3D studio max hair....

[cokecan]

hey guys, I've got and assignment at uni where we got to model ourselves and then import it into the Source engine. ive done everythin except my hair where i've got stuck. initially there isnt any poly limit, but if i have quite a high poly count, i'd have to justfy it, so im aiming for anythin under about 10000 entire model. so far my body is about 4000 polys and my head is about 3500.

so, whats the easiest way to create hair in 3ds 8 but not have a silly number of polygons. It has to be a way that is basically part of the mesh, as I've got to import the model into the Source engine, so anythin that is shown after its rendered will not work (hair and fur modifier for example)

ive tried the hair and fur modifier, which looks damn good, but when i convert it to an editable mesh so i can use it in the Source engine, my poly count for my head goes from about 3500 polys to 4million odd.

i've also tried this:

http://www.poopinmymouth.com/process/hair_tutorial/hair_01.htm

but instead of making my own brushes, ive just used an edited image of a portion of my hair, though not really used alpha channels in photoshop before so kind of learnin that as i go lol.

my problem is....i basically have silly hair! lol

hope someone can help (without laughin at my pictures lol)

cheers

 

[robc123]

You could always cut your hair, wouldnt that be far simpler?

 

[Messiah Khan]

The method used in that tutorial is probably the best way for low poly models. Use a combination of photoshop brushes and your own hair, and use alpha maps for the tranparancy. Then layer the elements on top of each other, to give the illusion of hair. With your hair, id have 2-3 of the lements facing forward, to make up the fringe part, and the rest running the lenght of your head. sort of like this;

Hope that makes sense. The other option would to make the whole thing out of one solid piece of geometry, and model the spicky bits as best as possible, although it might be nightmare to UV map. What uni you go to by the way?

 

[cokecan]

it does sort of make sence, im still a tad hazy on alpha channels etc, even though i thought i set one up it doesnt seem to show any transparancy or opacity in 3ds etc.

how do you mean layer them? as in layer them usin the layers in photoshop or stick them on planes or somethin and layer the planes on top of each other in 3ds??

i had ago at the hair and fur modifier again earlier, set the max number of hair to 1000 and made the roots fairly thick, then converted it to a mesh (was about 11000 polys so not TOO bad), but cos you can see the scalp a lot cos i set hte ammount of hair right down, i just textured the scalp the same colour as the hair to give the look of more thicker hair. it does work to an extent until you zoom right in, i could probs just about get away with it lol

and i go to nottm trent btw

 

[Messiah Khan]

With the alpha channels, you have to set up wether you are using an embedded alpha, ie, using a .tga with alpha channel, or if you are using a seperate map as a alpha.

With the layers, I mean layer them in 3DSmax. This combined with the alpha channels will gove the illusion of thick hair, whilst keep the the poly count down. You will have to set the texture to double sided as well. I would really steer away from using the fur shader, as its going to produce really nasty geometry with loads of seperate elements not attatched to the main object, and is likely to cause trouble when importing it into Source.

 

[cokecan]

ok that makes a lot more sence.

just one thing, at the minute the bit i highlighted using the selection tool in photoshop thats in the alpha channel is black. how do i set this to transparent??

ive been wanderin round the help secions for anythin about opacitys and transparencies but cant figure any of them out??

EDIT: never mind, lol just cutout the bit of my hair i wanted and pasted it onto a new layer and made the background transparent