costume-groom
Purpose
Turn a character into a person and a creature into a being: garments that read era/culture/climate, grooms that read species, armor that can move, props that can be held. Design must respect sim cost.
Scope
D37–D47, Depth 33, Depth 34. Generic environment props also exist in environment (D84); held/worn props live here. Cloth physics infrastructure is shared with simulation (D88/D91) — this skill owns garment intent and hero cloth.
Activation Conditions
- Clothes, cloak, armor, hair, fur, feathers, groom, belts, jewelry, held props
Use costume-groom
Non-Activation Conditions
- Body mesh not locked (→ modeling)
- World scatter props (→ environment)
- Generic rigid-body debris (→ simulation)
- Final lighting of fabrics (→ lookdev materials + lighting)
Instructions
- Design garments with fabric weight in mind (D37). A flowing cloak is a sim budget; a tactical vest is not.
- Construct for sim (D38): pattern pieces or body-offset meshes; even-ish quads; sewing springs if patterned; pinning at locked areas (waist, shoulders).
- Cloth sim (D39): collision proxies (low-poly), quality, shrinkage, bending, damping. Bake to disk. Hero only — fake distant cloth (5.6).
- Accessories (D40): separate objects, hook/constraint to bones, not merged.
- Armor (D41): rigid plates on a flexible underlayer; weight to bones or constraint; avoid cloth-sim metal.
- Props (D42): handle empty/bone at the grip; Child Of or parent; space switching (28.11) for grab/drop. Scale vs hand. Asset catalog.
- Hair (D43): curves hair (4.x standard). Guides → interpolate → groom brushes (33.2) → strand material (33.3).
- Fur (D44): GN fur or curves + noise; density budget (33.8). Alpha cards for realtime/background.
- Feathers (D45): construction + instancing; wing hierarchy with rig.
- Dynamics (D47): after animation lock. Fake sway with drivers if possible.
- Approve groom in motion, not T-pose.
Procedures
Fabric behavior library
Use Depth 34.3: silk vs wool vs leather vs denim → mass, bending, damping, friction.
Hair curves workflow (33.1)
Add hair curves → generate on scalp vertex group → grow → comb/clump/frizz → children → EEVEE/Cycles hair BSDF (melanin, roughness).
Armor on soft
Hard plates bone-parented; cloth or deforming suit underneath; collision between them; don't sim the plate.
Decision Logic
- Decision 5.5 for hair/fur/feathers system.
- Decision 5.6 for sim vs fake.
- Background characters: cards, not 100k strands.
Inputs
- Locked character mesh, style, climate (world bible), animation (for dynamics), poly/sim budgets
Outputs
- Garment meshes + pin groups
- Armor/accessory objects with handles
- Groom (curves/GN)
- Sim caches if hero cloth/hair
- Shared state: costume/groom approved in motion
Tools
Cloth modifier, Collision, curves sculpt brushes, Geometry Nodes, particle instances, Child Of. Depth 33–34. Built-in over add-on.
Constraints
Simulate last. Never merge props into the character mesh. Never skip collision proxies. Document caches per shot+version.
Edge Cases
- Crystal creature cloak (Example A): sim the hero cloak only; wetness from lookdev mask; no fur.
- Magical-girl transformation: costume change is VFX layers + maybe multiple garment visibilities, not one sim.
Failure Modes & Fixes
| FAIL |
FIX |
| Jellyfish cloth |
Construction density + bending + pinning |
| Exploding sim |
Scale meters; collision margin; quality |
| Hands float on props |
Add handle; constraint |
| Bald spots / popping hair |
Guides, density, collision, children |
| Viewport death |
Budget table 33.8; viewport children down |
Dependencies
- Needs modeling + lookdev materials
- Needs rigging for weights/constraints
- Delegates dynamics infrastructure to
simulation
- After
animation for final dyn
- Feeds render cost
Related Skills
modeling, lookdev, rigging, animation, simulation, vfx, environment
Delegation Rules
- Force fields, gravity, cache policy →
simulation
- Strand/fabric Principled values →
lookdev Ch 17.7
- Wing bone setup →
rigging Ch 28.7
- Distant flags → fake; don't open a sim here
Examples
- Hero wool cloak: patterned construction, pin at clasps, collision proxy body, bake disk.
- Mammal: GN fur layers, short density, no dynamics on BG plates.
Required Knowledge / Context
knowledge/domains/ch05-costume-groom.mdknowledge/depth/ch33-hair-fur-feathers.mdknowledge/depth/ch34-cloth-costume.md- S-10 props supplement
References to Shared Resources
workflows/sim-last.mddecision-engine 5.5 5.6
1---2name: costume-groom3description: Clothing design and 3D tailoring, cloth sim, accessories, armor, props-as-worn, curves hair, GN fur, feathers, grooming, and strand dynamics.4---56# costume-groom78## Purpose910Turn a character into a person and a creature into a being: garments that read era/culture/climate, grooms that read species, armor that can move, props that can be held. Design must respect sim cost.1112## Scope1314D37–D47, Depth 33, Depth 34. Generic environment props also exist in `environment` (D84); held/worn props live here. Cloth *physics infrastructure* is shared with `simulation` (D88/D91) — this skill owns garment intent and hero cloth.1516## Activation Conditions1718- Clothes, cloak, armor, hair, fur, feathers, groom, belts, jewelry, held props19- `Use costume-groom`2021## Non-Activation Conditions2223- Body mesh not locked (→ modeling)24- World scatter props (→ environment)25- Generic rigid-body debris (→ simulation)26- Final lighting of fabrics (→ lookdev materials + lighting)2728## Instructions29301. Design garments with fabric weight in mind (D37). A flowing cloak is a sim budget; a tactical vest is not.312. Construct for sim (D38): pattern pieces or body-offset meshes; even-ish quads; sewing springs if patterned; pinning at locked areas (waist, shoulders).323. Cloth sim (D39): collision proxies (low-poly), quality, shrinkage, bending, damping. Bake to disk. Hero only — fake distant cloth (5.6).334. Accessories (D40): separate objects, hook/constraint to bones, not merged.345. Armor (D41): rigid plates on a flexible underlayer; weight to bones or constraint; avoid cloth-sim metal.356. Props (D42): handle empty/bone at the grip; Child Of or parent; space switching (28.11) for grab/drop. Scale vs hand. Asset catalog.367. Hair (D43): curves hair (4.x standard). Guides → interpolate → groom brushes (33.2) → strand material (33.3).378. Fur (D44): GN fur or curves + noise; density budget (33.8). Alpha cards for realtime/background.389. Feathers (D45): construction + instancing; wing hierarchy with rig.3910. Dynamics (D47): after animation lock. Fake sway with drivers if possible.4011. Approve groom **in motion**, not T-pose.4142## Procedures4344### Fabric behavior library45Use Depth 34.3: silk vs wool vs leather vs denim → mass, bending, damping, friction.4647### Hair curves workflow (33.1)48Add hair curves → generate on scalp vertex group → grow → comb/clump/frizz → children → EEVEE/Cycles hair BSDF (melanin, roughness).4950### Armor on soft51Hard plates bone-parented; cloth or deforming suit underneath; collision between them; don't sim the plate.5253## Decision Logic5455- Decision 5.5 for hair/fur/feathers system.56- Decision 5.6 for sim vs fake.57- Background characters: cards, not 100k strands.5859## Inputs6061- Locked character mesh, style, climate (world bible), animation (for dynamics), poly/sim budgets6263## Outputs6465- Garment meshes + pin groups66- Armor/accessory objects with handles67- Groom (curves/GN)68- Sim caches if hero cloth/hair69- Shared state: costume/groom approved in motion7071## Tools7273Cloth modifier, Collision, curves sculpt brushes, Geometry Nodes, particle instances, Child Of. Depth 33–34. Built-in over add-on.7475## Constraints7677Simulate last. Never merge props into the character mesh. Never skip collision proxies. Document caches per shot+version.7879## Edge Cases8081- Crystal creature cloak (Example A): sim the hero cloak only; wetness from lookdev mask; no fur.82- Magical-girl transformation: costume *change* is VFX layers + maybe multiple garment visibilities, not one sim.8384## Failure Modes & Fixes8586| FAIL | FIX |87|---|---|88| Jellyfish cloth | Construction density + bending + pinning |89| Exploding sim | Scale meters; collision margin; quality |90| Hands float on props | Add handle; constraint |91| Bald spots / popping hair | Guides, density, collision, children |92| Viewport death | Budget table 33.8; viewport children down |9394## Dependencies9596- Needs modeling + lookdev materials97- Needs rigging for weights/constraints98- Delegates dynamics infrastructure to `simulation`99- After `animation` for final dyn100- Feeds render cost101102## Related Skills103104modeling, lookdev, rigging, animation, simulation, vfx, environment105106## Delegation Rules107108- Force fields, gravity, cache policy → `simulation`109- Strand/fabric Principled values → `lookdev` Ch 17.7110- Wing bone setup → `rigging` Ch 28.7111- Distant flags → fake; don't open a sim here112113## Examples114115- Hero wool cloak: patterned construction, pin at clasps, collision proxy body, bake disk.116- Mammal: GN fur layers, short density, no dynamics on BG plates.117118## Required Knowledge / Context119120- `knowledge/domains/ch05-costume-groom.md`121- `knowledge/depth/ch33-hair-fur-feathers.md`122- `knowledge/depth/ch34-cloth-costume.md`123- S-10 props supplement124125## References to Shared Resources126127- `workflows/sim-last.md`128- `decision-engine` 5.5 5.6
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