3.12Tnpix Stitch

The Tnpix Stitch modifier sews cloth to cloth. A Pin holds cloth to an object outside the simulation; a Stitch holds the painted points of one garment to another garment in the same Solver group, or to the garment's own folded-over parts, such as a rolled cuff or a tucked flap. It sews a Tnpix Soft Body the same way: a strap to a soft body, or a fat layer to a muscle, sliding over it if you let it (see the Sliding group).

Location: Modify panel ▸ Modifier List ▸ Tnpix Stitch

Stitches form when the simulation starts: every painted point within the search distance binds to the nearest surface point of a listed garment, and the pair holds for the run. A stitched pair is left alone by self collision, so the two never fight. Chapter 5 walks through a complete seam.

Interface

Tnpix Stitch rollout

Enabled Default on

Turns this stitch off without removing it.

Stitch to group

List / Add / Remove

The garments this cloth stitches to. They must be on the same Solver as this cloth; a garment on another Solver is marked in the list and refused when the simulation starts. Add picks a garment in the viewport (right-click to stop picking); Remove takes the selected garment out of the list without deleting it.

Stitch to self Default off

Stitches the cloth to its own folded-over parts. Only parts folded close through space can stitch; neighbours along the cloth never do.

Binding group

Search distance Default 0.5 in

How far a painted point looks for a surface to stitch to, in scene units (a new modifier takes 0.5 inch in the scene's unit). A starting point: tune it per scene. At 0 nothing is found, and the panel says so.

Tightness Default 1.0

1.0 pulls the pair together like a sewn seam, and the seam stays shut, also where three panels meet: the Solver's smoothing leaves every stitched point where the seam put it. 0 is a rigid tack: the pair keeps its starting gap exactly. Values in between close the gap proportionally.

Offset Default 0

A gap the seam keeps between the two cloths, in scene units, added to what Tightness leaves: at Tightness 1 the pair holds exactly this far apart. This cloth keeps the gap; the cloth it is stitched to is never pushed away by it.

Strength Default 1.0

How rigid the hold is, from soft basting at 0 to a hard seam at 1: around 0.5 the seam holds, from about 0.8 it is sewn shut.

Seam passes Default 1

How many solver passes the seam gets each step, from 1 to 10. 1 is the normal solve; raise it if a sewn seam sags while the cloth is falling.

Sliding group

Slide along the surface Default off

The stitched points stay on the surface they are sewn to, at the stitch's gap, but can slide along it: a fat layer over a muscle, a skin over the fat. Off, every point is sewn in place.

Friction Default 0.3

How hard the sliding is: 0 slides freely, 1 does not slide, as a plain stitch. Range 0 to 1. Unavailable while Slide along the surface is off, on the panel and in the TenPix Graph.

Where (painted channel) group

Channel / Refresh

The painted channel that says where stitching is allowed. Only painted points stitch: paint the seam and leave the rest free.

Threshold Default 0.5

Painted points at or above this weight stitch; below it they stay free. It trims the edge of the painted area.

Active time group

Active only between frames Default off

Limits the stitch to a frame range. On, before From and after To the painted points are free cloth: at From the stitch finds its pairs where the cloths are and starts to pull, and after To it lets go and the points keep the motion the seam gave them.

From Default 0 / To Default 100

The first and last frames the stitch holds. If To is before From, the stitch never activates.

Active Zone group

Lets a stitch pull only where a zone reaches its seam, the point halfway between its two ends. The stitches are found as before, by the painted channel and the search distance; the zone decides which of them pull. A stitch the zone reaches starts to pull from where the cloths are. The zone works inside the Active time above.

Active Zone Default off

A stitch pulls only while the zone reaches its seam, with its Strength times the zone's value there: the full Strength inside a helper's Near radius, fading to nothing at its Far radius. Off: every stitch pulls.

Invert Default off

Turns the zone round: every stitch pulls except where the zone reaches its seam - nothing inside Near, fading in to the full Strength at Far. With no helper picked, every stitch pulls.

List / Pick / Remove

The Influence Helpers that make the zone, as on Tnpix Forces.

Stays sewn once touched Default on

On: a stitch the zone has reached keeps pulling after the zone moves on - sweep the helper along the seam and it closes behind it like a zipper. Off: only the stitches inside the zone pull, and the seam lets go again behind it. With Invert on, the box reads Stays open once touched: a stitch the helper has touched lets go for good - sweep the helper along a sewn seam and it opens behind it.

Status line

After a simulation: on the last simulated frame, how many stitches are pulling.

Display group

Show stitches while this panel is open Default on

Draws one line per stitch while the panel is open. Nothing is drawn until the simulation has been built.

Status line

Says what will happen before you play, for example 22 painted points are stitched to 1 garment(s), or that no painted point is within the search distance of a surface, or that there is nothing to stitch to yet, with what to do about it.