    • dtrscbrutal
      - Now this is a great way to start a Monday! Wow, thank you so very much for selecting my image! I would ...

Copyright © 2019 · Genesis Skins by ShibaShake · Terms of Service · Privacy Policy ·