It's a Hairy situation

[fae_alba]

As a break to clear my head before finishing up some outstanding projects, I decided to experiment with hair on Pappa Bear. I'm not entirely sold on the benefits of the hair material, nor whether or not I will finally use it on this character. But, that being said, I wanted to give it a fighting chance.

 

without hair

 

with hair

 

one issue is trying to get the hair from penetrating his shirt. I've removed as much of the mesh as possible, but there still is work to be done. I'm sure I could simply not include the hair material to groups where the shirt is if necessary. The other is the hair is just not convincing as a bears' fur. I've seen others create fur that looks nearly spot on, but so far the results elude me.

[Shelton]

Correct me if I am wrong. Look at the dynamic settings of hair.

[fae_alba]

Correct me if I am wrong. Look at the dynamic settings of hair.

 

 

I have them turned on...

 

[johnl3d]

You can try "old shag" hair by holding shift key down when selecting hair in material

 

 

did it quickly here

 

 

 

[robcat2075]

The other is the hair is just not convincing as a bears' fur. I've seen others create fur that looks nearly spot on, but so far the results elude me.

 

Real bear fur isn't just sticking straight out from the skin, it bends over to flow more parallel to the surface. Morcos' anteater on the splash screen is an example of that.

 

You'll need either groom it or use a direction map.

 

I'm not sure you need hair for a cartoon bear, it will make render times quite extensive.

 

But if you want more real hair, experiment on just a square patch first and try different things.

[Rodney]

If the hair doesn't add something specific to the final product it may be best to use something else.

 

Specifically what I'm talking about here is that if you look at the thumbnails of both images in the first post there isn't much difference.

Would there be much difference if the bear were animated? I don't think so.

 

It may be worth the effort to add hair for close up/hero shots but in this case an alternative might work just as well.

My first thought would be to investigate a material such as that used on Keekat.

There also use to be a Velvet (or Felt?) material that creates a nice furry look. One version of Keekat had that as well.

And... with Keekat the sense of hair (at all resolutions) is further enhanced by the judicious use of geometry (chest hair, facial hair, etc.).

 

Of course since you are experimenting... experiment on!

Hair can be used for many things that will be useful.

[pixelplucker]

You can try "old shag" hair by holding shift key down when selecting hair in material

 

 

did it quickly here

 

 

 

 

Ahh the old shift key trick eh? Was wondering where the shag went, thought it was removed in the new versions.

Shouldn't there be an option in the menu when choosing particle type?

 

Thanks for the tip!

[Shelton]

Wanted to throw this in on hair as well. I really like the hair particle system. There are times when I get frustrated with it and with the lack of knowledge of how to correct issues. Here is food for thought from Animation Mentor

 

Steve

[Rodney]

Shouldn't there be an option in the menu when choosing particle type?

 

If you save a few basic shag materials in the Libary you don't have to mess with the Shift/Creation of Shag Hair.

I think all of the default 'Hair' materials in the library are still Shag materials.

[fae_alba]

Wanted to throw this in on hair as well. I really like the hair particle system. There are times when I get frustrated with it and with the lack of knowledge of how to correct issues. Here is food for thought from Animation Mentor

 

Steve

 

It would be nice to have an image like this for A:M settings. Would make so much easier to navigate the myriad amount of parameters to achieve the effect desired. Having a reference like that would be a huge help. It sort of was the Sully fur that I had had in mind when I started in with fur for Papa Bear. Don't think any of us have the kind of muscle that Pixar has to actually render it though. Although, wouldn't be a cool feather(fur/material) in A:M's hat to create the same fur effect with a substantial savings in render in time. I'd blog about that 'till the cows came home!

[Rodney]

We made an initial attempt to collect Hair materials to put in the A:M Libary but it didn't go anywhere.

Perhaps particle hair was too new and everyone too shy to post their efforts.

(The forum didn't accept .mat files back then as uploads either... and it does now)

 

If there is interest we have a dedicated forum for Materials (The Materials Laboratory) so we could shake off the dust and start posting our hair materials there.

It goes without saying of course that there are quite a few gems to be found searching through The Materials Lab Hair section.