Let an animated character collide
Make an animated body push the cloth, and use a collision cage so the bake stays fast.
A garment that follows an animated character without passing through it.
- A garment set up as Cloth.
- An animated character mesh.
Step by step
- Make the body a Collider
Turn on Cloth neXt for the character mesh and set Object Type to Collider.
- Turn on animation
Set Collider Motion to Animated. Static is only for obstacles that never move.
- Generate a collision cage
In Simulation Proxy, set Proxy Type to Character Collision Cage and click Generate Simulation Proxy. The cage follows the animated body but sends far less geometry to the solver, and it stays visible and editable in Blender.
- Use the cage for baking
Turn on Use Simulation Proxy so the bake uses the cage instead of the full character mesh.
- Raise samples for fast motion
Motion Samples / Frame is 1 by default. For fast or strongly curved motion, raise it to around 12 to 16 so contact is not missed.
- Test it
Bake a short range and check the cloth at the fastest moments of the animation.
The cloth follows the body, does not pass through it, and the bake is not much slower than with a static collider.
If something goes wrong
- The bake is rejected for topology
- The mesh must keep the same number and order of vertices for the whole bake range. Armatures, shape keys and supported deforming modifiers are fine as long as they do not change the topology.
- Cloth passes through at fast moments
- Increase Motion Samples / Frame, or add a little Cage Margin. After changing the rig or animation, generate the cage again.