# Cloth Simulation

## Cloth Simulation

Cloth Simulation renders your draft as a 3D fabric with real-time physics. The cloth drapes naturally under gravity, and you can interact with it by releasing corners, pushing it with a ball, and placing collision objects underneath. This gives you a sense of how the finished fabric will hang and move.

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### Opening Cloth Simulation

* **Ribbon**: View tab > Cloth Simulation
* **Menu** (macOS): View > Cloth Simulation

Available to Core and Pro tiers.

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### The Simulation Window

The window has three areas:

* **3D Viewport** (center) — The interactive cloth simulation
* **Options Panel** (left) — Mockup templates and lighting controls
* **Menu Bar** (top) — Simulation, Mockup, and View menus

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### Interacting with the Cloth

#### Camera Controls

* **Arrow Keys** — Orbit the camera around the cloth
* **Plus / Minus** — Zoom in and out
* **Mouse** — Click and drag to rotate the view

#### Dropping Corners

Release corners of the cloth to let them fall under gravity:

* **1** — Drop top-left corner
* **2** — Drop top-right corner
* **3** — Drop bottom-left corner
* **4** — Drop bottom-right corner

You can drop multiple corners to create different draping effects.

#### Pressure Ball

Press **B** to activate a ball that pushes against the cloth from underneath. Use **W/A/S/D** to move the ball around. This simulates how the fabric drapes over a rounded form.

#### Reset

Press **R** to reset the simulation to its initial flat state with all corners pinned.

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### View Menu Options

#### Swap Face (X)

Swaps the front and back textures on the cloth. Like flipping the fabric over to see the other side.

#### Rendering Options

These options match the View Fabric window and control how the cloth texture is rendered:

* **Deflected Threads** — Shows thread deflection on floats, where threads bend around each other
* **Double Weave** — Renders double cloth structure with both layers visible
* **Variegated Yarns** — Shows color changes in variegated yarns
* **Proportional** — Scales thread widths by the draft's EPI/PPI settings

#### Yarn Bloom

A submenu with intensity presets: Off, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%. Adds a soft fuzzy effect to the yarn texture.

#### Remove Background

Clears any background image that has been set behind the cloth.

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### Mockup Templates

The left panel shows saved mockup templates — pre-configured cloth shapes that you can load to see your fabric draped in a specific way.

#### Using Templates

1. Select a template from the list
2. Click **Load Template** to apply it

The cloth will reshape to match the template's frozen mesh, with your fabric's texture applied.

#### Creating Templates

1. Arrange the cloth using corner drops, the ball, and collision shapes
2. Press **F** to freeze the current mesh shape
3. Click **Save Template** to save it for future use

#### Bundled Templates

TempoWeave includes several built-in templates for common presentations. User-created templates can be deleted; bundled templates cannot.

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### Collision Objects

From the Mockup menu, you can add objects that the cloth drapes over:

* **Add Cylinder** — Places a cylindrical form
* **Add Box** — Places a box form
* **Clear Shapes** — Removes all collision objects

These are useful for simulating how the fabric looks draped over furniture, a mannequin form, or other surfaces.

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### Lighting Controls

The left panel includes lighting sliders that affect how the 3D cloth is illuminated:

* **Light Azimuth** (0-360) — The horizontal angle of the light source. Rotate it around the cloth to change where highlights and shadows fall.
* **Light Elevation** (5-90) — How high the light is above the cloth. Lower values create longer shadows; higher values give more even lighting.
* **Brightness** (20-200) — Overall light intensity. Increase for a brighter scene, decrease for a moodier look.
* **Specular** (0-100) — The intensity of shiny highlights on the fabric surface. Higher values make the cloth appear more lustrous.

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### Keyboard Shortcuts

| Key        | Action               |
| ---------- | -------------------- |
| Arrow Keys | Orbit camera         |
| W/A/S/D    | Move pressure ball   |
| B          | Activate ball        |
| R          | Reset simulation     |
| X          | Swap front/back face |
| F          | Freeze mesh          |
| 1/2/3/4    | Drop corners         |
| +/-        | Zoom camera          |
| T          | Focus template list  |
| Escape     | Close window         |

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### Tips

* Start by loading a bundled template to see your fabric in a realistic drape immediately
* Use Swap Face (X) to quickly compare the front and back of your cloth
* Adjust the Specular slider to simulate different fiber types — cotton has low specular, silk has high
* The Proportional option makes a big difference for drafts where EPI and PPI differ significantly
* Freeze and save templates for shapes you use often (like a scarf drape or table runner)