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Creating hair on a surface

Lesson 1: Creating a basic hairstyle

Setting up hair collisions

 

Learning Resources > Tutorials > Getting Started with Maya Unlimited > Hair > Lesson 1: Creating a basic hairstyle > 

Styling the hair

To style the hair you manipulate either the Start or Rest curves to achieve the look you want. In these next steps you first edit the Start curves to create the basic hair shape. Then you set an initial Rest position for the hair and style the hair by editing the Rest curves.

To edit the Start curves to create the basic hair shape

1. Display the Start curves. ( Hair > Display> Start Position ).
2. Tumble the camera so you’re looking at the side of Marion’s head.
3. To select the Start curves on the front half of Marion’s face, do the following:
   • On the Status Line, click the Object Selection Mask button and choose All Objects Off from the drop-down menu that appears.
   • On the Status Line, click to highlight the icon to restrict the selection to curves.
   • Drag around the front half of Marion’s head to select the Start curves as shown in the following image.

     

4. Now tumble the camera so Marion is again facing you.
5. To trim the Start curves in the front, do the following:
   • Select Hair > Modify Curves. This allows you to manipulate the curve while maintaining the curve’s hull length.
   • Click the in the Status Line to display the curves’ CVs.
   • Using the Lasso Tool , select CVs in an inverted U-shape around the front of Marion’s face, as shown in the following image.
   • Press Delete to remove the selected CVs.

     

6. To curl under the ends of all the Start curves, do the following:
   • Click the button to display the curves and then drag around Marion’s head to select all the Start curves.
   • Click the button to display CVs and then, using the Select Tool, select the CVs in the bottom half of all the curves.
   • Select Hair > Modify Curves > .
   • In the Bend Curves Options window, set Bend Amount to 0.5 and Twist to 1.0 and then click Bend Curves.

     

   The selected CVs are bent under towards Marion’s neck. To fix any unruly hairs, you could select them and then select Hair > Modify Curves> Smooth.

7. Click the button to display the curves.
8. Change the display to include the Start curves and the Current Position. ( Hair > Display> Current and Start)
9. Click the Play button to play the hair simulation.

   Even though you styled the Start curves, notice how they fall straight and lose the bend at the end. Start curves only define the position of the hair at the Start frame of the simulation; once the simulation is started the Start curves are affected by the dynamic forces applied to the hair system. To “hairspray” a hairstyle, you need to style Rest curves and adjust dynamic hair system settings. In the next steps you create Rest curves from the Start curves.

10. Click the Stop button to stop the simulation.

To create and modify the Rest curves to achieve a hairstyle

1. To create Rest curves from the shaped Start curves, do the following:
   • Select Hair > Display. > Start Position
   • Using the Select Tool , drag to select all the Start curves and then select Hair > Set Rest Position> From Start.
2. To see the new Rest curves, select Hair > Display> Current and Rest.
3. Select all the hair curves and then click the Play button to play the simulation. Watch how the Current position hairs flop down because the Gravity value is quite high (2.5).
4. To see what the hair would look like without any gravity, go to the Dynamics section in the hairSystemShape1 tab and change the Gravity value to 0.

   Watch the hair try to achieve the Rest position.

5. After the hair reaches the Rest position, change the Gravity value back to 1.0.
6. As the hair starts to fall due to gravity, increase the Stiffness value to 0.2.

   If some Rest curves won’t relax and stabilize, increase Length Flex and Iterations in the hairSystemShape1 tab.

7. Once the hair stabilizes, click the Stop button to stop the simulation.
8. You can further “hairspray” the curled ends of the Rest curves using the Stiffness Scale attribute. The curve in the Stiffness Scale graph illustrates the amount of stiffness applied along the hair curve from root (left side of the graph) to tip (right side of the graph). Go to the Dynamics section in the hairSystemShape1 tab and change the Stiffness Scale attribute as shown in the following image. These changes add more stiffness to the end of the hair, which will hold the bend more firmly.

   

9. Play the simulation to see the effect of the changes to Stiffness Scale.
10. Stop the simulation once the hair relaxes as in the following image.
11. To reset the Start curves from the simulation, select Hair > Set Start Position> From Current.
12. Click the button to rewind to the beginning of the simulation.