Hello everyone...I've been working closely with the Valentina team on their 3d object plugin, as a contributing designer. I've learned a few things in the process of creating meshes that work well in Makehuman, and so I'd like to share some of this knowledge with you.
First off, I don't have all the answers as to why one mesh worked so much better than the others, so I'll leave that solution open to comments.
Here are two meshes that looked fine when designed, but only one worked when I began to test if for a karate animation.
The first pose is the Arms Overhead 90 Degrees, Flat Palm. The mesh was connected to the armature by Automatic Weighting, with Preserve Volume checked. Also, I added the subsurface modifier.
First the T shirt--draped no less!--that didn't work. Also, adding the subsurface modifier didn't help, even moving it up and down the stack. This is important, because I've ofter heard the phrase: "It will work once it gets subsurfed".
And now the mesh that did work, using the same armature, with Automatic Weight Painting and Preserve Volume checked.
Now, the real test. Can I raise the arms overhead ninety degrees with only trivial mesh intersection? The answer is yes.
And finally, few additions that Valentina team thought useful, as they told me they can create this n a 3d printer.
A birch-leaf mantle:
A chain mail gown: