Create Non-Interactive Hair Mapping Using XGEN | Maya Tutorial
2023-03-10
Maya
When creating animal hair with XGEN, if we want to use a mapping to make the color of the animal hair, it is very easy to achieve with interactive hair. But once we use non-interactive hairs it's a bit more of a toss-up. In this article, the leading cloud rendering service provider and render farm in the CG industry, Fox Renderfarm will share with you how to use a mapping to generate hair color under non-interactive conditions.
Process and Effect
Create a face slice and make sure it has UV.
Create a Groom spline.
Simply adjust some parameters and update the hairs.
Find the Primitive Color under Preview/Output, click the down arrow and appears Create Map, name the Map fur_color, and adjust the Map Resolution (slightly larger value).
Once created, click the Brush button to draw a few random strokes on it, then click the Save button.
This gives us a new lambert material sphere in Hypershade with the saved mapping we drew automatically attached to it.
Click on the folder icon to add a color map for the hair color. It is better to use Xgen with a project directory, many hair mapping textures need to be saved in it.
To demonstrate that the hairs are more visible, I use a map with a sharp color distinction.
Save again, pay special attention to remember to click save diligently. After updating the hair you can see that the hair has changed color (it does not matter if the color has not changed in the view at this time). But the rendering is definitely wrong at this point. Let's continue to the next step.
Move down to the Custom Shader Parameters column, replace the float in the Name property with color, and click the "+", then give the name shade_color (the name here depends on your personal needs). After that, a new column of color shade_color interface will be generated.
Then go back to the Primitive Color property bar and click the last button to open the expression editor and copy these two lines of expressions.
Go to the color shade_color property bar again to open the expression editor and paste these two lines of expressions. And click Apply and Accept.
Again, remember to click the Save button when you are done.
Next, create an aiStandardHair in the HyperShade interface and adjust Melanin to 0.
An important step is to create an aiUserDataColor node and copy and paste the name of shade_color into its Attribute column. After that, connect this node Out Color to the Base Color in ai StandardHair.
We can first create an aiSkyDomeLight to give an HDR rendering to test it.
You will find that the colors are not rendered.
Because we need to assign aiStandHair material to description9.
By default Xgen is using the hairPhysicalShader.
You can see that the colors are displayed properly. But there seems to be some incorrect colors. It is grayish.
Back in Preview/Output, add a line of gamma to the expressions of Primitive Color and color shade_color for correction.
Second line of the full expression: "$a->gamma(0.454)".
After calibrating the colors, I switched the lighting to aiPhysicalSky for accurate rendering ( I didn't find a particularly good HDR image). This way the Xgen non-interactive hairs use the color of the mapping.
Author: JI WEI
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Learn How to Make a Henry Cavill Superman in 3D
If you're a 3D learner and love the Superman movie, it's time to make a 3D Superman just for you. Now, follow the industry's best cloud rendering service provider and render farm, Fox Renderfarm, to see how CG artist H cheng made his Superman.Final results of 3D Henry Cavill Superman:The tools used in making 3D Henry Cavill superman are as follows:High-poly: ZBrush, Marvelous DesignerTopology: Wrap4D, MayaMapping: Mari, Substance PainterHair: XGenRendering: Arnold/UECollection of MaterialsBefore we start, we need to decide the theme and collect the required reference material. I chose Henry Cavill as Superman model for this project. 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During the practice, I can use the built-in slice tool in ZBrush as a basic framework. Its size is based on realistic human head proportions, which allows us to practice skull or muscle anatomy. The exercise is shown in the image below:Once we have acquired a certain level of foundational skills and a wealth of theoretical knowledge, we can use our understanding of anatomy to engage in sculpting exercises for designing orc-like characters.With a solid foundation and extensive knowledge of anatomy, when working on character designs like this, we can analyze the anatomical structures of the human, animal, or orc-like creature in a rational manner during sculpting. Mastering the anatomy of the head, body, or other forms allows us to analyze and refine the design in a logical way. For example, in the case of this orc head model, as shown in the image below:There is actually no difference in terms of muscle structure between his face and a realistic human. We analyze it rationally because it has a different skeletal structure from a human's, and its facial features have distinct shapes, resulting in noticeable differences in the muscle structure. However, under the overall skeletal framework, their muscle anatomy is the same. It's like the same piece of clothing hanging on different hangers, forming different folds, but fundamentally, its essence remains unchanged. Therefore, the formation of the fold shapes follows certain patterns that can be observed. This requires us to have a solid theoretical foundation to support our analysis.We achieve large-scale detailed sculpting using ZBrush, making effective use of scan-based mesh retopology techniques. For quick mesh symmetry, we directly utilize R3DS Wrap. R3DS Wrap is a professional-grade 3D topology tool software that has revolutionized the way we handle 3D scan data. When working with human scans or similar subjects, existing basemeshes can be loosely matched to each scan. It also provides a set of highly useful scan processing tools such as decimation, mesh filtering, and texture projection. Thanks to its node graph architecture, once a single scan is processed, the same approach can be applied to an unlimited number of other scans.Mapping of CharacterAfter completing the high-resolution sculpting of the body, we use Mari to start creating the skin texture channels. The overall workflow is quite simple, and I'll briefly describe it.For color painting, we utilize XYZ scan materials and wrap them using the ZWrap plugin, which serves as a realistic texture base. Then, in Mari, we make adjustments and add details to the projected textures. We overlay multiple color biases on the color map to achieve a rich color effect. Since gorillas have black skin, the details we paint or obtain from XYZ materials may not be clearly visible. Therefore, we add a layer of lighter color contrast to enhance some details.When creating roughness and specular maps, we need to pay attention to the variations in highlight levels and roughness intensity. The highlight map can be created by inverting the colors of the roughness map and then making adjustments accordingly. For the complete set of skin texture maps, I have created the color, specular, roughness, and SSS (Subsurface Scattering) strength and color maps.Production of ClothingFor clothing production, I primarily rely on Marvelous Designer for fabric simulation and utilize ZBrush for quick sculpting and refinement.Marvelous Designer has become widely used in CG art production. Therefore, it is essential for us to learn and master the basic usage of this software.I am not particularly skilled in using Marvelous Designer myself. I am only familiar with its main function of fabric simulation, which assists in model creation. To create realistic clothing patterns, it is necessary to have a basic understanding of garment cutting theory, especially for formal or workwear attire. Details such as waist openings or cuff offsets can affect the final result of fabric simulation. For unique designs, we can refer to existing paper patterns as references.Of course, when working on the Superman costume, I didn't follow such strict procedures. Since it is a form-fitting suit, I directly created the base mesh in ZBrush and imported it into Marvelous Designer for fabric simulation and folding. Marvelous Designer can quickly assist us in achieving small wrinkle formations around muscle compressions and structural transitions. It is very convenient to use in this regard.The process of creating textures for clothing is relatively simple. I directly imported the model into Substance Painter and used a tiled texture as the fabric pattern for the garment. Then, I assigned a base color and added some procedural textures as needed. To achieve the desired fabric texture effect, I adjusted the material nodes in Maya, which provides similar results.Production of MaterialsCreating materials for skin is very straightforward. The surface material effect in Arnold can directly present a very natural and realistic result. When adjusting the skin material nodes, it is important to note that the value of surface scale is influenced by the scene's scale, and it should complement the color of the radio to achieve the desired effect. When tweaking the parameters, it is helpful to enable real-time rendering to observe the effects while making adjustments.Production of HairWe use XGen for hair styling as it is a widely-used and highly effective tool for creating hair in the industry.Traditional XGen provides high control and flexibility over the styling of hairs, allowing us to meet most of our requirements. When working on the guide hairs, we need to pay attention to the hierarchy and even distribution of the guides. We can also utilize masking painting and the addition of modifier nodes to achieve different hair descriptions and styles.Above is the main process of making the 3D version of Henry Cavill Superman. The next steps are material rendering and connecting each part, which will not be explained in this article. We hope this article is helpful to you.Source: H cheng
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