How many hairs on a moustache?

[Kelley]

I dug out my Sgt. Tubbs character [the guy in my avatar pic.] and am trying to work with hair. After massaging it about [ in V.11, about six months agao] I discovered that even if I hid everything except the moustache, the hair applied itself to the whole model. Tonight, I copied the moustache into a new .mdl and applied the hair to it, thinking to bring Tubbs and it together in the choreography.

 

The b/w pics are from the modeling window. The hairs are overly fine and I think I could do with fewer if I made them thicker. It's the choreography that has me boggled. It doesn't seem to have anything to do with what I see in the model window.

 

I tried to do a screen render [shaded quality] and it brought V.13 to its knees. A:M quit after nearly two hours [ approx. 80+% done]...so I don't know if the final would have approximated what I did on the model.

 

A few questions then: [1] can hair be applied to just a portion of the mesh? [2] I note in V.13 that individual guide hairs are numbered and can be manipulated. But how to tell which is which? When I move a guide hair, its name doesn't highlight in the PWS, or vice versa. [3] If my render had gone to completion, would I have had a moustache as in the model window, or the enormous furball that looks about to happen? Thanks.

[KenH]

Sure you can. Just drop the hair material into your mustache group in the PWS. Then only the mustache will be hairy. Use the model window for all hair changes. To get rid of the furball in the chor, press the spacebar......if you didn't then the render will try to render what's there....taking ages.

 

In hair material properties, reduce the density and increase the base thickness of the hairs to cut down render times.

[Kelley]

To get rid of the furball in the chor, press the spacebar......if you didn't then the render will try to render what's there....taking ages.

 

Once again, Ken...thank-you very much. I tried a second, 'just-for-the-helluva-it' render last night. 'Went to bed and just let it chug along. Somewhere in the middle of the night, A:M went belly-up again. I'll back up and take another shot at it from the beginning.

 

As a final note...is it possible to select a Guide Hair in the PWS and see it selected?

[KenH]

I don't think so. Why do you need to when you can visually see it in the model window......and use several tools to groom it. In fact I don't know why they're in the PWS at all.

[Paul Forwood]

I understand what you are saying, Robert, and it would be useful to have hairguides that are highlighted when you select them. It is difficult to distinguish one guide from another when you are jumping between views so you can't be sure that the guide that you were manipulating in the side view is the same one that you are about to move in the front view. Unfortunately they don't highlight when selected so I find it best to turn the density way down which makes viewing the guides less of a strain. Turn the density % up again, to what you require, after you have finished most of the grooming. It makes grooming much faster too.

[Kelley]

Unfortunately they don't highlight when selected so I find it best to turn the density way down which makes viewing the guides less of a strain.

 

There it is. The other problem I was having is that the hairs radiate in all directions. It would be worlds easier if they followed the normals to begin with. I'd shape, and shape again, then look at it from the top and find that I was moving Guide Hairs on the reverse side.

 

Eventually I twigged to the 'Reduce Density' trick. I pulled it down to 11% so I could see the mid-point CP on the GH. 'Made it possible to turn up the tips of the moustache. Also made him look a bit like Joe Stalin, but wot th' hell, he's carrying a PPSh anyway.

 

Thanks all.

[KenH]

Not bad at all. Pehaps you could make the mustache group color abit darker than the hair color. It would add more contrast to it.

[Paul Forwood]

The other problem I was having is that the hairs radiate in all directions

 

Yes hair always seems to start out pointing away from the centre of mass of the hair group. If you ever find a hair guide that will not do as it is told just look for the 5 point patch that is emmiting it and replace it with a 4 point patch, or remove the hair from that patch.

 

Nice 'tache!

[Kelley]

The other problem I was having is that the hairs radiate in all directions

 

Yes hair always seems to start out pointing away from the centre of mass of the hair group. If you ever find a hair guide that will not do as it is told just look for the 5 point patch that is emmiting it and replace it with a 4 point patch, or remove the hair from that patch.

 

Nice 'tache!

 

Good advice, all. Thanks again.

[Kelley]

Back to the well one more time.

 

I've been trying to play with the Hair function some more. But, the Grooming tools are usually missing, or greyed out. I go to Tools>Customize, and check Grooming. I can see them appear in the Tool Bar along with Model, Bones, Muscle, Skeletal, etc., and the [ 5, or so] individual manipulator tools appear in their own tool bar, but when I click 'OK' to close the Customize window, they disappear. And the icon in the Model, Bones, etc. goes grey. How do I hang on to the tools?

 

Also, in the Properties [when any of the Material>Hair Systems>Hair Emitter are selected] some times I see 'Density' available [right under Cap Ends] and sometimes I don't. Is there something special that needs be done to bring this control up?

 

Thanks.

[KenH]

You have to be in particle mode (Shift+8) and grooming mode (seen green areas) to see the grooming tools to the right of the screen. Also, you have to select the hair attribute in the PWS to see the Density option like that.....the one above it gives other options too.

[Kelley]

You have to be in particle mode (Shift+8) and grooming mode (seen green areas) to see the grooming tools to the right of the screen. Also, you have to select the hair attribute in the PWS to see the Density option like that.....the one above it gives other options too.

 

Ken: Poking around in some of the manuals, I see that Shift+8 is the keyboard's way of telling A:M to set Draw Particle/Hair...ON. And I had that already turned on in Tools>Options, and Render to File Settings>Options. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. When I opened the Hair Test this morning, everything was there.

 

I also had found the controls in the PWS. Again, sometimes Density was there, sometimes not. I even re-opened Sgt.Tubs and checked the settings for his moustache in which I used Density to good effect. It wasn't there. I suspect if I opened it right now, it would be.

 

Here's another question then: I tossed the first model and made a new one. Made a new Material and dropped it onto the model. All the hairs [except two] want to point toward the inside, contrary to expectations. And only those two outward Guide Hairs appear in the PWS. Can the others be flipped outward?

[Chrury Sanson]

Check your normals. I just did a 2 minute test and the hairs follow the normal for each patch.

(left normal up, right normal down. 1 group, 1 material)

 

Take with a grain of salt. I'm still relatively new to this.

[KenH]

SHIFT +8 is a toggle ON and OFF for hair. I believe Chrury is right. Select the backward hair patches and press F to flip them.

[Kelley]

SHIFT +8 is a toggle ON and OFF for hair. I believe Chrury is right. Select the backward hair patches and press F to flip them.

 

WOW! That shook it loose!

 

Also, opened up Sgt.Tubs to check the moustache settings. 'Density' is still not showing under 'Cap Ends'.

[KenH]

Strange. What version of AM is it? Also, maybe you have an image defining the density? What happens when you start a new hair material....is it there then?

[Kelley]

Strange. What version of AM is it? Also, maybe you have an image defining the density? What happens when you start a new hair material....is it there then?

 

Sgt.Tubs was built in V.11, but worked on and saved in V.13.

 

On the test example, it's V.13 from the start. There's no image, and it's a brand-new hair material. Until 'Density' turns up again, there's no way to go forward. I can adjust Length, and Thickness, but the hair that's there is all I can get.

[KenH]

Maybe it's in the parent hair material.....the one under the main materials folder. If you adjust it there, it will filter through to the child hair in the group of the model.

[Kelley]

Maybe it's in the parent hair material.....the one under the main materials folder. If you adjust it there, it will filter through to the child hair in the group of the model.

 

 

I've been away for a bit. Had a near lightning strike near the house and it fried my tower, both monitors and the cable modem. [no surge protector] That's all changed. Picking up on this thread this morning, I find that Ken's got it. To change Density, you go to the parent setting under Materials. All else seems to be modifiable on the model itself.