Can anyone give me some advice on how to set up some long straight hair that is basically limp but parted in the middle. The limp part I can get but then the hair falls through the top of the scalp. Maybe my mesh isn't dense enough? I have looked at what tutorials I could find but I only get the basics I guess. As I try to play with things to figure out more I get crash after crash. I don't think that is AM's fault though. I just don't get what I am messing with and probably just flummox the ap. If anyone has a model with hair similar to what I describe (think hippy or death metal hair) could you maybe just show your mesh and hair settings so I have a decent idea of where to start?

You might post a sample of the hair you have on just a simple sphere. Put it in a PRJ. Embed everything.

Then someone might be able to look at it and see what the missing element is.

Ok, I got sort of close to what I am trying to do. Right now I am just concerned with how the hair falls over the guys shoulders and parts around his face. I will worry about the appearance of the hair after that. I only did one side of his head and didn't really groom the back at all. I didn't set any pre-roll because I wanted to see what was happening. The main issue I have with it now is how thin it is at the part and it seems to be sinking through the scalp at the top. Maybe I need to make a more dense hair material for just the center? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have more luck with setting "use Gravity" =OFF (forces =ON) I would first groom the hair in the style you want, rather than letting it fall. Groom your hair with Dynamic options OFF. If you need shorter/denser hair in particular places then its good to have a second material (on a different group so you can isolate it for grooming). Are you sure you need 8 cp's for grooming? Not sure if it is easier, or better with higher # of cps - I usually don't go higher than 3 (but I do tooney stuff)

I also find that for less twitchy dynamic behavior later, and easier grooming, first make postion variation =0, direction variation = 0, face camera = 0. It has been reported that hair on 3 or 5 pt patches gives problems.

I also find it sometimes better to give hair a higher drag (20%?) for less lively hair, when dynamic options are ON. Sometimes I change angle limit to less than 180 - sometimes that makes problems with the dynamic settings - you'll have to see what works for you

I do not have experience with collision and so can not say what are appropriate radius, bounce and friction values - I would try it first without collision ON to see how the hair reacts, then play with collision and perhaps adding some invisible "barriers"

Long hair will be a challenge.

Hairlines are always a problem. It is possible to use a map to make the hair denser in certain places.

Easier solutions may be to paint the scalp darker at the hairline or even to paint some thin,imitation hairs on the decal.

I recently posted some info on hair that may help:
http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showt...184&hl=hair

Of the top of my head , I would say you need to enable collision-detection...have more control points...lower your angle limit so the hair 'emits' straight outward AND THEN begins it's gravitational descent.

Thanks for taking a look. I have stopped making AM crash all the time so now I can experiment with less frustration. I wasn't sure what areas I should even apply the hair to at first so I was deleting and re-adding the hair in different ways. That was what seems to have been throwing errors.


I think I need to let it fall into place or else the collisions won't work properly. I have loosely groomed it into place but I think I have to keep it at least the collision radius away from stuff? I am not sure but it seems like more cp's makes the dynamics better. I think it sort of adds a bone for each cp? Anyway, I was grooming with fewer cp's then turning it up to simulate.

I will try that and see if it helps. I don't have any weird patches in this experimental guy but the model I originally tried on had a hook in the scalp at the hair line and it made a guide that I could not manipulate.

Since I solved the crashing I have played with the drag and friction. It is hard to tell what is helping and what isn't though. I got a lot closer to the parted look I am after. I made a gradient map for density with the edge at the center white and fading pretty quickly to near black. Then I bumped the density up to 5. Now I just need to figure out how to make the hair not pass through the arms mostly. Anyone have any advice here? Updated project attached.

Oh wow. You must have posted while I was typing Matt. I just took a quick glance at your pdf and it looks like I need to make some more dense geometry. I am going to read your tutorial now but it looks like it may be exactly the info I need. Thanks!

Great! It's good to see someone taking the exact same steps I have taken, and be able to help them. I hope my tut helps.

Well, I am getting close to what I am looking for. I put a little transparent wall around the face to keep the hair from falling over it. Matt, your tutorial inspired that. I also tried a force but it seemed to make it too fluttery. I also tried increasing the mesh density for collision areas but in the end I do not think it will be necessary. I still need to play with it more but it seemed like a lower collision radius makes the hair jumpier. I have my collision radius set to 2cm. This seemed to make the hair flow better and required less density. So, here is a picture of the little wall or dam as Matt called them, and a movie of the results. I will be playing with it some more to try reduce the spaghetti look and will post the project if anyone is interested.

I think it is possible to make something like Violet's hair in The Incredibles. That isn't really what I am trying to accomplish but I will upload my material and a movie of it. I am also uploading a hair material that is not as shiny and kinkier and a movie of it. Hopefully someone will find these useful. If for nothing other than a starting point so you don't have to spend days toying with things like I have.