Custom USD Render Time Procedural To Deform Cloth & Transfer Attributes

Building on the Cloth Curves Toolset, developed by Pepe Buendia and Agustin Gonzalez, which introduces a novel approach to fabric and clothing creation using only curves, the artists have now unveiled a custom USD Render Time Procedural, leveraging algorithms to generate data at render time.

It enables deformation, tearing, and attribute transfer at render time without the need to cache data to disk. This results in significant space savings while maintaining the high level of detail provided by the clothing curves. For example, in a 100-frame shot, you can save over 80 GB by using just an 820 MB clothing asset, making the workflow much more scalable. According to the creators, USD Render Time Procedural also offers the option to directly edit the final result in Solaris, allowing users to adjust parameters related to deformation, clothing tearing, and even modify the width or add noise. This means the clothing simulation can be iterated without the need to re-export large caches each time.

Similarly, changes made to the final cloth curves asset don't require re-caching the mesh simulation. Effects like fire or fluids can also be easily integrated by transferring attributes at render time. And since it's based on USD, the system is compatible with multiple render engines, including Karma, Arnold, and RenderMan.

As this toolset is still under development, you can learn more about it here and follow Pepe Buendia and Agustin Gonzalez on LinkedIn. Don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our new Discord server, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, TikTok, and Threads, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.