Using dynamic engine to get a necklace to hand properly

[RAMWolff]

So here is an interesting question.

I’m trying to create a morph to have a necklace hand properly when the figure is in bent pose. Is this possible and if so what settings should I try to get things moving in a good direction? All my attempts, as I know VERY LITTLE about this tool in ZBrush.

The necklace is NOT made up of individual links. It’s a simple cord with an ornate Celtic piece as the pendant and of course a connection ring, which I’m sure I’ll need to fix up with the Topilogical brush!

Thanks for any help or tips on how to achieve this. I’ve tried to get this done with other brushes but because of the complexity of the pendant things get a bit deformed (like allot) so that just doesn’t seem like the best way.

Thanks so much!

[Spyndel]

Hello Richard,

I’m not able to illustrate this at present, but there are a few general ideas I can share that should allow you to figure out an effective approach.

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Keep your mesh resolution as low as possible. You can’t use Dynamics without deforming the mesh to some degree. A low res mesh will be less susceptible to local distortion with a careful hand, and will be easier to repair with low intensity smooth and inflate brushes.

There are better ways to draw the hanging version of the mesh, which may require very deliberate angles, tension, or curves to look realistic, depending on the weight/material. Will there be a pendant pulling the necklace down? I believe it would be advantageous to create the hanging version of the mesh first, and then use Dynamics or some other approach to push or allow the mesh to fall into a resting position on the torso. Dynamics will do a better job with this than it would with the hanging (in my opinion ).

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Quickly sculpting a disposable piece of control geometry, then drawing a curve with the topology brush, or–if you have controlled topology–using the Frame Mesh functions to draw a precise curve, is a fast intuitive way to create precise, complex curves which you can then apply an IMM curve stroke to.

Other options might include wrapping a curve stroke around the neck, and using the elastic or liquid Curve stroke options to pull out the hanging portion in the direction of gravity, or using the Curve stroke helper plugin to use ZSphere chains to control the curves.

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Use the Transpose> Cloth and Move Cloth brushes to carefully move the necklace into position in smaller portions at a time. Just letting the simulation run over the whole mesh will probably deform the mesh too much.

Turn UP the firmness as desired, and turn off any inflate value next to the collision controls, otherwise the necklace will float above the body.

Dynamics doesn’t currently do hard volumes, so the pendant should be moved separately, and should be excluded from the Dynamics operation. It would otherwise be deformed.

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Good luck!