Please need help with fitting a cloak

Stepa

Hello everyone, I'm a new user of Daz3D and I'm currently in the dark regarding the correct method to manipulate a dress in a certain way.
I succesfully downloaded and installed this product by Sshodan and following a tutorial I've managed to make the cloak fall gently and naturally along the shape of the body figure (a Genesis 3 Male). I'd like to know now how to proceed in order to wrap the cloak around the shoulders in a way that would cover them, as you can see in the attached image coming from the product page.
I tried to modify some parameters and make a new simulation but the dress now sems like it's exploding
I also attempted to follow some guides on the forums but I'm still confused (again, I'm a newbie) so if anyone could plaese help or guide me throghout this I'd be grateful, thanks.

BeeMKay

Here's a thread that has excellent information: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/208141/how-to-use-dforce-creating-a-blanket-draping-clothes-on-furniture-and-much-more#latest

But he product is described to have fitting morphs and "pin" options - have you tried them? I can imagine the "pin" options were used for the shoulders?

Stepa

Hi Bee, thanks for your reply. Where do I find/enable those fitting morphs inside the program? When I click on the dress inside the Scene pane these are the parameters I get (see attached image)
Btw, in the meanwhile I'll look into the thread you linked.

BeeMKay

In the parameter tab, click on the triangle in front of the name, and it will open a submenu. Look for "Actor" and click on the triangle in front of that. You'll usually find the shaping morphs there.

Stepa

I did and I tweaked some parameters but nonetheless the cloak still wraps badly or explodes around the subject once i run the simulation. I guess there's something I'm ignoring but I'll keep trying.

BeeMKay

Okay, just to make sure - you are using the G3 version of the cloak, not the G8 version, on your G3 character?

Are you using the animation timeline, or the single frame option?

Also, what is the beginning and final pose? (A screenshot, perhaps?) Explosions usually mean that there is some sort of "unmanagable" intersection happening, for example while bending joints.

 

RGcincy

You may need to rotate the figure during the simulation for the cloak to swing over and around the shoulder. Motion during a dForce simulation imparts momentum to an item and when the motion stops, the momentum can carry the item further.  Another approach may be to start with the cape raised, then use a wind node to blow it over onto the shoulder. I don't have the product so I can't check and it may be tricky to set up. A third approach may be to use a helper object as explained here.

SaraT

I've also bought the knight cloak, and like you wanted it over the shoulder. Also using G3, but female. I contacted support about it, and their recommendation was to disable dforce on the cloak and pose it, only using dforce for the hood. Kind of defeats the purpose of buying a dforce item... I've been experimenting with a wind node, but haven't yet succeeded in getting the look I want. Turning off "self collide" on the cloak helps a bit with the explosions though. Also simulating using animation instead of current frame so you can adjust things during the simulation, e.g. avoiding the cloak getting "stuck" on some part of the figure. 

I'll give rotating the figure a try, thanks for that suggestion!

Sshodan

Hi there, sorry for a very late reply, but hope it helps for the future.

1. Knight cloak is designed to "drag behind" in general - it is more a way to carry your banner with you everywhere you go than a clothing item :D And yep it's historically accurate - this things where pinned to armor not used for warmth :)

2. To get the wrap around effect over the shoulder using dForce you need some patience and a lot of experimentation - that is why I included pre baked simulations for this, but if you want to do your own you need to do it as animation from the time range, I'd go with 120 frames or more - may need much more. Create a basic animation where the figure starts in default pose than turns around an bend at the waist for a few frames, like he/she dropped something, than goes back up. The wind force will need to be strong, come from lower right angle and be directed at the figure I would althou add turbulence for "flippy feel" of the cloak. Run the sim, if it crushes than the animation was to fast for you PC to handle, stretch it over more frames, repeat. When you do it successfully look through the whole animation and pick the moment where the cloak looks the way you want it :)

3. To make the cloak lighter, "floatier" or the folds larger tweak the settings in Environment tab (gravity and Air Resistance) the optimal depends on your wind force and scene, but you generally want to lower gravity and rise Air Resistance by small amounts :)

Hope this helps in the future :)

And yep, I'll be eventually doing other cloaks, including thous that do go over shoulders per design :)