Trying to create a beard in 3Ds Max

Jarnold

Hi guys, first time poster here so sorry if I break any rules. I think I'm posting in the right place for this.

So I'm trying to create a pirate for University using only 3Ds max, Maya and Mudbox.



I'm trying to go about creating a bit of hair, the eyebrows and beard. All the brilliant models I've seen are using fibermesh in Zbrush, which I'm not allowed to use.

And then there's this monstrosity http://www.cgarena.com/freestuff/tutorials/max/beard/hair.html
that seems to be the most popular 3Ds max beard tutorial.

The type of beard I'm going for is something like this in Sergey Samuilovs work.



Does anyone know of any good guides? The only ways I can think of are painting it on, which would look bad, hair and fur which is just god dam abhorrent to use or planes with opacity.

Thank you for reading and again, sorry if I've broken any rules!

MethodJ

Check out the wiki for hair. There are some pics of the Gears of Wars models at the top, they use transparent textures combined with a tons of planes arrayed around the face to create beards.

SanderDL

You can get a long way just having the beard in the face texture. Then you can use some planes to get a fuller look.

fatihG_

Kinda weak you are not allowed to use other tools.

Here's a workflow I would use when create hair.

Make a hair texture with alpha, making sure there are a few different hair clumps for variety.
Apply the "collage of hair" texture to a plane.
Cut the plan up so you can isolate the individual clumps.
Depending on complexity/budget, you could bend the isolated geo for a nicer shape.
Duplicate the pieces and snap it onto the face of the character.