Cloth Simulation

Cloth behavior belongs to a specific garment and its simulation setup. First check the garment's clothing data in the Skeletal Mesh Editor; the presence of an item in the Clothing or Robes folder does not itself confirm simulation.

Inspect a garment#

Open the skeletal mesh and check its clothing assets, assigned sections, and physics asset. Preview an animation to see which areas move with the bones and which are simulated.

In Unreal Engine 5.1, clothing data is applied to a mesh section. Painted masks limit how far vertices move, and the cloth physics asset supplies collision. If you are creating or changing this setup, follow Epic's Clothing Tool guide.

Match collision to the body#

The shared character folders contain garment physics assets, including cloak, robe, and chest examples for several variants. Check the garment's assigned asset and use collision shaped for the character wearing it.

Start with the intended fitted body and neutral component scale. Inspect collisions near the chest, pelvis, shoulders, and thighs. Collision tuning should follow a correct garment fit.

Preserve the runtime setup#

When adapting a garment to your own character, preserve its clothing data and inspect the animation setup used by the supplied example. A simple pose follower has limitations for independent physics; see Characters and animation when deciding how the garment should evaluate.

Test the garment in the Skeletal Mesh Editor and in Play mode. If it moves in one but remains rigid in the other, compare the component's simulation state, pose setup, and collision configuration.

Check transitions#

Preview idle and locomotion, then test equipment replacement, character changes, and LOD transitions. Recheck cloth after reimporting geometry or regenerating LODs because section associations can change.

For penetration or unstable motion, compare the original garment and body at the same scale. Change one collision or cloth setting at a time so you can identify what affected the result.

Exporting a garment#

Keep the Unreal asset as the reference for its simulation setup. An FBX export of the garment mesh is not a backup of Unreal clothing data and its runtime configuration. Plan to configure or restore simulation when importing edited geometry.