# Model Studio

The **Model Studio** is a full-screen workspace for a garment's mesh. You can select and transform parts of it, sculpt it, fit it against the ped's body, paint its bone weights and vertex colours, auto-rig it to the freemode skeleton, repair its rig, and make a copy of it for another ped. Nothing is written to the model until you press **Apply**.

:::hint{type="info" title="Premium"}
The Model Studio is a **Premium** feature. That covers every mode on this page, plus **Import › New garment from a 3D model**. New in 2.0.8.
:::

## Opening it

Select an item. In the item panel, under its tabs, there are tool tiles:

- **Model Studio** (*Mesh, fit, weights*) opens the studio in **Edit** mode.
- **Repairs** (*Heels, hair, rig*) opens it in **Repairs** mode. See [Rig Repairs](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/rig-repairs).

Props (hats, glasses, watches…) are not edited in the Model Studio. The studio refuses them, and props have no **Repairs** tile.

:::hint{type="warning" title="Extract the base ped first"}
Fitting against the body, auto-rigging, transferring weights and the pose check all need the freemode ped. If you have not extracted it yet, do that in **Settings** first. Without it, the studio says so where it matters, for example "No base ped in this preview — extract it in Settings to fit against the body."
:::

## The workspace

- **Header:** the nine modes, **Undo (Ctrl+Z)** and **Redo (Ctrl+Shift+Z)**, **Blender** (opens the item in Blender over Live Link), **Original** (puts back the model from before your first Model Studio edit), **Apply** and **Close**. A **Not applied** badge shows while you have unapplied edits.
- **Left sidebar:**
  - **Geometry**: the model's geometries with vertex and face counts. Cloth-simulated ones carry a **cloth** tag.
  - **Display**: **Ped**, **Ped opacity**, **Grey ped**, **Garment textures** and **Wireframe**.
  - **Pose check**: pick a move under **Pose** and press **Play**. You always edit in the standing pose (**Standing (bind pose)**). Playing a move shows how the garment and its weights bend with the ped.
- **Right panel:** the tools for the current mode.
- **Status bar:** vertex, face and selection counts, and the clipping count in Fit mode.

### Modes

Press **1** to **9** to switch modes.

| Key | Mode | What it is for |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **Edit** | Select vertices and change the mesh itself. |
| 2 | **Sculpt** | Shape the garment with brushes, like clay. |
| 3 | **Fit** | Fit the garment against the ped's body. |
| 4 | **Weights** | Choose which bones move each part of the garment. Includes **Auto-rig**. |
| 5 | **Vertex colours** | Paint the lighting and wind channels the game reads. |
| 6 | **Materials** | Opens the [Material Editor](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/material-editor). |
| 7 | **Repairs** | Checks the rig against Rockstar's own items and fixes it. See [Rig Repairs](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/rig-repairs). |
| 8 | **Rigging** | The Cloth Rigging Tool. See [Rig Repairs](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/rig-repairs#cloth-rigging-tool). |
| 9 | **Fit to ped** | Makes a copy of this garment for a ped from the Peds library. |

## Edit mode

### Selecting

The garment opens with everything selected and framed.

- Click or drag a box on the garment. **Shift** adds to the selection, **Ctrl** removes from it, and a click beside the garment clears it. Dragging beside the garment turns the camera.
- **Click picks a piece** (the default) selects a whole connected piece. **Click picks a vertex** selects one vertex.
- **All (A, Ctrl+A)**, **None (Alt+A)**, **Invert** (Ctrl+I) and **Linked (Ctrl+L)**.
- **Add a region** adds a body area to the selection: **Torso**, **Left arm**, **Right arm**, **Hips**, **Left leg**, **Right leg**, **Head & neck**.
- **Box select anywhere (B)** lets a box start on the garment. **X-ray: select through** also selects what is behind.
- To select by bone, go to **Weights › Bones**, pick a bone and press **Select what follows it**.

### Transform

Choose **Move (W)**, **Rotate (E)** or **Scale (R)** (G and S also work, as in Blender). Then drag the gizmo:

- An arrow moves along one axis, a square along a plane, and a ring rotates. The centre moves in the view plane, and the outer circle scales evenly.
- **Ctrl** snaps while you drag. The defaults are 1 cm, 15° and 0.1×, and you can change them under **Ctrl snaps by**. **Snap while dragging** turns snapping on, and Ctrl then turns it off.
- **Esc** or a right-click cancels the drag. The gizmo stays the same size on screen and shows the value while you drag.
- **Axes**: **World** or **Local** (along the selection's normal). **Pivot**: **Selection centre**, **Middle of its box** or **Model origin**.
- **Proportional editing (O)** moves the area around the selection softly, with a **Radius** and a **Falloff** (Smooth, Sphere, Root, Linear, Sharp, Constant).
- You can also type values under **Move (cm)**, **Rotate (°)** and **Scale (%)**, then press **Apply to the selection** (or **Apply to the whole garment** when nothing is selected).

### Mesh and normals

| Tool | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| **Delete faces (X)** / **Delete vertices** | Removes the selection. Deleting the whole garment is refused. |
| **Fill holes (Alt+F)** | Closes the holes whose rim you selected. |
| **Split (hard edge)** | Splits the mesh along the selection's border. |
| **Merge by distance (M)** | Welds duplicate vertices closer than **Merge distance** (mm). It never closes a UV seam or a hard edge. Works on the selection, or on everything when nothing is selected. |
| **Recalculate (Shift+N)** / **Flip** | Rebuilds or flips the normals. **Hard edge above** sets the angle that stays sharp. |
| **Add a mesh** | Adds a .glb, .gltf or .obj, modelled on the ped in metres, to the active geometry. It takes its weights from the body. Tick **Y-up file (Blender's export default)** for Blender exports. |

Cloth-simulated geometry keeps its vertices. Edits that would add or remove vertices there are skipped.

## Sculpt mode

Drag on the garment with a brush:

| Brush | Key |
| --- | --- |
| **Grab** | G |
| **Inflate** | I |
| **Deflate** | Shift+I |
| **Smooth** | S |
| **Flatten** | T |

Shift-drag smooths, and Ctrl swaps inflate and deflate. **[** and **]** change the radius, and **X** toggles **Mirror left/right**. The brush settings are **Radius**, **Strength**, **Falloff**, **Mirror left/right (X)** and **Only the selection**.

## Fit mode

Fit works on the selection, or on the whole garment when nothing is selected. To fit one area only, select it in Edit first.

- **Against the body**: **Distance from the skin** sets how far out the garment should sit. Turn on the **Clipping heat-map** to see where it goes into the body. The status bar counts the vertices inside the body and the deepest one.
- **Push out of the body**: moves everything inside the skin, or closer than the distance above, out along the body. The area around it follows softly over **Soften over**. Turn on **Move the whole garment** to move it as one piece instead. Then press **Push out**.
- **Shrinkwrap to the body**: pulls the selection onto the skin at the distance above, like Blender's Shrinkwrap. You can set **Strength**, **Only within**, **Keep shape** and the direction (**Both ways**, **Only tighten**, **Only loosen**). Then press **Shrinkwrap**.
- **Loosen and tighten**: **Inflate by** a set amount, then press **Loosen**, **Tighten** or **Smooth**.

Use the **Pose check** in the sidebar to see the fit while the ped moves. The heat-map always measures the standing pose.

## Weights mode

### Auto-rig

**Auto-rig the garment** (or **Auto-rig the selection**) skins the garment to the freemode skeleton by itself. Parts that lie on the body take the skin's bones. Parts that hang away follow what they hang from. Each vertex gets up to four bones.

| Setting | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| **Trust the skin within** | How close to the body a vertex must be to copy the skin's weights. |
| **Fade out over** | The distance over which skin weights blend into the hanging parts. |
| **Smoothness** | How much the result is smoothed. |
| **Mirror left and right** | Makes the left and right sides match. |

Big garments are rigged in the background, so the window stays responsive. **Apply** is disabled until the rig finishes. One auto-rig is one undo step.

### Painting weights

1. Under **Bones**, search for a bone and pick it. A dot marks bones the garment already uses.
2. Choose **Add**, **Subtract**, **Draw** (with a **Weight** value) or **Blur**.
3. Drag on the garment.

Every vertex keeps four bones at most, and its weights always add up to one. Mirror paints the left/right twin bone on the other side. Cloth-simulated vertices are never touched.

**Weight tools**: **Transfer from the body** gives each vertex the weights of the nearest skin (like Blender's Data Transfer). **Left → right** and **Right → left** mirror the weights. **Normalise** makes them add up to one again.

## Vertex colours mode

GTA V garments carry two vertex-colour channels:

- **Colour 0 · lighting**: the ambient light the garment receives.
- **Colour 1 · wind**: drives wind and sweat.

Pick a channel and a colour (or a preset from Sollumz: **Lighting (255,128,0)**, **Emissive (255,186,255)**, **No wind (0,0,0,0)**, **White**). Set **Alpha**, then paint, or press **Fill the selection** / **Fill everything**. **Show the colours** draws the channel on the model.

## Fit to ped

**Fit to ped** (mode 9) makes a **new item** for a ped from your [Ped Library](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/ped-library). The original garment stays as it is, for freemode.

:::steps
### Pick the ped
Choose it under **Ped**. The panel tells you whether the ped uses the freemode skeleton or how many helper bones it lacks. Those bones follow a parent bone instead.

### Choose the shape work
**Push it out where it goes into the body** (with a **Distance from the skin**) and **Shrinkwrap it onto the body** are both optional.

### Create it
Press **Create the ped's version**. The copy is named "*item* (for *ped*)". It is rigged to the ped's skeleton and moved onto the ped's pose. It then opens in its own Model Studio, in **Fit** mode, on the ped's body. Any push-out or shrinkwrap you chose has already been run but not yet applied. Check it, then press **Apply**.
:::

Fit to ped refuses when:

- the Peds library is empty
- the garment is already rigged for another ped (fit the freemode original instead)
- there are unapplied edits
- the item is a prop
- the freemode skeleton has not been extracted
- the ped cannot wear clothes (for example an animal)

A fitted copy ships as fitted in the ped's own clothing build. See [Ped Library](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/ped-library).

## New garment from a 3D model

To turn a model from Blender, Marvelous Designer or anywhere else into a new item, go to **Import › New garment from a 3D model (.glb / .obj)…**.

:::steps
### 1 · The model
Press **Choose a model…**. The model should be made on the freemode ped, in metres. It is shown on the ped so you can check where it sits. If it stands beside the ped, lies on its back or is huge, change **Y-up file** or **Metres** / **Centimetres**.

### 2 · The item
Give it a **Name**. Pick a **Slot**: Top (jbib), Torso / arms (uppr), Undershirt (accs), Legs (lowr), Shoes (feet), Hands (hand), Mask (berd), Body armour (task), Decal (decl) or Hair (hair). Then choose **Male** or **Female**.

### 3 · Rig it
It is auto-rigged with the same settings as in Weights mode. Press **Rig again** after changing them.

### Create
Press **Create the item**. The model's base-colour texture becomes texture variant A. If it has none, the item is created without a texture and you can add one in **Textures**.
:::

Fine-tune the weights afterwards in the Model Studio. To give it proper normal and spec maps, see [Material Editor](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/material-editor).

## Applying, reverting and closing

- **Apply** writes a new copy of the model, rebuilds the lower LODs from it and keeps the original. **Original** puts the original back.
- Closing with unapplied edits asks you to choose **Keep editing**, **Discard and close** or **Apply and close**.
- **Esc** cancels a drag first. If nothing is being dragged, it closes the open dialog, and then the studio.
- A geometry can follow at most 255 bones. If an edit would need more, **Apply** refuses and names the lightest bones whose weights to remove.

## Keyboard shortcuts

| Keys | Action |
| --- | --- |
| 1–9 | Switch mode |
| F / double-click | Frame the selection (or the garment) |
| Home | Reset the camera |
| Mouse wheel | Zoom towards the cursor |
| Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Shift+Z or Ctrl+Y | Undo / redo |
| Esc | Cancel the drag, then close |
| A / Ctrl+A, Alt+A | Select all, none (Edit) |
| Ctrl+I, Ctrl+L | Invert, linked (Edit) |
| W (G), E, R (S) | Move, rotate, scale (Edit) |
| B | Box select anywhere (Edit) |
| O | Proportional editing (Edit) |
| X / Delete | Delete faces (Edit) |
| Alt+F | Fill holes (Edit) |
| M | Merge by distance (Edit) |
| Shift+N | Recalculate normals (Edit) |
| G, I, Shift+I, S, T | Grab, inflate, deflate, smooth, flatten (Sculpt) |
| X | Mirror left/right (Sculpt, Fit, Weights, Vertex colours) |
| [ / ] | Brush radius |
| B | Before / after (Rigging) |

## Related pages

- [Rig Repairs](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/rig-repairs): Repairs mode, Rig for high heels and the Cloth Rigging Tool.
- [Material Editor](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/material-editor): shaders, textures and normal and spec maps.
- [Mesh Optimizer](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/mesh-optimizer): cleanup, weld, decimation and LODs.
- [Cloth simulation](/cloth-tool/about-the-tool/cloth-simulation): what the cloth tag means.