Thursday, 24 March 2011

Hair experimentation

I've been experimenting with several different methods of hair for my characters. Ideally, i would like to use an actual hair tool for their hair, as this would yield the best results. It also has a massive impact on my render times, which had put me off using it. 


Initially i tried making the hair out of a poly, and was going to paint on the hair, which gave a sort of cartoony stylised look. I only painted the two side bits before i decided that i didn't really like the result. 


Instead, i have gone back to the hair tool, beginning with my professor, as his hair is the most complex. I drew splines along the surface of the hair mesh, then used this cage to create the hair on, giving me a lot of control over the hair's pathing. You can see the process in the image below:



 Using this tool adds a minute or two to my render time, but i think the results are well worth it.



Unfortunately, this only gives a sort of shell of hair - the hair originates at the start of the splines, and gives the illusion of a head of hair, it does not come out of his whole head. This means that in some places you can see his scalp through his hair, and is not great for his sideburns or eyebrows. As such, i am planning on using a different hair creation method to cover these gaps, so come back soon!




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