Adding Clothing
Not all figure drawing is of nude figures. In fact, artists have to deal with clothed figures more often than with nude ones. The clothing for the models in Figure Artist is similar to the props in that there is not an endless set, but there is enough to represent a good array of options for clothed figures.
The real benefit of clothing simulation in Figure Artist is that you can pose your figure, save the file, and then add the clothing and save the file again. You then have a good view of the underlying structure of the body and another of the overlaying cloth. For example, Figure 8.16 shows a scene with two figures in a dancing pose.
Figure 8.16. Pose the figures before adding clothing.
Note
The clothing in Figure Artist should not be viewed as an exact reference of how cloth hangs off the figure, but rather gives a general idea of how the figure would look clothed. If you are interested in getting a more accurate simulation of cloth on the human form, you will need to upgrade from Figure Artist to the full version of Poser. Poser has a very sophisticated cloth simulation system.
In Figure 8.17, I have added clothing to the figures.
Figure 8.17. Clothing is added over the figures.
I can use the two sources from Figure Artist as reference for a drawing. The pose reference is good for developing the underlying structures and defining the figures, and the clothed pose is good for working on the overlaying shapes and textures.
Figure Artist uses a system called conforming clothing. Each article of clothing is actually a 3D model separate from the virtual model. When the clothing is applied to the figure, it conforms to the figure as closely as the 3D model will permit. For this reason, some articles of clothing will not work with some poses because the range of movement of the clothing model is not as robust as that of the virtual model. You will need to experiment to see how each article of clothing works with your pose.
The clothing in Figure Artist does not simulate the way cloth folds at joints or gathers around the hip and waist. Unfortunately, these aspects of figure drawing are better dealt with in real life than they are in a software simulation. Figure Artist is better suited to the study of the undraped human form than it is to clothed figures.