Garment support from scratch

Summary

Created on: 29. 12. 2023 by manavortex Last documented update: Nov 10 by Martin Blecker and manavortex

This guide will teach you how to add garment support to a mesh that doesn't have any.

Wait, that's not what I want!

• To learn what garment support is, check Garment Support: How does it work?

• For general Blender editing tips, check Blender: Getting Started

Difficulty

You should know what garment support does, because it won't be explained here.

This guide assumes that you know your way around in WolvenKit. If you don't and you want to mess with this, kudos — I salute your frustration tolerance. In this case, the wiki's search function will be your new best friend.

Prerequisites

• A WolvenKit project

• One or more meshes as .glb

Step 0: export and join the base

As a preparation for our garment support, we need a base that we'll shrinkwrap to. For this guide, we'll be using the full player body in a single mesh.

You need the following files:

Female body gender

# default head
base\characters\head\player_base_heads\player_female_average\h0_000_pwa_c__basehead\h0_000_pwa_c__basehead.mesh
# arms
base\characters\common\player_base_bodies\player_female_average\arms_hq\a0_000_pwa_base_hq__full.mesh
# base body
base\characters\common\player_base_bodies\player_female_average\t0_000_pwa_base__full.mesh

Male body gender

# default head
base\characters\head\player_base_heads\player_man_average\h0_000_pma_c__basehead\h0_000_pma_c__basehead.mesh
# arms
base\characters\common\player_base_bodies\player_man_average\arms_hq\a0_001_pma_base_hq__full.mesh
# base body
base\characters\common\player_base_bodies\player_man_average\t0_000_pma_base__full.mesh

Import all those meshes to Blender, then join them all into a single mesh:

1. In the viewport, click anywhere to deselect everything

2. Press A to select everything visible again

3. Shift-click on something (e.g. the head) to deselect it

4. Shift-click again to re-select it (you need a most recent selection)

5. Press Ctrl+J to join all those meshes together

Optional: Clean up

• In the outliner on the right, delete all empty collections

• Double-click on your mesh and rename it to something, e.g. body

You should be looking at something like this:

This is the base that your items will shrink to, thus not-clipping. Neat, isn't it?

Step 0.5 (optional): activate garment support

If you're using a custom mesh as the base, you need two prerequisites:

1. Join everything, so that you have only one mesh. This mesh must cover everything that yours can potentially shrink to - if you fit the Netrunnner suit without the head mesh as part of the body, the collar will clip into the neck when you're wearing a coat

2. You need to activate garment support on the mesh. You do this by switching to the Data tab and setting its Value to 1:

   

Step 1: Add garment support

Import a mesh that needs garment support. In Object mode, select it by clicking on it so that it has a yellow outline like the body in the picture above, and switch to the Data tab on the right:

The Shape Keys dropdown should be empty. (Otherwise, hit the - button until it is).

1. Click on the + button to create a shape key with the name Basis. This is the garment's original shape and will tell Cyberpunk how it looks when it's not squished.

2. Repeat this process for every submesh (submesh_01_LOD_1 and submesh_02_LOD_1 on the screenshot above)

3. Switch to the Modifiers tab (the blue wrench icon, it's active in the first screenshot)

4. Add a shrinkwrap modifier

5. Target it to the mesh from the previous step (e.g. body):

1. optional: Add a small offset (e.g. 0.001) to make it not-clip. If the mesh you're shrinking to has garment support and you haven't enabled it, this isn't necessary.

2. You will now see that the garment has shrunk down to the body's dimensions — this is how the game avoids clipping.

3. Apply the modifier as shapekey:

1. You will now see that the garment un-shrinks itself: that is because the shapekey isn't active.

2. Switch to the Data tab again (the green triangle). There is a new shapekey now; it's called Shrinkwrap.

3. If you want to see it in action, set its Value to 1.

4. Rename it to GarmentSupport (capital G and S, no spaces — double-click on the name):

That's it, your mesh has now garment support. Rinse and repeat the process with the other submeshes, then export everything back.

Troubleshooting

My garment support isn't working!

You still need to use component name prefixes for garmentSupport to become active. If that wasn't it, check your shapekey names for typos or trailing spaces.

My garment support is clipping into the body!

Try re-doing the shrinkwrap, but with a higher offset instead. Try something like 0.002 or so, whatever works for you.

My garment support looks messy or clips a lot with other clothes!

Try making some garment support parameters! Check out Painting garment support parameters for guidance.