Thanks Marie! I do this to approximate the intended volume and check for intersections. These are simply curves with a round profile assigned, to be replaced with different types of profiles down the line.
Just a quick (successful) geometry optimization test to see if it can realistically fit within my poly limit. Still looking pretty rough overall though - after about 2.5 days worth of work.
@thomasp Awesome, thanks for clarifying! Any chance we could get a look at your hair textures? Curious to see how you author them, and what maps you're using.
I've started a new one - this is in fact a remake of the oldest one - the job that got me into the whole hair topic way back in the day around the time when the PS3 was about to come out. Sadly that particular game ended up cancelled. The hero's hairstyle always stuck with me though - time to get it out of my system at last. The reference looks different in every shot because its being blown around and finger-combed a lot (and I had to rip my reference off a freaking DVD since there was barely any footage on the web).
I'm going for a best of, not an exact copy from one shot:
I've continued to style a bit and finally have converted my model from curves to geometry and optimized all the low-hanging fruit away. As a result it's now edgy in certain places, sitting at 38k prior to any proper manual optimization (my threshold for these hair meshes is 45k for the more complex ones like this one, so plenty of flesh to re-add).
Marmoset output looks like this currently -
Next step is to import this into an engine (UE5 in this case) and be devastated at how much tweaking is still required to the main forms. Then I'll be adding hairline and finer details like flyoffs.
Great progress, thomas! I have Andor on my mind, I initally saw Cassian's hairdo in the Tom Cruise Hair remaster. Must be nostalgic revisiting your first gig's work!
What tool are rocking for Spline Grooming & Texture Authoring? I unfortunately haven't touched 3d (thanks to health problems) in awhile, last I used was HairTool by Bartosz Styperek
Hey man, thanks and sorry to hear about your health problems. Hope you are at least recovering now.
Definitely nostalgic, also the movie I used for reference is really quite bad :D certainly did not remember it like that.
I'm still using Hairtool, yes. Mainly though as a toolbox for curve editing functions that Blender lacks out of the box. I don't groom to convert to haircards, it's just curve/spline modelling. And it's all done with the old curve system, not the new haircurves. I'm stuck with Blender 3.3 for now due to addon compatibility (other than Hairtool) therefore missing out on the newer developments in this area. Or the alpha testing, depending on the POV.
At any rate I got close to the finish line but then had some trouble making the spikes light up well with a backlight - have to do another pass on him when there's some time in the schedule.
In the meantime I did a test using Hairtool's short-hair function to see if it could be useful for making beards and fades or even for generating styling guides for short particle grooms. Not a fan of those groom styling brushes in any software I tried so far so I'd very much prefer a proper modelling approach instead where you don't all the time accidentially brush a part you definitely didn't want to change.
This came out of it - pretty much done I think:
As always - the shortest ones are the hardest to actually make with cards.
In the midst of porting my workflow to Blender 2.8 with a test asset. I very much like that finally there's no need anymore to use another app to get a quick half-decent preview.
Wait, but does blender allow using some simple lines and convert them to hair cards??? what?
Wait, but does blender allow using some simple lines and convert them to hair cards??? what?
This post totally slipped under my radar. Apologies.
Anyway these are the control curves with profiles assigned, so in a way, yes you can use lines (poly curves) and convert them to haircards.
Edge loops can be converted to Blender-native poly curves and back without data loss. So you can poly model shapes with edge loops as output in mind and turn those into haircards. Or even convert curves back into poly edges to edit with poly modelling tools/modifiers. Also useful as guides for a particle groom - then take the output from that and turn it into poly curves or edges again. I use that a lot in my work.
So, I partnered up with the nice folks at 3dscanstore a while ago and they asked for realtime hairstyles. They also needed them to match up with their very detailed scans. So all my efforts in managing complex shapes are being tested here. To the limits - and then some...
Examples (all images rendered by 3dscanstore.com in Toolbag 4):
Replies
Current work in progress - this is how the sauce is made. Hooray for Blender's curves. One day of work so far.
Great work Thomas! I'm always excited to see that you posted something new :)!
Cheers Florian!
I expect I'll be posting quite a few more of these.
Wasn't expecting for you to use tubes but it looking great!
Thanks Marie! I do this to approximate the intended volume and check for intersections. These are simply curves with a round profile assigned, to be replaced with different types of profiles down the line.
Just a quick (successful) geometry optimization test to see if it can realistically fit within my poly limit. Still looking pretty rough overall though - after about 2.5 days worth of work.
Oh interesting, thank you for getting back to me, doesn't look rough to me at all!
very smart hair work, incredible stuff.
Wow, the hairstyles look great to be honest! They look extremely realistic and flawless. I was looking at real hair I thought:) Nice work.
Man, this stuff is inspirational. Sorry if mentioned elswhere in the thread, what renderer are you using for these recent shots?
Also, when can we expect registration for you master class to open up?
Thanks guys, much appreciated!
@Brandon.LaFrance these screens are from Toolbag version 3 (can't seem to replicate the exact look with 4 though due to SSS not working the same way).
I'm currently tweaking these for use in UE 5 though.
@thomasp Awesome, thanks for clarifying! Any chance we could get a look at your hair textures? Curious to see how you author them, and what maps you're using.
I've started a new one - this is in fact a remake of the oldest one - the job that got me into the whole hair topic way back in the day around the time when the PS3 was about to come out. Sadly that particular game ended up cancelled. The hero's hairstyle always stuck with me though - time to get it out of my system at last. The reference looks different in every shot because its being blown around and finger-combed a lot (and I had to rip my reference off a freaking DVD since there was barely any footage on the web).
I'm going for a best of, not an exact copy from one shot:
I've continued to style a bit and finally have converted my model from curves to geometry and optimized all the low-hanging fruit away. As a result it's now edgy in certain places, sitting at 38k prior to any proper manual optimization (my threshold for these hair meshes is 45k for the more complex ones like this one, so plenty of flesh to re-add).
Marmoset output looks like this currently -
Next step is to import this into an engine (UE5 in this case) and be devastated at how much tweaking is still required to the main forms. Then I'll be adding hairline and finer details like flyoffs.
Damn, these are great!!
Here's the final version:
Aaand - I'm not done yet. Started this mockup the other day:
Great progress, thomas! I have Andor on my mind, I initally saw Cassian's hairdo in the Tom Cruise Hair remaster. Must be nostalgic revisiting your first gig's work!
What tool are rocking for Spline Grooming & Texture Authoring? I unfortunately haven't touched 3d (thanks to health problems) in awhile, last I used was HairTool by Bartosz Styperek
Hey man, thanks and sorry to hear about your health problems. Hope you are at least recovering now.
Definitely nostalgic, also the movie I used for reference is really quite bad :D certainly did not remember it like that.
I'm still using Hairtool, yes. Mainly though as a toolbox for curve editing functions that Blender lacks out of the box. I don't groom to convert to haircards, it's just curve/spline modelling. And it's all done with the old curve system, not the new haircurves. I'm stuck with Blender 3.3 for now due to addon compatibility (other than Hairtool) therefore missing out on the newer developments in this area. Or the alpha testing, depending on the POV.
I really love your artwork! And your method looks very interesting.💪
Thanks Enric, I like my method, too.
Lazy me hopes that by showing it a bit here I hope to receive fewer 'tutorial please' requests.
Getting Tyler Durden vibes! Nice work!
Tyler Durden, like … this guy? https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNDY1MzE3MTI0Nl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNDIwNTI5Mw@@._V1_.jpg 😵
At any rate I got close to the finish line but then had some trouble making the spikes light up well with a backlight - have to do another pass on him when there's some time in the schedule.
In the meantime I did a test using Hairtool's short-hair function to see if it could be useful for making beards and fades or even for generating styling guides for short particle grooms. Not a fan of those groom styling brushes in any software I tried so far so I'd very much prefer a proper modelling approach instead where you don't all the time accidentially brush a part you definitely didn't want to change.
This came out of it - pretty much done I think:
As always - the shortest ones are the hardest to actually make with cards.