How To Set Collision for Poser Clothing

Aside from technology, fashion is also one of the trendiest things in today’s society. From the drawings or sketches in the drawing book of the fashion artist, to the hand holding the threads and needles, and finally to the body of a human model. If you’ve been following America’s Next Top Model, you can see real human models wearing designed clothing as they make their way on the catwalk. Aside from human models, mannequins are also commonly used in displaying those designed garments. A fashion boutique would not survive without one. If you combined technology and fashion, then you get Poser models.

Poser models are just like mannequins. The only difference between the two is that Poser models are virtually made. Poser is a 3D animation system that represents a human model in 3 dimensional forms. Its primary purpose is to portray or animate a figure, just like what mannequins would do. So, designs are made through the hands of a computer designer, with a click of a mouse, and a creative mind.

The fashion design doesn’t need to undergo sketches. If you are planning to use Poser as a medium for designs, you should have broad knowledge about the software. It contains a wide variety of functions to choose from, and one of which is collision. Collision functions like a buffer zone in the middle of two colliding objects. Think of it as a gap so the two objects won’t touch. By adjusting the Collision, the designer can prevent poke-through, and make the clothing more realistic and stand out. With a higher setting, the object will minimize poke-through but causes the cloth to become static. A lower configuration increases the risk of poke-through, but causes the cloth to be more fluid or natural. Below are some guidelines on how to set the collision for poser clothing.

* Select a character. As you start Poser, your first task will be to pick a character that will be used on the scene. Next, select clothing for your chosen character. A list of available clothing can be found in Poser’s library prop section. Add the selected prop and place it in the scene. Position it carefully so it fully covers the character. Afterwards, go to “Windows” and select “Animation Controls.”
* Drag the arrow for Animation Controls towards the last frame. Before going to the Cloth Room, pose the character and select New Simulation. Don’t change the “sim_1” name (which is the default); mark both checkboxes for Object Polygon and Object Vertex. Also, select the box for Cloth Self-collision. When these are selected, it causes the selected clothing to wrinkle and crinkle together rather than distort when the objects bump together.
* Next, choose OK and close the dialog box for New Simulation. Thereafter, click the Clothify button. When this button is activated, it converts the props or objects into dynamic clothing. Select the entire area of the character’s body from the Current Collision Object, which automatically forms the clothing to the shape of the character’s body.
* Set Collision depth and offset. By default, digital clothes have no depth. But, if you set values for Collision depth and offset (say, 0.5), the appearance changes. The value for depth is the distance from the skin to the clothing. The value for offset provides depth between the exterior environment and the clothing. The result, depending on the values you input, will appear realistic.
* Lastly, ignore all three Collisions boxes. The function of these commands will save the computer from processing time since the extremities (e.g., feet, hands, head) are not touched by the clothing.


Settings for the Collision function in Poser are an essential aspect of designing a realistic 3D model. Make sure you exercise creativity when playing around with this function.