MAKE A REALISTIC KIMONO

Eugenia Peruzzo explains how to simulate clothes for game characters from a two-dimensional pattern to a ready-to-sculpt mesh

- Eugenia Peruzzo

This tutorial is an in-depth, step-by-step guide of my personal approach to creating a kimono in Marvelous Designer, from making the sewing pattern to exporting the complete garment. In addition, there will be some tips on how to import and handle the final mesh in ZBrush. The techniques can be applied to any other type of clothing.

This workflow is tailored towards the end goal of making the garment usable for realtime character production. The type of kimono created is a fantasy version concepted by Radoslav Topalov, as real ones usually cover the ankles and knees completely.

Marvelous Designer differs from most 3D software because it requires a little knowledge on how to sew clothes, as the software was created originally for tailors and dressmakers. If you are new to this discipline, doing some research prior to attempting this tutorial will help you. It is also advised to at least have a basic knowledge of MD.

At the beginning of this tutorial you will need a base mesh in a suitable pose for simulating clothes on top of it (ideally A-pose) or you can use one of the avatars provided in the software. It is important to use a real-world size model to achieve realistic results, as otherwise the simulation won’t work correctly.