Fur/Fuzz/Hair in Blender

[Anya McConach]

I'm trying to work on an object and I'd like it to have fur / be fuzzy.

I suppose a rabbit tail or this would be very similar to what I'm trying to recreate.

Does anyone know how to do this in Blender or a tutorial on how this could be done?

I've been trying to find one but I don't think I'm searching for the right thing because I can't find what I'm looking for.

[Astrid Kaufmat]

The best way that I know to make such kind of faked fur texture with normal maps is using stencils or texture sculpt paint (I do it in zbrush but you can do it also in blender).

It can be done  using alpha textures to sculpt or using a stencil technique.

If you're not  used to those techniques I suggest you two tutorials that will be a start point to train with in blender.

In the second video I posted you can see also the logic behind making an alpha texture a very useful ally to have when you need to sculpt details from textures.

 In the first video is shown how to make a fur head , first how to texture paint it in 3d using a stencil then using the sculpt tecniques to give it details.

 

[Zakiel Windlow]

Astrid,
One question (I didn't test it yet but one of my future projects will have these sort of detail):
I use ZBrush too and I understand that you would use the normal map exported from it in SL to generate or simulate the fuzziness? Right?

I'll put one example:
Lets say I have a ball and I want it to have a "hair", 2 cm long (or more), perpendicular to the surface of the sphere.
Does the normal map alter the geometry of the surface in a way that you do see the hair popping out of the surface?

Because I thought it would only add the "illusion" of bumpiness, but if you look at the surface, it would be smooth, with no hair popping out. I repeat: have to test it (I'm not in my PC right now).

How I've planned to do it?
Well, I would do the modeling of the base geometry, lets say "the ball" with normal map applied and then, I would add lot of faces arranged along/around it, with the hair texture (+ alpha map for transparency). Yap, a lot of work.

If you don't understand what I mean -because of my English-, I would do it like the "old" prim hair were/is done : Sculped prims (my base mesh) + flexy prims (faces/polygons arranged around it). Another example are some flexy prim skirts, with several layers arranged one over the other.

But I'll try the normal map in SL! I haven't played enough with it yet. Maybe it saves me a lot of work.
(I'm coming back from a long "break" of SL and these Normal/Specular maps are kinda new to me; weren't here when I "left" almost 11 months ago)

[Astrid Kaufmat]

 

No,Zak, normal map couldn't fake  true hair popping out from surface,as you already know, say hair the way  you'd get using maya Zbrush , blender or any other 3d program hair system. That's due to limits of SL rendering engine as you know.

What I suggested there, is a way to get a ball that would look like that one proposed in the pic with an irregular surface to look fuzzy furry ball like that one proposed in the photo, say like a peluche bear or a peluche ball like in that photo. It's easy to get that like when you add some noise as alpha to an object that you want to make look old and rusted or like an old stone. In Zbrush (somehow it can be done in blender too) I'd help myself also with some displacement map to give the painted textue more faked irregularities.

 

If I get the way you want to go through is using a very dense but very dense one to make your hair like popping up spikes.I never used such a density. Even if Zbrush is good to run perfectly with very dense polygons on old machines ergo it should go like a charm on "barbecue ram grids" new machines hi density polygons become an iussue to handle.This if by faces arranged around it you meant  sculpted by Dynames like spikes.

If  by faces arranged around the spear you mean putting tons of square polygons around it to work with normal map and alpha I can Theoretically imagine that probably in UV map you would make those polygons around it overlap so you'd sculpt just one and the effect would be reproduced over them all.Hovever a part the "titanic work" to arrange those polygons, you know that mesh wouldn't be flexy, then an old fur style  ball would still like better than that mesh one.Then maybe old prim built hair faked with those alpha would still be better.Say a way like I still love old prim hair (even if many now are switching also for production to bubble-gum-mesh hair)

My point of view,for what it  counts, is that old way and new way should walk side by side,for some things old way is still unreplaceable

 

[Astrid Kaufmat]

you made me remember of something I experimentted in opengrid time ago, not for normal maps but it could be used for them too ,If I have got you right and you want to use the the normal maps applied to an old style bunny tail like those flexy prim with alphas.

 

Maybe you've seen, done this too. You may know that in open grid there are some viewers ( legal ones )  allowing to import on your pc your own prims, I've seen this done also by scripts. The reason to do all this madness was to make textures for those 3d prims and bake lights on them.

Now probably your idea is appliable to those prims sculpting normal maps for them.After all before normal maps( custom ones like now) were available , the old primitives allowed the standard normal maps built in them. I would make an experiment in that way to make a fusion between old and new and having normal maps on prims keeping the flexibility.

Of course maybe for a project  bit bigger than a small ball where that amount of extra prims around it with extra details given by normal maps and alpha texture would count, for example hair .

[Zakiel Windlow]

I see :matte-motes-frown:
As I thought, the normal maps couldn't do the magic. And yes, I understood that your suggestion was for a fur ball with very "short hair" :matte-motes-big-grin-squint: In that case, of course, the normal map would be enough.

The following example (mess) would be my workaround (have to test it in a "real" mesh):
(some geometry coul be deleted here and there, but it is just an example :matte-motes-silly:)

Orange and green geometry would have the hair texture+normal+alpha map applied. The "core" (the blue object) just the hair texture + normal map. If needed, I could deform the "cones" (3rd segment) but I think that with a well done alpha would be enough. The green geometry is there to "hide" the geometry/shape of the cones.

After doing the modeling and UVMap, I would attach all the geometry (in order to have only one object) and model/deform it in ZBrush (using the transpose and move tools).

I repeat: Have to test it :matte-motes-tongue; but it is the workaround that was in my mind for months and didn't have the opportunity to use/test it in an SL model yet.

And I know that won't be flexy, that's not a problem in this case :matte-motes-big-grin-wink:, because it won't have a very long hair.

PS: I saw this "concept" being used in the past with the flexy and sculpted prims; so if it worked back then, should work now...I think lol

Thank you very much for the reply!!  :matte-motes-wink:

And to the OP too. 

[Astrid Kaufmat]

With picture it seems much more clear.

I also saw in world some tails made this way or in a way somehow similar to this. What they used to make a rough effect of fur was some spikes come out from the base mesh ( using extrusion It's my guess) then rigged it on neck probably or  head , hence it was moving according to avatar movements.

With proper amount of time messing with that project maybe you get an interesting look, but still if it's rigged that would be light years far from furry flexy tails. Say a bubblegum tail that will be the perfect pair for bubble gum mesh hair . However woth a try good luck with that.

[DerpWolf]

Here is one more way: multiple nested layers with "dots" opacity texture: http://gyazo.com/0cbdae78aae940a30e030fd08f3378bc

[Zakiel Windlow]

@DerpWolf
That looks pretty nice! Gonna take a look at that. Thanks for sharing.

@Astrid:
Yeah! Flexies are flexies :matte-motes-frown: (I miss them)
My idea is to use this just in clothes, like a fur coat or something like that.

Btw, it's nice to have many options for the same "problem":
Would love to mix all of them