Material to simulate hair curls?

[Tom]

Hello -

 

I know there is a "particle system /hair" that can simulate curls however for a variety of reasons I am attempting to create curly hair using a different method.

If you look at the attached image you will see a "simple straight object" and then you will see a "twisted version" of that straight object.

 

If I was just going to create hair using the straight model, I could easily assign a color to the object and then use a transparency map to simulate strands.

I can't really apply a transparency map to the twisted version so I figure I will need to assign a Material to the twisted object.

 

The only problem is my skills are weak at creating a material which will simulate strands while creating a transparency .

 

Does anyone have suggestions regarding creating a material which can be applied to the twisted version of the object that will create strands and spaces between the strands to simulate hair?

 

Attached is the strand object?

 

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

Tom

HairStrand.mdl

[mtpeak2]

I would suggest decaling the straight version before twisting it. Then you can copy and paste the twisted version a needed.

[robcat2075]

Like Mark said, or ... a patch image will apply itself evenly to each patch, twisted or not.

 

select patches>>apply image

 

 

a typical decal for such things is a noise pattern very blurred in one direction and adjustind in a paint program so it tiles in the blur direction

[John Bigboote]

Looks like the curly hair I made for this character:

I have no idea how to get that look with cheats... if you are interested in using A:M's hair feature like I did to get dynamic curly hair... let me know.

[Tom]

These are all good suggestions!

 

I liked John's Dynamic Hair but I wanted to be able to more closely control the motion of the hair by having the hair be an actual object.

 

I think applying a transparency map which tiles (or ties into into itself) will work best. I 'm not terribly happy with this first try but thought I would post it anyway.

 

 

Thanks to everyone for the feedback.

 

Tom

[Tom]

To try and explore every possibility with hair I went back to experiment with AM's particle system for hair.

 

I discovered that with most of my attempts the hair looked like yarn. I then noticed the render of the nice fur on the Hash orangutang (it was on the CD) and also

this image from the the new Shrek movie.

 

How are these hairs able to achieve the tapered, softer look?

 

Is it a question of shaders or...?

 

Thanks for any info.

 

Tom

[HomeSlice]

Here is a particle hair tutorial.

http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=29738

 

It has been awhile since I wrote it, but I think I covered how to taper the hair.

 

Another thing you may want to search for is the MUHAIR shader. It is a render shader you can apply to a model group which has a hair material on it to create a different appearance for the hair. Unfortunately, it has a ton of settings and I don't understand them all ... and I don't think anyone has written a tutorial on what all the settings do.

[Tom]

Here is a particle hair tutorial.

http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=29738

 

It has been awhile since I wrote it, but I think I covered how to taper the hair.

 

Another thing you may want to search for is the MUHAIR shader. It is a render shader you can apply to a model group which has a hair material on it to create a different appearance for the hair. Unfortunately, it has a ton of settings and I don't understand them all ... and I don't think anyone has written a tutorial on what all the settings do.

 

 

Thank you!!

 

I will definitely check out the tutorial!

 

Best,

 

Tom

[Tom]

Here is a particle hair tutorial.

http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=29738

 

It has been awhile since I wrote it, but I think I covered how to taper the hair.

 

Another thing you may want to search for is the MUHAIR shader. It is a render shader you can apply to a model group which has a hair material on it to create a different appearance for the hair. Unfortunately, it has a ton of settings and I don't understand them all ... and I don't think anyone has written a tutorial on what all the settings do.

 

 

That was a great tutorial which explained a lot!!

 

Thank you!!

 

Tom

[HomeSlice]

You're welcome

[Tom]

Looks like the curly hair I made for this character:

I have no idea how to get that look with cheats... if you are interested in using A:M's hair feature like I did to get dynamic curly hair... let me know.

 

I studied Homeslice's tutorial and feel more comfortable with the AM particle hair. If your generous offer to share the method for creating the curly hair in the YouTube clip is still available, I would be interested in learning how to do that.

 

Thanks for any help!

 

Tom