/3/ - 3DCG

>>730118
I made a little basic tutorial for you. I'm not a professional yet and i'm still following tutorials/learning the workflow for hair since this is my second realistic character. But I can feel myself getting better/quicker with each day.

1. generate hair strands in maya (xgen). You can find information on how to do that in Johan Lithvall's CGMA hair creation course. Or elsewhere on youtube. The process works for both hair and beards. Gen guides in xgen and tweak>export geom to zbrush to taper and cap holes>create hair ID groups in choice of software>export for bake

2. Bake in xgen. Baked out alpha map, a couple of height maps to best match the different densities of hairs, a colour ID map and a couple of alpha ramp maps. Combine alpha and ramp maps in Photoshop so the roots and tips are more transparent. Combine height maps for best results. Combine colour ID and Height map then colour for temporary albedo/diffuse. Tweak levels ecs to get best result.

3. Generate hair cards in zbrush (for beard only) using resources and method from this tutorial:
youtu.be/8c7QYYr9KFc
Don't forget to set the polycount per strip you want.
(I know my hair meshes are dense, i'll sort this out later. I'm just looking for a rough base to work from)
Pro tip: Make sure you are working from your full head model. Trying to work with just the area you want to generate your cards on will result in tiny hair cards.

4. Groom hair card guides using brushes from previous tut.

5. Confirm geo>unwrap in ZBrush using fiber mesh unwrap>Export to Max/Maya and pick a hair card texture you'd like to use. You can quickly add some simple variation using a random element selection script. Then tweak by hand. A LOT. Tweaking and polishing will take up A LOT of time.

6. Export to Substance to work on textures then to engine to see what it will look like and go back and forth with all the other steps to get the result you want.

PRO TIP. Make your character bald. Hair sucks.