Hair Cards in Modern Games

afxwinter

Hello, I've been spending the last couple months creating my first realistic game character.  What's been a huge stumbling block is creating hair cards. 

I've got some specific concerns about them.  I also want to ensure they look great in the Marmoset Viewer once they're done so I can use it as a portfolio piece.

Is it generally acceptable to have them intersect, or is it ideal to have them not touching each other at all?  

Should I aim for a specific number of thicker pieces for the bottom layer to make up the volume and then a specific number of "hero pieces" which will make the hair look more natural and broken up?  How many different pieces of hair on my UV map should I shoot for?

Thanks so much!

Alex_J

80lvl has several really good breakdowns that cover this topic and should answer most these questions. https://80.lv/?q=hair+

Intersecting : not a problem whatsoever unless the eye can see it and it looks bad. 

volume pieces : yep. Check out the breakdowns on 80lvl to get an idea what others have done. 

how many pieces? : only as many as you need!

slosh

I would say most AAA games are ok with intersecting planes but you want less strands on those cards so the intersecting isnt apparent.  going thick to thin as you go outward is a good call.  You want some sort of cap under ur cards...this can be separate piece of geo or painted straight onto the head.  For me, I like to have several layers...the cap, base strands that are mostly opaque, filler strands that have more alpha but aren't just a few strands, thin strand cards which will just have less strands and can be intersected(these make up the bulk), and flyaways to break up the surface and silhouette.

afxwinter

Thanks BIGTIME and Slosh.  I really appreciate the replies!  Still working away at it.