Paint effects hair (again...)
 

Hey All,

I'm having trouble with paint effects. I've been trying several methods and every time it comes to attaching the stroke to the path curve nothing happens. The stroke is unwilling to follow the curve. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

Also as an aside as I was looking up hair tutorials (I'm using complete so fur isn't an option) however I saw a plug-in called Shave and a Haircut. It doesn't look like its been updated in a while. Does anyone know if it will work with Complete 2009? Thanks!

Shave and a haircut is updated every couple of months. And yes, it is compatible with 2009.

isnt it about 500 dollars?

If I'm not mistaken, there is a discount for students.

would the university of life count?

shave aside...

CGWolfgang:

There are a couple of settings in the stroke attributes, that be found in either the attribute editor or channel box (your choice)
You have to basically mess about with the settings

1. turn on 'length flex' to 1 this will give the hair its 'bendyness'
2.'Path follow' default is 0 so a value of 1 is good
3.'Path attract' have a play.....
4. Tubes per step, increasing this will allow for smoother hair
5.Sample density, increase the values a step at a time
6. Seed, same as sample density

I will however point out, that creating hair or fur IS NOT EASY - period. Shave and a Haircut is the best out there I feel, but you still have to work at it to get good results. Short and cropped hair will always be easiest, but the minute you start styling you are entering a whole new ball game.

The best referal to digital hair I have heard is 'its like combing your hair with the light out then turning it on again to see the result' and so forth.....

Hope this helps anyway

Thanks for all the responses everyone!

I found the demo for Shave and a Haircut on the website and it was for 2009. I should've checked there before posting because it kind of answered my question. ;)

Regardless I might invest in it. Its pretty straight foward even though it is going to be hard to learn to do right.

Jay: Thanks for the heads up on the paint effects settings. I'll play with it before I drop 500-600 dollars on the plug-in. The concepts look similar and understanding paint effects will help me learn how to work with control curves.