How to Assign a Cloth Pinning Vertex Group in Blender

Pinning parts of a cloth simulation in Blender allows specific areas of your mesh to stay fixed in space or attached to an object while the rest of the fabric reacts dynamically to physics. This guide provides a straightforward, step-by-step process for creating a vertex group, assigning vertices with appropriate weights, and setting it as a pin group in your cloth simulation settings.

Step 1: Create a Vertex Group

  1. Select your cloth object in the 3D Viewport.
  2. In the Properties panel on the right, navigate to the Object Data Properties tab (represented by a green triangle icon with three vertices).
  3. Expand the Vertex Groups section and click the + (plus) button to create a new group.
  4. Double-click the newly created group to rename it (e.g., "Pin_Group") for easy identification.

Step 2: Assign Vertices to the Group

  1. Switch your object from Object Mode to Edit Mode by pressing Tab.
  2. Select the vertices that you want to remain pinned or fixed in place. You can use standard selection tools like Box Select (B) or Circle Select (C).
  3. Back in the Vertex Groups panel under Object Data Properties, ensure your created group is highlighted.
  4. Set the Weight slider (a value of 1.000 fully pins the vertices, while values between 0.0 and 1.0 allow partial flexibility).
  5. Click the Assign button located directly beneath the vertex groups list.
  6. Press Tab to return to Object Mode.

(Optional Alternative: You can switch to Weight Paint Mode to visually paint the influence of the pin group across your mesh.)

  1. Select your object and go to the Physics Properties tab (represented by a bouncing ball icon).
  2. If you haven't already, click Cloth to add a cloth modifier to the object.
  3. Scroll down in the Cloth settings and expand the Shape panel.
  4. Locate the Pin Group field.
  5. Click the empty field and select the vertex group you created in Step 1 from the drop-down list.

Step 4: Test the Simulation

Press the Spacebar to play the animation timeline. The unassigned areas of the mesh will drape and simulate as cloth, while the vertices assigned to the vertex group will remain anchored according to their assigned weight.