That is, Xgen core and the newer Xgen Interactive. Then composite hair rendering as stated before.When talking about Xgen, you have do differentiate between the old and new. I import the Zbrush modelled mesh and link it and the ‘skinwrap’ mesh by way of a ‘meshdeformer’(this allows me to transfer the volume of the zbrush mesh to the hair, while keeping the roots grounded.) In the meantime I have taken a copy of the mesh I extracted and exported it to zbrush, I model the hair volume, remembering not to change the subdivision level.īack in 3dsmax I ‘skinwrap’ the planted hair to the undiformed/un-modelled mesh(this means that the changes I make to the mesh are tranferred to the hair.) The hair is applied and directionaly-styled then flattened to take on the shape of the skull. Above all the creation of accurate hair volume is very difficult.īefore planting the hair I copy and a extract an area of mesh from the head, corresponding to the area upon which the hair is to be planted.

This method arose from the realisation that modelling hair using the standard stransform,scale,rotate - tweak method is a very tedious and unrewarding task.

There is also another method which I tried that combines my suggestions, using Ornatrix for 3D Studio Max(Ornatrix allows for the application of almost any combination of Max deformers onto the hair.) Ofcourse you can try to paint the hair yourself using a previously constructed hair form/volume to guide your diffuse,specular and shadowing components. I resolved to matching model orientation (type in the rotation value in the zbrsh deformers pallet for accuracy and reference), Camera FOV and lighting in maya for final hair rendering then compositing the results in photoshop.(I had stand-in geomtry to account for object shadowing and occlusion.) I also found that, lighting and shadowing the hair, it is difficulty to attain predictable and pleasing results. This is because you don’t have a proper hair shader in zbrush. Yes I’ve done this using Shave and Haircut for Maya, the main problem is getting a pleasing render output.

Ornatrix tips