nHair > Create Hair

nHair > Create Hair >

These are descriptions for the options in the Create Hair Options window.

Create Rest Curves

When turned on, this creates a set of Rest curves that are straight and normal to the surface.

If the hair is fairly stiff and you want it to assume a non-straight shape (in the absence of external forces like gravity), then you should create and edit Rest curves. For more information, see Start, Rest, and Current Position curves.

Collide with mesh

When on, Maya converts the selected mesh to a passive collision object. Internal connections between the hair system and the Nucleus solver are created so that the solver has information about the follicle positions at the start frame of the simulation.

Creating nHair with Collide with mesh on provides performance improvements when nHair is attached to animated surfaces, especially if the hair system is composed of a large number of hairs.

Grid, At Selected Points/Faces

Specify whether the hair to be created is placed on the grid of the selected surface, or at the selected surface points/faces. The latter is helpful if you want to create individual hairs/hair curves or add to an existing hairSystem.

U Count

The number of follicles to be created along the U direction.

V Count

The number of follicles to be created along the V direction.

Passive Fill

The number of passive curves to active (hair) curves. Passive curves interpolate the dynamic behavior of active curves, but are less expensive than simulating every curve. For more information, see Passive hair curves.

Randomization

The degree of randomization for the placement of follicles along the U and V directions. With a value of 0 there is no randomization and the follicles are lined up. With a value of 1 the follicles are extremely random.

Hairs Per Clump

Sets the number of hairs rendered for each hair follicle. You can set Hairs Per Clump to low value to improve performance when the hair system is created.

After you create the hair system, you can then increase the Hairs Per Clump attribute value in the hairSystemShape node Attribute Editor. By default Hairs Per Clump is set to 10.

Edge Bounded

When turned on, the follicles are created along the edge of the U and V parameters.

Equalize

Turn this on so when hair is created Maya compensates for uneven mapping between UV space and world space, equalizing the distribution of the follicles so they aren’t cluttered at the poles.

Static, Dynamic

Specify whether the hair to be created is Static or Dynamic. Static hair does not respond to the dynamic forces, but can be manually keyframed, whereas dynamic hair does respond to the dynamic forces.

Note that you can also change this state after you create the hair.

Points Per Hair

The number of points/segments per hair. As this value increases the hair curve becomes smoother. Keep in mind for relatively short stiff hair use fewer points (or Sub Segments), but for long flowing hair use more points, especially if you plan to style the hair curves. For stiff hair that has a detailed shape you may need to use more points (or Sub Segments), but you may also need to use higher Iterations to achieve the desired stiffness.

Length

The length of the hair in world space units (default grid units in the scene views).

At a very large scene scale, it might be necessary to type in large values for the length. Gravity is constant, so increasing the length for a large scene scale will result in hair that seems to fall more slowly. If this is the case, then increase gravity on the hairSystemShape until the hair falls at the desired rate. Currently the gravity field for particle and rigid body simulations seems to be calibrated with the sense that cm are around a meter.

Place Hairs into

Place the hairs to be created in a new hair system, or an existing hair system. Select from the drop-down list.