nCloth Simulation - Maya
First Steps:
1- Evenly Spaced Loops:
We need evenly spaced loops because areas with more "density topology" we get a more "stretchy" behavior on the simulation and areas with "less topology" we will get a less "stretchy" behavior so the simulation will have big differences making having less control on the quality of this simulation.
2- No Triangles(Avoid as much as you can):
We try to avoid triangles specially in visible areas of the geometry that we are going to apply simulation. Areas with triangles will cause bad simulation results
3- No overlapping Geometry :
We want to avoid any overlapping geometry, because this can cause a conflict when calculating the simulation on this overlapped areas. Causing the geometry to heavy a weird result on this areas, looking a "broken" simulation for this overlapped areas.
4- Single Sided Geometry :
When preparing the cloth to be simulated we need to be sure that we have a single sided geometry, keeping the inside faces of the low res geometry. This will avoid problem when calculating collision when using nCloth and a more optimized geometry to be calculated.
nCloth and Nucleus:
nCloth:
When selecting a geometry and clicking on 'Create nCloth,' we will get 2 nodes: the 'nCloth' and 'Nucleus.' The nCloth node controls the actual 'Dynamic Properties,' which means it defines how the cloth should behave—whether it's a silk material, leather, etc.
It will also control the collision properties, this means how ticker or thin the cloth should be in the simulation. We also have other properties like: Friction, Stickiness, etc.
When we convert a geometry and create the nCloth node, it already hides the original shape node and creates an output cloth node and attach to the transform node, we can check this by selecting the options in this order:
nCloth>Display Input Mesh
You can even change the original shape of this geometry and after this changes you can select:
nCloth>Display Current Mesh
So the changes will remain in the geometry when you play the simulation.
nCloth Parameters:
Bend Resistance:
When you increase the values you will get an effect of a "thicker" material or if you lower the values of this parameter you get a "thin" effect on the material simulated.
Damp:
Increasing the values of this parameter it will decrease the motion of the simulation.
Stretch Damp:
This will control the motion coming from the "Stretch Resistance", so if we see a lot of "bouncing motion" when starting the simulation, we can increase the values of this parameter and we reduce this "bouncing motion" affect on the simulation.
Scaling Relation:
For this parameter the recommended option would be the "Object Space", this is because when using "Object Space" it will calculate the mass as a whole not per vertex, so if we heave a highpoly geometry the simulation will be too heavy and will not give better results, will just slow down our simulation tests.
Max Self Collider Interaction:
When increasing the values of this parameter we will have better results of self collision. Is not recommended to increase this values a lot, because we will get e more heavy and slow simulation.
Nucleus Parameters:
Substeps:
It defines how many times per frame it will calculate in the simulation. Is always recommended to increase this values until with a certain limit, because it can make the simulation pretty heavy and will not bring better results and just slow down the simulations if not use carefully.
Max Collision Iterations:
Defines the scale of the object simulated. So is important to check the scale of the geometry so you will get a more realist and better simulation results.
Wind:
This parameters is another very important that is part of the "Nucleus", wind parameter will affect the geometry that is been simulated, this can add a lot of detail to a cloth simulation, where we can add how strong and directions of the wind.
Gravity:
This is another example of a important parameter and knowing how this one can help to achieve a certain behavior on a specific part of the simulation. Let's say for example that you have an object that jump and you would like to make the clothe in a specific part of the jump go higher when simulating, so you can keyframe the gravity parameter and change the values to the specific part of this affect that you need and them set back the value, getting the effect on the simulation.