Toyen Cute Braids -- Does it have to be cartoonish in the viewport?

EdwardEdwardEdward

Hi, recently have been using Toyen "Cute Braids"  and another Toyen hair item. In the viewport, whatever material I apply, that color appears sort of flat and uniform -- so it looks cartoonish compared to the Genesis 8 female wearing it. In render the hair of course gets more realistic, but I wonder if there is anything one can do to make the hair look in the viewport more real and less like a cartoon?

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

 

margrave

I wouldn't if I were you.

Strand-based hair relies on what're called "guide hairs" to control the overall shape of the hairdo. When you render, the software interpolates all the hairs between the guide hairs.

However, if you tried to display all those interpolated hairs live, simply trying to pan the viewport would probably make your computer grind to a halt and then explode due to how processor-intensive it is.

EdwardEdwardEdward

So what I am seeing in the viewport -- that sort of cartoon hair -- those are guide hairs?

WendyLuvsCatz

some strandbased hairs you don't even see that much

unless you are planning on using viewport renders for your final work honestly what does it matter!

margrave

EdwardEdwardEdward said:

So what I am seeing in the viewport -- that sort of cartoon hair -- those are guide hairs?

Yes.

EdwardEdwardEdward

Okay.

Sometimes I don't want to render, takes a long time, and prefer to quickly use a viewport image.

I guess this means avoiding strand based if I want to rely on the viewport that way in future...

margrave

EdwardEdwardEdward said:

Okay.

Sometimes I don't want to render, takes a long time, and prefer to quickly use a viewport image.

I guess this means avoiding strand based if I want to rely on the viewport that way in future...

You might want to look into fibermesh hair. Fibermesh is basically the same thing as strand-based, except it puts all the strands on display at once. It looks as pretty as a picture in the viewport. It'll also turn your viewport into a picture. We're talking a single digit framerate.

For the above reason, typically it's only used for very short hair such as this: https://www.daz3d.com/classic-side-part-hair-for-genesis-3-and-8

That PA, RedzStudio, makes a lot of good fibermesh hair, though if you notice when it comes to longer hair they switch to strand-based as well.

EdwardEdwardEdward

margrave and WendyLuvsCatz, many thanks

WendyLuvsCatz

yeah as I use Filament a lot I have been seeking out all the Fibermesh hairs ( and making my own in Zbrush)

because that engine hates opacity maps but is excellent with mesh