Hair Study (with Zscript)

[Karasuando]

The first thing Zbrush in 2 months!..I have made some attempts but not had enough time or confidence to finish anything. But I got some inspiration back now and got started again :).

I made the head and body models, rendered em out with all spiffy settings then baked the layer and painted the hair with simplebrush and highlighterbrush2. I was trying to use the fibre brush for long hair but it didn't turn out very well, I prefer this method.

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1037710103mey.jpg

Sorry bout the size, for some reason Zbrush has started crashing on me when I zoom on large files, I was not in the mood for crashes and remakes today ;).

<font color="#949494" size="1"> November 20, 2002 Message edited by: Karasuando </font>

[Mik]

Great hair, very realistic!
Nicely done.
:tu: :tu: :tu: :tu: :)

[boozy floozie]

and very effective it is too. It suites the subject matter perfectly. :tu:

[Karasuando]

Thanks for the comments guys :).

I'll be trying the hair out in a full scene now..I'll be back

[The Namek]

the hair looks very good. But isnt it a lot of work drawing all the hairs and then changing darkness/brightness in some places ?

[Karasuando]

Thats true Namek, It does need more time than the fibre brush method. Once I established a flow I drew the strands of hair pretty much one by one with some rounds of smudging, highlighting and darkening.

But it didn't take more than some 30-60 minutes I think..tho I completely loose track of time when im Zbrushing so it could have taken longer.

I made another hair test in a little larger size, this hair could still be improved alot but it has served its purpose as a test ;).

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1037740448llw.jpg

[The Namek]

second one turned out really great too , I think I'll give it a try tomorrow when I find some time :tu: :tu:

[Karasuando]

Thank you!, looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

[Stargo]

Wow, great hair :tu: :tu: :tu:
Very realistic :tu: :tu: :tu:

stargo

[Ron Harris]

love that second one...would love to hear more on how you do the hair via painting it or however you are achieving that....the gray looks pretty real :tu:

[Jaycephus]

Great hair. :tu:

I would love to see a script on your method. It wouldn't have to be very involved or complete. Just a quick example of the basic process.

[boozy floozie]

I'm sure this technique would also be great for other organic renderings such as grass.
The time it takes is well worth the results you achieve.

[Karasuando]

Sure!, I've never done a script before but I'll give it a try later today.

[drjjwow]

that is some awesome hair.. i too would love to see a script on it..

[zerebrom]

... well, just fire up Photoshop and hair away!! :D :D :D

Just kidding??
EDIT:
Maybe this was a bit to short, so:
http://www.zerebrom.de/Central/aprove.jpg
It's just done quickly, more time-better results. And why not in ZBrush?

After final rendering in ZBrush there is still the need for some additional anti-aliasing. So you go to PS, Painter or the like.
And there you can draw your hair, props, whatever as smooth as you want, without jagginess of those lines.
I mean, this is used as an illustration, NOT a 3D-mesh that you put into another application. So why insist to build up your hair in ZBrush - all you get there doing this job is some jagged lines. Sure, it CAN be done, but not at a level that can keep up with the other results of working in ZBrush.

BTW: men in his tribe don't wear eye-lashes, or teeth!

<font color="#949494" size="1"> November 20, 2002 Message edited by: zerebrom </font>

<font color="#949494" size="1"> November 20, 2002 Message edited by: zerebrom </font>

[Karasuando]

Nice hair Zerebrom, cool hair style too ;).

It could be done without any jaggies in only Zbrush tho, If one worked in double scale and used antialiased half scale for final render. Actually I think if I just work with a slightly smoother brush keeping in mind that I want no jaggies it could be done in 1:1 aswell.

[zerebrom]

... hmmm, I tried that "make it bigger and then shrink"-method, but I still had to fix some of them lines.
You know, when I started using ZBrush, it was my goal to use but only Zbrush, forget about Painter (my favourite for a long time).
But, as fantastic Zbrush is in all of his modes (2D, 2,5D, 3D), I found out that it just was impossible - and even more: it was/is not needed.
ZBrush becomes not a lesser application, if you take your models for finishing to another place!!
And as for anti-aliasing: just take Bryce>> with the cost of render-speed you get REAL anti-aliasing, not only blurred outlines.
I still like your approach in doing all things possible in ZBrush - but I think the real power of ZBrush lies in the ease of modelling with artificial clay!!
Well, I will stick to a combination of proggies - each to his own, in a couple of senses :D .

[Karasuando]

Well I got down to scripting but the first two attempts failed =/, they misplaced my actions and inversed the lighting..hehe.

But fear not!, I got it right on the third attempt.

Hair3.txt (http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_file-1037789809ziu.txt)

This script should generate something like this (this is in Anti-aliased half, no jaggies ;)):

A section of hair.
http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1037789898btc.jpg

I hope this script can be of help. It was the third one so I might have been a little too eager to just finish it ;).

As you can see its very straightforward but there is some work needed to get it right. Obviously you would have to be more careful when shading and highlighting the hair than I was, since the underlying geometry is already shaded it will look odd if your hair shading is spilled ontop of it. Keep in might the lights and shadows of the scene and try to match the hair to it.

I've done only gray hair but you should be able to pull any color naturally, but I think one would have to choose the colors and shade more carefully than when doing monochrome/gray hair.

Cheers!.

[Karasuando]

Oh yes Zerebrom that is very true. However my reason for wanting to make it all in Zbrush is that I have a license for Zbrush. I got an old PS license aswell but I've never tried Painter...perhaps I should ;).

[zerebrom]

Well, Karasuando, I like Painter that much, because it was the only programm (wayyyyy back in time :D ) that provided natural" painting on my PC and Wacom. Nowadays there are a couple of proggies (including PS) that can do the same, come of them even better then Painter. But, for me Painter is still the "father of things", maybe some sentimental thingie ;) .
And for "your" hair: I will try that, certainly!! Maybe we are just a step away from that inicial goal "ZBrush for all" (besides making coffee :D :D )!?

Just a small, and as I hope, better example for hairing in Painter:
http://www.zerebrom.de/Uploads/halloween.jpg
I know, Halloween is over, but he still wears this moustache on his face!
:D

<font color="#949494" size="1"> November 20, 2002 Message edited by: zerebrom </font>

[Karasuando]

Oh yes that is a nice moustache ;). I have no wacom tablet yet, I think im gonna have to buy one tho. Does yours work good with Zbrush?. I have never painted anything before I bought Zbrush so I've never really tried any other painter apps.

[zerebrom]

Yep, it works like a charm with - and not only - ZBrush. After some big, oversized tablets I now use a smaller (Intuos). They don't cost that much, and your desktop (the real one) will be thankful for leaving more space (for important things like coffee-cups :D ).
You'll see: you will never touch a mouse again :D , in painting!!

[Karasuando]

Hehe, sounds good. I could never afford a huge one anyways so my coffee cup should not be in danger :).

[zerebrom]

:tu: :tu: :tu: !!

[DeeVee]

Nice images! that hair is some of the best seen on the forum!

[ztevie-rae]

Hi Karasuando,
Thanks for the script.The effect looks great !. :cool:

Stevie_rae.

[Jaycephus]

Cool. :tu: :)

I use an old Graphire, and I have an older Wacom ArtZ II 12x12. The smaller Graphire is preferred in my case. The Graphire also comes with a cordless mouse that allows more precise control than either the pen or a regular mouse. So I end up using both depending on what I am trying to do in ZBrush.

[Karasuando]

Oh, it seems most people prefer the smaller tablets..I think I would too, since I usually sketch pretty small.

And again thanks for the comments guys, its much appreciated ;).

[TVeyes]

I really dig the hair in the first picture, fits the character very well. Thanks for the script, much appreciated.

In the Quicklinks, somewhere, there is a thread on creating hair using Alpha masks, i.e the stencil. Not to be used for fine detailed hair but good for quick hair, maybe on characters in the background. I think it was by Ken B (?). Sorry can't find it right now.

Zerebrom: Cool second picture.