Editing Hair

04Janine87

Hi there.

I hope someone can help me with my problem. I have bought this hair: 

https://www.daz3d.com/wezor-hair-for-genesis-3-male-s

I really like it, but I want it a little bit more layered, so that the ends are not cut straight. The front should be a bit shorter than the back. 

How can I do this without loosing the morphs? I have experience with 3D modeling but hair is all new to me. 

Richard Haseltine

You may be able to do it by adjusting the transparency maps (working on a copy, of course) in your image editor, then replacing the original maps with the modified versions in the Surfaces pane.

jaxprog

If you have 3D modelling tool like Hexagon or zBrush you can also create your own hair morphs. I do this a lot with zBrush using GoZ. You won't lose any morphs but rather append your own for that specfic scene/project.

04Janine87

Thanks Richard, I'm trying this out right now. It seems to work but my problem is that I don't really know what to paint black to get the result I want.  

 

Thanks jaxprog for your answer. I don't have any experience with Hexagon or zBrush.  Is it difficult to learn? I just want the hair a bit more layered like in this picture:

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/7d/65/12/7d6512f06d8871146f32999c7db5ee83--music-metal-festival-photo.jpg

 

jaxprog

I just thought of an idea based on a scene I was working on recently. I was working on a scene where the light made the hair appear like the model had less hair because the rim light flooded behind the model. Light passed through the hair so to speak.

On the hair’s surface tab there is channel or property called transparency cutout. Adjusting that dial blocked the light from coming through hair giving the hair a more solid and bulk appearance. Check this out and see if it gives the hair you are working on a more layered look and feel.

Learning Hexagon and zBrush: I don’t think learning these applications are difficult.

However, if you load zBrush and look at it without any direction as to what to do with it, it may intimidate you. The zBrush UI has many menus and buttons, but that doesn’t mean it’s hard to learn. One uses a small portion of zBrush at any given moment of time to perform most things. Its more knowing where to go in order to accomplish what you want to do. With that in mind if you want to learn zBrush, I recommend an online course that can step by step you through beginner projects where your learning flows organically or naturally without frustration or wondering what to do next.

I personally signed up with pluralsight for about six months and learned as much as I could and cancelled thereafter. Its great training. Justin Marshall one of instructors literally baby steps you, where you have firm and confident grip on using zBrush. Although I subscribed to plural for six months, it took me about two weeks to feel comfortable with zBrush after Justin Marshall taught me.

When it comes to moving and manipulating topology or mesh geometry Hexagon can do what zBrush does and is less expensive. Hexagon’s UI is less intimidating. Best of all the Daz store provides many Hexagon tutorials to get up and running.

Hexagon or zBrush may make the hair appear more layered by manipulating the geometry or moving it. You won’t add geometry to the existing product.

If you were to add and modify the existing geometry on an existing hair product then you would create new UV and retexture it.

Another option could be to add independent stands of hair geometry to pose or mix with an existing hair product and that independent geometry would have its own UV and texturing.

04Janine87

I bought hexagon but now a have a problem with the hexagon/daz transfer. I sent the hair from daz to hexagon and then without doing anything with the hair sent it back to daz. But now it is just a prop, why? I didn't change anything on the hair.