MakeHuman in 3ds Max using PhysX Clothing

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MakeHuman in 3ds Max using PhysX Clothing

Postby inCimdata3 » Thu Mar 02, 2017 8:47 am

Hey community!

I exported the simple standard MakeHuman character with GameEngine bones (fbx).
Then import to 3ds Max --> in the window opening i choosed in the "Animation" tab to use bones, not dummys.
After that i take a simple plane 50x50 polygons - converted to edit. poly (leaving a hole for the head) and put a "skin mod." on it.
To that skin mod., i added all the bones (not the game engine dummy in the middle, so i deselected it).
On top of the skin mod. i added a PhysX Clothing mod.
Inside that mod. i choosed paint brush for example of 100 cm in max distance.
------ (this object is ready now ... so far with what i am trying to do... i want to let the plane fall on his shoulders so the cloth falls all over him, but it doesnt work...)

Next is, i click on the MakeHuman character
i also give him the "skin mod."
There i am adding all the bones (also deselect the game engine dummy on the ground).
Then i add to the character a "kinematic rig".
I can see all the colliders around the character, they are looking like many big bubbles.

Inside the PhysX toolbar, i start the simulation and here comes the problem:
The whole plane, is not falling on his shoulders... instead of falling, it "teleports" to the gamedummy between is legs on the ground and get into a shape of something like a "paper ball".
On the ground is also the typical root bone in the middle of the game engine dummy.
So it looks like it goes around them.
This also happens if i just add the head bone, without the other bones, just for testing.
So all i tried brings me to this situation.

If i use a Cat-skeleton from 3ds Max, the plane is falling on the shoulders, just with the MakeHuman character i get this problem. So how can i make the MakeHuman character to work?

I am using PhysX: 3D Studio Max DCC plug-in for PhysX 3-4-0 (2016 64-bit)
https://developer.nvidia.com/gameworksdownload

Thank you for your time.
inCimdata3
 
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Re: MakeHuman in 3ds Max using PhysX Clothing

Postby Aranuvir » Thu Mar 02, 2017 9:24 am

First of all, welcome to the community.

Reading your post, I'm not sure if you are in the right forum. To break down your problem, the question is how does MAX treat content, that is created outside the application. I'm sure we have one user on 3ds MAX, he might be able to help, but I don't know if any of the other moderators is using it. You might get better answers in the MAX forums.

Just one observation: If I get your question right, you are trying to do some cloth simulation with object collision. In Blender the cloth would not collide with a skeleton but with another mesh, so you need to set the MakeHuman mesh as collision object. Maybe you need to tell the physic engine that it is an animated mesh, too, when it uses a skeleton.
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Re: MakeHuman in 3ds Max using PhysX Clothing

Postby inCimdata3 » Thu Mar 02, 2017 10:30 am

Image
Image
upload pic

Here you can see the problem.
I dont understand why it use the zero point of the grid to move there.
This happens if i start the simulation (the button left).
Its from NVIDIA PhysX.
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Re: MakeHuman in 3ds Max using PhysX Clothing

Postby CallHarvey3d » Thu Mar 02, 2017 2:42 pm

if i understand correctly you are trying to simulate cloth? the cloth sim has nothing to do with the rig but with the mesh itself. i don't use physx but have good results with the old cloth modifier. you can hide everything from your scene accept the character mesh and the "cloth"
with cloth selected go to modifiers-cloth
click the "object properties" button in the cloth modifier
with the cloth object selected check the "cloth" check box and choose a preset. i like rubber even though it does not sound correct it gives a good result most times for me. leave settings alone accept change offset to .2
click add objects top left of that window and choose your character mesh
at the bottom of the window check the collision object check box and set offset to .2
click ok
click simulate local
enjoy

there is endless tweaking possible and your scale is the most important thing. make sure you have exported/imported your character with correct scale. i export with decimeter, i make sure my max unit setup is set to inches, and when importing the character .fbx i uncheck automatic under advanced options and set the units to inches there as well.

here is slave teela from my skeletor scene. i used this method to create the garment and then to allow it to sag after posing the character.
hope this is helpful
Attachments
slaveteela.jpg
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Re: MakeHuman in 3ds Max using PhysX Clothing

Postby CallHarvey3d » Thu Mar 02, 2017 2:49 pm

in this example i used the character mesh, the ground, and her belt as collision objects. in the first picture the belt is selected in the cloth object properties. i reduced the depth as well to help since i started the simulation with the objects allready in very close proximity
after i simulate the cloth i create a mesh snapshot of the cloth mesh using the snapshot tool in the Tools dropdown menu
here are the cloth properties
Attachments
clothprop.jpg
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Re: MakeHuman in 3ds Max using PhysX Clothing

Postby Aranuvir » Thu Mar 02, 2017 4:46 pm

@CallHarvey3d:
Thanks for helping out !


... Though, I fear, we can't display the thread before 10.00 p.m. :mrgreen:
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Re: MakeHuman in 3ds Max using PhysX Clothing

Postby inCimdata3 » Fri Mar 03, 2017 7:49 am

Is that also working in realtime in a game-engine? I am using Unity and i want to use motion capture files for animation (bones from MakeHuman). So i try to do something like a mage robe and it should interact with your character in realtime, no baked animation.
Can the usual cloth mod. do that?
Assassins Creed used PhysX Clothing mod. so far i know. (You know the clothes move very good in real time).
If the little paperball in the middle wouldnt happen i just could start creating the clothes i need and also to do some changes on the character too.
But it would save a huge amount of time.
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Re: MakeHuman in 3ds Max using PhysX Clothing

Postby CallHarvey3d » Fri Mar 03, 2017 1:52 pm

no. haha no it wont do that. realtime cloth sim is pretty tricky to set up and very resource intensive. I don't have apex physx installed or id try to walk you through. if i remember the process goes as such:
1. create clothes. the cloth solution i provided you will help get you that far
2. skin the clothes to your character. i believe this is required for physx and the reason your cloth is falling through your character
3. setup collision model for the clothes. the skin "attaches" the cloth to the character but he collision models attached to the characters bones and let the cloth know when it should react. the bone moves which moves the collider which pushes the cloth then physx solves the physics simulation. but you need the colliders or there's nothing to solve. using the character mesh as a collider is not nearly as efficient. in your situation you may only need to setup colliders around the knee and only allow that to resolve up to the waist. this will give you the least overhead but provide enough cloth sim to sell the effect.
there should be some good tutorials on youtube. i would expect there to be some jiggery pokery getting that setup out of max and functioning in engine.
keep us posted on your progress very cool project
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