[Figure 7] Polygon mesh skirt hidden from view.	[Figure 8] The subdiv render creates a much smoother look.

Only one more tweak must be made for our skirt to be a dancing success. The intersecting geometry shown in Figure 5 must still be fixed. This can be done by selecting the syCloth1Trs node and setting the Self Envelope attribute to a value of 1, as shown in Figure 9. When rendered out now, the intersecting geometry is gone. Figure 10 shows the effects of Self Envelope having a value of 1. (The final scene file is located on the companion DVD in the Chapter 2 folder.)

[Figure 9] The Self Envelope value on syCloth1Trs set to 1.	[Figure 10] Identical frames rendered without Self Envelope (left) and with a value of 1 (right).

In this chapter, we learned the power of Syflex for doing cloth simulation and how versatile it is at creating other materials, such as rubber. More information on Syflex can be found in the appendix under Chapter 2. This includes links and other resources including bonus scene files not worked on in this chapter.

Mark Jennings Smith is a seasoned artist, animator and writer residing in Beverly Hills, CA. Smith has been fascinated by CG since 1972, when at age 10 a chance encounter with the first coin-op Pong changed his life. His interest in the entertainment field led Smith and a partner to establish Digital Drama in 1994, which focused on computer-generated imagery, animation, digital painting and special digital visual effects. Digital Drama designed the digital film effects and animation for companies such as Universal Pictures, Trimark Pictures, Fox Home Ent., HBO and Showtime. Smith has contributed to several books and magazines, including a chapter in Maya: Secrets of the Pros. He also created cover art for the book and a variety of other titles in the 3D arena. He served as the technical editor for Mastering Maya Complete 2 as well as consulted and beta-tested dozens of software packages. Smith has also taught visual effects and computer animation using Maya at New York University.