Cloth Simulation is a study focused on exploring Maya nCloth and understanding how fabric simulation can be used to create more natural secondary motion in character animation. With this project, my goal was to study and refine the parameters within nCloth so that the character’s dress and clothing would move in a more believable and physically responsive way as the body animated.

​

To begin, I downloaded a character model from an online source, then refined and applied the materials in Substance Painter before bringing the asset into Maya. After that, I used Mixamo to transfer a preset dancing animation onto the character as a starting point for the performance.

​

Once the base animation was in place, I further adjusted it through manual keyframe animation to improve the motion and make it better fit the character. I also added additional animation to the character’s chest and eyes to give the performance more subtle movement and a stronger sense of life.

​

After the character animation was established, I lit the scene with a basic three-point lighting setup and began setting up the clothing and skirt as nCloth objects. By continuously testing and adjusting the simulation parameters, I worked toward achieving a more realistic physical response in the fabric, allowing the clothing to follow the character’s movement in a more natural and convincing way.