[Help] How to make a body suit, wrap model or scale?

[Anonymous]

I'm trying to model armor for skyrim. I'm using the character Velvet from RWBY show as a reference, I have a body model for the game to model on but I'm having trouble with a main component of the set. The armor has a underlying body suit, skin tight fabric. It does not however cover the entire body. This means I need to make a skin tight covering that is different from the body model. 

The image below shows what the model needs to be. Again I have a body model that I need to cover with this skin tight fabric. The green shows how much of the body needs this garment. 

I tried using the garment maker but it doesn't get the right feel and closeness no matter what settings I mess with. 

An idea I had was to take the body, clone it, then scale it in every direction so it just barely covers the original and then can cut off the excess. However the model doesn't scale from a mid point so I'm left wondering what to do.

What is the best way to accomplish this? 

Thanks for any and all help!

[Alfred.DeFlaminis · Accepted solution]

Hello @Anonymous,

There are two main ways I might try to go about solving this issue with your body suit.  (Other than using a "Push" modifier to scale the body out a bit without having to worry about the pivot location.)

1) You can try to conform the mesh to the body to make it a bit closer to the base mesh.  The problem will come in at skinning and vertex deformation because the two meshes may not deform exactly the same, leading to interpenetrations during movement.  It can be quite a headache unless you carefully cut the polys of the new geo to match the underlying base mesh.  You might try vert snapping and then put a slight push on it, or take a shot at conforming it to the base mesh with the graphite conform brush.  There is more information here.  

2) I would consider a texture of the base character mesh so that creating new geometry isn't necessary.  Even if you get a perfect alignment of your new skin tight suit to the old one, you are doubling up polygons and textures for that area.  It would be more economical to simply add a new texture to the base mesh.

I hope this helps point you in the right direction and best of luck! 

Please hit the "Accept as Solution" button if my post fully solves your issue or answers your question. This lets me know that I was effective in helping you, and thank you for doing so.

Best Regards,

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @Anonymous,

I just wanted to follow up on this and see if it helped you at all. Did this work out or do you have any questions?

Thank you and best regards,