This lesson will teach you how to simply create a cloth surface with the Loft function and animate it using the Cluster deformers applied to the vertices.
An Animated Curtain
Step 1
Create a curve in the top view by using any of the curve tools. Make sure your curve is curved like the bottom of the cloth drape.
Step 2
Duplicate that curve 3 times so you will end up with four of them. Align them above each other like in our picture. Edit and change the two middle curves. So the top and bottom one are the same shape and the two middle ones have been modified to achieve the effect of different wrinkles on the cloth.
Step 3
Select all the curves step by step. Click on the bottom one then hold down shift and click individually on the other curves. It is very important that you select the curves step by step because the Loft tool will create the surface in the order that you have selected the curves.
on the other curves. It is very important that you select the curves step by step because the Loft tool will create the surface in the order that you have selected the curves.
Step 4
By clicking the right mouse button select all the control vertices of the curve.
Step 5
In the Animation menu under the Deformers select Create Cluster
Step 6
Do the same procedure with rest of the curves. You should end up with four clusters in the scene.
Step 7
Select the cluster and activate the Move tool. Once the manipulator arrows appear, hit the insert key. You will notice that the manipulator will change from arrows in the simple lines. Grab the X axes (red) with the left mouse button and drag the pivot to the beginning of the cloth on the left side. Do the same thing with all the clusters.
Step 8
Now, if you select the cluster, your pivot is on the left side of the surface. Hit the scale tool and scale the X axes (red). You can now see how the cloth surface is being deformed.
Now you can set the keys on the X scale axes of each cluster and achieve a nice animation of the curtain. It is not wise to animate the cloth with the Maya cloth plug-in every time. Sometimes you can save time or achieve very good and different results if you use different technics.
{flv}curtain_1{/flv}