Haircard shader ?

[AyrtonSenna]

Hi guru's

I was wondering what kind of shader i should use to create a good looking hair material for using with haircards?

[hermit.crab]

Usually, the VRayHairNextMtl is used to render realistic hair. Otherwise, what tools or plugins did you use to create the hair?

[AyrtonSenna]

Hi, i created my hair in fiber shop. so now i have a diffuse,normal,height,alpha and AO of the fibers to be placed on cards.

[hermit.crab]

Hi, i created my hair in fiber shop. so now i have a diffuse,normal,height,alpha and AO of the fibers to be placed on cards.

Well, the VRayMtl has slots for diffuse, opacity, normals (through a VRayNormals plugged into the Bump slot) and Displacement (height). There's no specific slot for AO, but I suppose you can mix it with the diffuse (f.e. via a Composite node).

[^Lele^]

Two little details to add:
a) consider exploring clip opacity, or if you'll displace the cards (with the height map) the use of a waterlevel. Not tracing through many layers of opacity would make your renders quicker. At the very least, if you can't use clip opacity, use the stochastic mode. And remember to raise the max transparency levels in the render settings, lest you get black.
b) AO should really not be needed. However, if you need to mix it, try and do so with a vrayCompTex, or a vrayBlendMtl, rather than a composite map (which is horrible for performance and memory usage, if it has a nice UI.).

[Vizioen]

Two little details to add:
a) consider exploring clip opacity, or if you'll displace the cards (with the height map) the use of a waterlevel. Not tracing through many layers of opacity would make your renders quicker. At the very least, if you can't use clip opacity, use the stochastic mode. And remember to raise the max transparency levels in the render settings, lest you get black.
b) AO should really not be needed. However, if you need to mix it, try and do so with a vrayCompTex, or a vrayBlendMtl, rather than a composite map (which is horrible for performance and memory usage, if it has a nice UI.).

Didn't know that the composite map was so terrible for performance? I use it a lot, almost in all my materials, mainly because VrayCompTex is severely lacking (multiple layers / masks / ...).

[^Lele^]

It will force the loading of the whole layer stack each time one peeks at a shader.
If the bitmaps aren't vraybitmap, that will also have loaded the full-size versions, plus mipmaps, in your max session.
Passable behaviour for a layer or two, not so for a serious stack, in my book.

[Vizioen]

It will force the loading of the whole layer stack each time one peeks at a shader.
If the bitmaps aren't vraybitmap, that will also have loaded the full-size versions, plus mipmaps, in your max session.
Passable behaviour for a layer or two, not so for a serious stack, in my book.

Hmm... I'd have to do some testing to check the rendertimes on these materials. But as there's no other alternative inside 3dsMax when combining multiple vraybitmaps and procedural maps, I'm kind of forced to use it.

[^Lele^]

You can achieve the very same results using vrayCompTex nodes, chained appropriately.
A mask is after all a multiplication, and the map has been enriched with a few modes over the years.
Also, it's always better for the sake of operating speed to use vrayBitmaps from within Max, to avoid said composite maps to have one sit and wait for ages while the little preview refreshes.
I have no idea as to where the rendering performance is, but if it also forces loading the highest mip at rendertime, it's to be avoided at all costs if one's memory-savvy.

[Vizioen]

I don't know what's up with the forum but posting is a real PITA, I'm getting 403 errors all the time. Forget copying or pasting. I even retyped my message a couple of times from scratch and it didn't take it. So here's a screenshot of what I typed (3 times) instead. Hopefully this time it comes through.

[^Lele^]

I had the same issue yesterday, sorted removing brackets from the post. super odd. I have reported it to our IT.

No worries about thread hijacking, we are disseminating useful information anyway.

[AyrtonSenna]

no worries! Learning here!

I wanted to ask a bit more about what i need to use actually. For example, do I need SSS? Do I need anisotropy on? This kind of stuff.
I dont think I can use the Vrayhair material for cards right?

thank you all for your time

[hermit.crab]

I wanted to ask a bit more about what i need to use actually. For example, do I need SSS? Do I need anisotropy on? This kind of stuff.

It all depends on the effect you wish to achieve. Real hair does have SSS, however, know that this will surely increase render times. Anisotropy is usually added to video game characters' hair, but it doesn't hurt to experiment.

I dont think I can use the Vrayhair material for cards right?

Of course, you can - it does have an opacity slot with which to cut out the cards. However, since you already have maps such as normals and height, you won't be able to use them since the VRayHairNextMtl has its own shading model (with parameters such as Melanin, Photomelanin, Glint, etc.)