Cloth Draping from Blender to DAZ Studio

Step by step instructions on how to drape a “blanket” in Blender for use in DAZ Studio, written BY an Extreme Blender Noob FOR Extreme Blender Noobs

This method is an alternative for DAZ Studio users who need realistically draped bedding, but have had little luck with Dynamic Clothing Control or other options within Studio. I put this tutorial together from multiple sources, and initially wrote it all down for myself because I have a poor memory, but then I thought I’d share it in the event anyone in the DAZ community finds it useful.

If you don’t already have it, download and install Blender, a “free and open source 3d creation suite.” I used the most recent version to date, 2.78a.

Things You Will Need to Know About Using Blender (Bare Minimum) for this Tutorial

The default scene loads with a cube, a camera, and a light. The cube is already selected, so to delete it, simply press delete on your keyboard and choose Delete in the pop-up box.

Navigation: Use your scroll wheel (in my case, this is also my middle mouse button) to zoom. Click your middle mouse button (mmb), hold it, and drag to rotate the scene view. Press and hold the shift key, and then click, hold, and drag mmb to pan the scene view.

Selection: to select an object, click it with your right mouse button (rmb).

Menus in the default workspace configuration: The Main Menu Toolbar is at the top. The right hand column is the Properties menu. The left-hand column is the Tool Shelf menu. The second to the bottom Toolbar is the 3D Toolbar. The furthest bottom Toolbar is the Timeline.

Viewport Editor Type: There are several “Editor Types” available for your viewport. Each performs a different function when displaying and editing 3D data. The default Editor Type is “3D View.” To change it, on the 3D Toolbar, click on the button immediately to the left of the View button and choose your new editor. Here we use 3D View and UV/Image Editor.

3D Manipulator Widget: Located on the 3D Toolbar near the Global button. The widget looks like three lines connected at one end, one green line, one blue, and one red. Clicking the widget will place a manipulator on whatever object is selected in your scene so you can then move it. Next to the widget button are three additional buttons: the Arrow changes the widget to a translator (to move on the x, y, and z axis), the Curve changes it to allow for rotation of your object, and the Line with a little square at the end is for scaling.

Preparation

You’ll need something to drape your blanket on in Blender. In my example, I use V7 and a bed prop that I exported from DAZ Studio as an object.

In DAZ Studio, pose your figure (V7) on your prop (bed). Click File, click Export, navigate to where you’d like to save the file, give it a name, and in the Save as Type box, choose Wavefront Object (*.obj). In the OBJ Export Options box, change Scale to 2% and click Accept. Note: if you are using an existing scene, hide all of the items in your scene that you don’t want to export; otherwise, the entire scene will export as one object.

In Blender, to import the object you just exported from DAZ Studio, go to the Main Toolbar, click File, choose Import, and choose Wavefront Object (*.obj). In the import window, look in the bottom left-hand column under Import OBJ and uncheck the boxes for Object and Group. Then navigate to your saved obj. file, click to highlight, and in the upper right corner, click on Import OBJ. V7 and the bed will import as one object with no textures.

Making the blanket

In the Tool Shelf, choose the Create tab. Under Mesh, click on the Plane button. Under the Tools tab, click the Scale button and change the size of the plane (this involves dragging your mouse to the left until the plane is sized to your liking, and then clicking to end the process). In the 3D Toolbar, click on Object Mode and change it to Edit Mode. In the Tool Shelf, Tools tab, under Add, click the Subdivide button. A Subdivide menu will appear beneath it. Click on Number of Cuts and enter 50.

In order to use a shader for the plane in DAZ Studio, you’ll need to UV map it in Blender. With the plane still selected in Edit mode, in the 3D Toolbar click on Mesh, go to UV Unwrap, and then click Unwrap. Change the Viewport Editor (see above explanation) to UV/Image Editor. On the 3D Toolbar, click the Image button, choose New Image, and then next to Generated Type click on the button and choose UV Grid. Click ok. Change the Viewport Editor back to 3D View and you will see that your plane now has a checkerboard image.

To position the plane for your drape, in Object Mode with the plane selected, use the 3D Manipulator Widget (see above explanation) to move the plane above your imported object (V7 and Bed). For a nice wrinkled drape, you might want to use rotate on the object, the blanket, or both, so the plane falls down at an angle. Be sure that your plane does not intersect with your imported object.

To drape your plane, make sure it’s still selected, and in the Properties menu, click the Object Modifiers button (looks like a wrench.) Click Add Modifier, and under Simulate, select Cloth, but don’t click Apply. Click Add Modifier again and under Generate, select Solidify. Click Add Modifier a third time and under Generate, select Subdivision Surface. Click on the Physics Modifier button (looks like a bouncing ball and is furthest to the right on the same toolbar as the wrench. You may have to drag the panel to expand it in order to see this button.) Under Cloth, click on the Cloth Presents button and choose a preset, which will affect the drape so it resembles that specific type of cloth. There are several additional options in this panel that you can experiment with. Cloth Collision is checked by default, but you will need to click the down arrow next to it and check the box next to Self Collision.

Select your imported object (V7 and the bed), and with the Physics Modifier button still selected, Under Enable Physics For, click the Collision button. Go to the Timeline toolbar (at the very bottom of the workspace). You’ll see Start and End. Change the number in the End box to 90 (if after you run the simulation, 90 frames is not enough, you can always increase it). To run the physics simulation, click the Play Animation button (big triangle pointing to the right). Depending on your system, this could take a while.

Once the drape is complete, if you don’t like it, you can click back to frame one on the timeline, reposition the plane and/or your imported object, and replay it. When you’re satisfied with the drape, click to the frame number you like best (for instance, in a 90-frame animation, the drape looks best at frame 86), and in the Tool Shelf Menu click on the Physics tab. Click the Apply Transformation button. Select your imported object and delete it. With only the draped blanket in the scene, click on File, Export, Wavefront (.obj), navigate to where you’d like to save the file and give it a name. Click Export Object.

In DAZ Studio, open your scene. Click File, Import, and choose your saved .obj file. In the popup box that appears, type 5000 in the Scale box. Click Accept. Position the blanket over the original V7 figure and bed. Apply shader, and there you have it!