Using Yeti (Maya Plugin) for hair creation and render in Marmoset Toolbag?

PureCoal

I enjoy using Yeti over Xgen as a newbie in 3D grooming, but I don't know if hair created in Yeti can be imported into Marmoset like how Xgen hair can be converted to polygons. Or at the very least, can we use Yeti to make hair cards? 

thomasp

Ok, so I don't use Maya nor Yeti but if there's no obvious way to convert to polygons then surely you'll be able to instead convert the output from Yeti into curves/splines and to geometry from there?

In my experience: forget about any conversion from hair system to hair cards - it'll get orientation of cards wrong most of the time and the density of cards as well as their placement will be all over the place. Hair systems do things quite differently in this area compared to what you'd want for hair cards to be UV mapped with elements from some hair texture. Will look like a mess and be an exercise in frustration when trying to clean up.

PureCoal

I have thought about converting Yeti into curves/splines and geometry as you said. Yeti can convert to Maya Curve, but sadly, I don't think it remains the same initial state of the hair when later converting from curves to geometry.  Meanwhile, Xgen can be converted to Polygons. 

Thank you for your input on hair cards. I think for my project, I will learn how to build hair cards from scratch instead of depending on the hair system. 

thomasp

PureCoal said:

I have thought about converting Yeti into curves/splines and geometry as you said. Yeti can convert to Maya Curve, but sadly, I don't think it remains the same initial state of the hair when later converting from curves to geometry.

That sounds like a Maya settings issue: there must be some options for the resolution and profile / thickness of a curve inside Maya that dictate what the output to geometry looks like. If you set these values right - assuming you have access to them - then it should replicate the exact curvature/volume of the curve as it appears on your screen.

Try with a single strand of hair and compare the results between curve and geometry and make note of the most suitable settings. Also set your output resolution/number of CVs as low as possible for the conversion and make up for it with a polygon subdivision later on to control how heavy a mesh is being created.

(in before somebody recommends a script with a ton of options and sliders to do all this - or hiring a TD )