I've been coming back here for several months to see if anyone started a thread on VWD, or if there was any interest here in general. Glad to see you start one, Pen.
As a beta tester for the software, I wasn't trying to create pretty pictures, but test (and try to break - or find failure thresholds) all facets of VWD. I learned thoroughly the ins and outs of the parameter settings, and how they work with cloth meshes.
I see a lot of misinformation floating around by well intentioned individuals (not implying this thread), but they either just started with the software, or they really don't understand how it all works. That's not to say, there is also a lot of good, correct, and useful information others are putting out to help fellow users as well. Unfortunately, the needed details of all settings interactions has been slow coming, so I decided to create a primer series that is both written and in video, but have stopped in lieu of the forthcoming new documentation that is supposed to be out soon. I am not privy to this, so I do not know if everything has been covered, or what gaps need to be filled in. After it's release, I will revisit if there is a need for more information needed by users.
The reason settings are such a moving target is because many factors come in to play per mesh object; Notably size, density, and structure all contribute to how, or why parameter settings differ object to object.
And, there is a Preset function in VWD. In fact, it is an auto-created system that creates presets which are named R.I.P. files. The drawback is they are per object only with included vertex data that makes them useless for anything other than the mesh you were using that created them. They are created so you don't have to remember the settings you used previously on a specific garment when you want the exact same behavior, but have changed the settings in VWD (including setting VWD settings back to default). However, they are hand-editable files that you can tailor to your needs. Example would be, I created one for rigid buttons that stripped out all unnecessary data. The issue, as of current use, is one can not use per material zone (as in Marvelous Designer - per cloth pattern), so it is a very limiting preset function for now.
A later beta version sent to me revisits a way to make presets more functional for users, but is not quite there yet, nor is it yet along the lines of per material usage. Hopefully, one day we will see a version that has the ability to create presets that are mesh independent, and can be loaded in multiple times per material zones (which equals cloth patterns).
