Creating a carpet in 3d max vray. Hair and Fur modifier
In this article, we will look at the process of creating a wool rug in 3DS MAX using vray fur. After that, already having initial knowledge, we will study in detail all the possibilities of vray fur. As the material is presented, I will post the finished files with the final result. If some moments cause you difficulties, then download them and see how everything is arranged there.
Before we start, take a look at the possible end result of the theoretical knowledge presented in this article:
So, let's begin!
You can follow along with me, creating a scene from the very beginning, or download a scene in which the initial settings have already been made:
Let's set the units of measurement in which we will work. I chose centimeters:
In the projection window Top create Plane (plane). The plane will be the floor on which the mat will lie:
Set the dimensions of the plane to 5x5 meters.
In the Top viewport, create a ChamferBox with the parameters shown in the figure:
To light the scene, let's create a VRayLight spherical light source with the following parameters:
The checkbox in the Invisible field should be checked so that during the rendering of the scene the light source would not be visible if it enters the frame. For better lighting, I slightly raised the light source above the scene along the Z axis and corrected its position along the X and Y axes. You can see its exact coordinates along the axes under the timeline:
In order for the coordinates to be highlighted, on the toolbar, select the Select and Move tool.
If we now render the scene, we will see a plane (Plane) on which lies a rug (ChamferBox) illuminated by a light source:
It's time to make the rug woolen.
On the Create panel, in the Geometry section, select VRay from the list. Next, select the VRayFur object. But in order for VRayFur to become active, the object for which it is intended should be selected. In our case, this is a rug (ChamferBox).
Then you should click on the button labeled VRayFur. After that, the rug will be covered with wool, and the VRayFur object will appear in the projection window:
Whatever VRay Fur does not interfere with, you can move it to the side (as I did), this does not affect the final result.
If we now render the scene, we will get some kind of shaggy creature that bears little resemblance to our final goal:
In order to turn this monster into a rug, you need to adjust the VRayFur parameters. Assign the following values to the parameters:
Length- the length of the villi of wool;
Thickness- the thickness of the wool villi;
gravity- the effect of gravity on the inclination of the villi to the ground;
Bend- bending of the villi;
Taper- sharpening of the villi from beginning to end;
Knots- the number of segments that form a villus. The higher the value of this parameter, the smoother the hair will be, which in turn will increase the rendering time.
In chapter Variation parameters are given that affect the deviation of the initially set values, by the specified value according to a random law, because it is impossible to imagine that all the villi have exactly the same direction (Direction var), the same length (Length var), thickness (Thickness var) and the influence of gravity (Gravity var).
Chapter distribution offers to choose how the villi will be distributed over the surface. Here you can select Per face (by face), or Per area (by area). For now, set to Per area, but below we will return to this section and consider it in more detail, because there is something to talk about.
Render the scene with the above parameters:
That's better!
The next thing to do is assign materials.
Open the Material Editor, go to any free slot, select the standard VrayMtl material and select the giraffe fur image as the diffuse scattering color - meh_zhiraf_1920x1200.jpg (all image files come with the file that you downloaded at the beginning of the article):
Assign the resulting material to the VRayFur object. I draw your attention to the fact that we assign the material not to the rug (ChamferBox), but to the VRayFur object. To do this, select it and click on the Assign Material to Selection button:
The fur has been dyed the skin of a giraffe, but bald spots are visible. This problem can be solved in two ways. The first way is to increase the density of the fur (Per area value), and the second way is to assign the rug (ie the ChamferBox object) the exact same material as the VRayFur object. I do not recommend using the first method, because increasing the density of the fur will increase the rendering time of the scene. Therefore, we will use the second method. Let's assign the same material that we used for VRayFur to the ChamferBox object. Thus, we tinted the rug in the color of the fur. After rendering the scene, we get the following result:
It can be seen that the bald spots have disappeared.
To improve the appearance, we put parquet. Hereinafter, I will not go into the details of creating materials because this is not the purpose of this article, it will take a lot of time and lead away from the essence of the issue we are considering. You can see all material settings in source files.
After laying the parquet, we get the following result:
Already quite good, but let's improve the appearance a little more.
Our rug is very even, probably this happens, but still in a real situation they walk on the rug, wipe their feet on it, sometimes even stumble on it, so it is unlikely that it can maintain such an ideal shape. If you are doing the lesson with me, then at this stage I recommend that you save the scene, because the elements of free creativity will go on, which may not improve, but worsen the appearance of the rug.
You probably noticed that when creating the rug (ChamferBox object), I chose a considerable number of segments in width (Width Segs=60) and length (Length Segs=40). For a completely straight rug, this number of segments is not needed. This was done in order to be able to smoothly change the geometry of the rug. By changing the geometry, I mean the formation of folds. To access the vertices, let's convert the ChamferBox object into an editable polygon, then move the vertices of the polygon to change the appearance of the rug by adding some folds to it.
Let's apply the Edit Poly modifier to the ChamferBox and move on to editing the vertices:
Little advice! When editing subobjects, it is convenient to use numbers from 1 to 5. For example, to edit vertices, just press the key with the number 1. Try pressing the numbers from 1 to 5 and you will see how easy it is to move from one subobject to another.
In the projection window, you can now observe the vertices quite densely covering the ChamferBox object:
Open the soft selection scroll (Soft Selection) and activate it by checking the Use Soft Selection option. Then you should set the value of the Falloff parameter. This parameter sets the degree of distribution (influence) of soft selection on vertices that are separated from the selected one by a given distance:
I set the Falloff value to 7cm. You can choose a different value. It's up to your taste. The easiest way to set the Falloff value is to observe how the spread of the soft selection to neighboring vertices changes relative to the selected one in the projection window:
Let's select one of the vertices located at the very edge of the rug (it is a red dot) and by changing the Falloff value we will observe how the changes occur. Now let's create the first fold on the rug. To do this, in the Perspective window, grab the Z axis and move the selected vertex up by 0.5-1 cm. After rendering, we get the following picture:
The first fold is ready.
Having done a similar procedure several times at different distances, and changing the Falloff value, we will end up with a rug with folds:
It is impossible to say that they wipe their feet about it and stumble, but the fact that they walk on it is already noticeable. Frankly, I did not set a goal here to achieve a fantastic result, my task was to show how this is done. Experiment with the settings of the Soft Selection rollout, you will probably get much better. By the way, in the Soft Selection rollout there are quite a few interesting parameters with their own settings that are beyond the scope of this article, but nothing prevents you from trying them.
And further! If we are talking about experiments, try changing the thickness of the wool, its length, etc. Now you know where and how to do it. The results will be very interesting!
If something went wrong for you, then download the finished file with the final result at the moment:
So, the rug is ready!
We have completed the minimum task, but in the VRayFur settings there are a lot of parameters that we have not yet considered, or have considered very superficially. It's time to pay attention to them.
Frankly, now I shuddered a little from the fact that I was trying to embrace the immensity, because if you describe in detail all the features of VRay Fur, then this will take more than one article. I will try to be brief, but nevertheless I will try to reveal as many features of VRay Fur as possible.
You probably noticed that at the moment the rug is overgrown with wool not only from above, but from below and from the sides. Now we will make sure that the pile will remain only in the area that we set, and it will disappear on the rest of the surface.
Select the VRayFur object and in the Placement section check the box next to the Selected faces parameter:
Now wool will only grow on selected faces or polygons. In the projection windows, the appearance of the rug has not changed in any way, because this effect appears after the scene is rendered.
Select the rug, in the modifiers panel (Modify) go to the polygon editing level and uncheck the Soft Selection parameter, which we set earlier when creating folds on the rug, and set the Ignore Backfacing checkbox:
Let's go to the Top window and use the Select Object tool to select the polygons as shown in the figure:
The Ignore Backfacing checkbox was set so that only the upper polygons would fall into the selection area during the selection, and the lower ones from the selection process, and hence from the wool generation process, were excluded.
To make the effect of the result more noticeable, assign a material different from giraffe fur to the rug (ChamferBox), for example, a material of light gray color and render the scene:
It can be seen that now the fur is located only on those polygons that have been selected. At the same time, bald spots appeared again, because the color of the rug is different from the color of the fur. If you remember, at the beginning of the article, I promised to return to the Distribution section, where the Per face (by face) and Per area (by area) attributes are located and consider it in more detail. Now we will do it, and at the same time we will remove the bald spots.
Select VRayFur, go to the object modifiers panel, check the Per face attribute and enter the same number in the input field that we set in Per area - 100:
After rendering, we get the following result:
The patches have disappeared. The thing is that by checking the Per face checkbox, we thereby forced to generate fur for each small polygon that makes up the rug with a coefficient of 100, while the entire object previously generated the same amount of fur. It is obvious that the density of fur per unit area has increased and the bald spots have disappeared.
In my opinion, using selected polygons is a very exotic way to generate wool and I never use it. So I want to offer you another way. It is based on assigning a specific identification number (ID) to a certain group of polygons and assigning a material to each group of polygons in accordance with the assigned ID.
Before moving on, you should return the giraffe skin material to the rug. And on the modifier rollout of the VrayFur object, return the checkmark to the Per area position. Do it.
Then, in the Top window, using the Select Object tool, select the polygons as shown in the figure:
Rendering the scene:
It can be seen that the fur is located on those polygons that were selected. And there is no fur on the border of the rug, but it is painted in the color of the giraffe skin material, which is not at all pleasing to the eye. Let's fix this bug.
While the polygons remain selected (if not, select them again), go to the very end of the polygon editing scroll and in the Set ID field set the ID value for the selected polygons to 2, you don’t need to touch the Select ID field, it will change automatically:
Then, in the material editor, go to any free slot and create a Multi/Sub-Object material. As a material with ID = 1, create a standard VrayMtl material in which we select fabric as a diffuse scattering map, and for the material with ID = 2, we assign the already existing giraffe skin material (by dragging it with the left mouse button held down to the second position of the Multi/ Sub-object:
Assign the resulting material to the rug and render the scene:
Now the polygons assigned with the giraffe skin material (ID=2) generate wool, and the polygons assigned with the cloth material (ID=1) have turned into a rug border.
In this case, the entire wool cover is located only on top, which means that when rendering the scene, time will not be spent on generating and rendering wool that is not visible.
Download the file with the final result:
Scrolls Maps.
To study the scrolls, let's forget about the rug, we won't need it anymore.
Let's create a rectangle, grow wool on its upper section and look at the behavior of its hairs in different projection windows, depending on which map from the Maps rollout we use. True, this time the wool will look much more like grass, because in order for all the changes to be clearly visible, the length of the wool will have to be greatly increased. So if it makes it clearer to you, then consider wool as grass. It doesn't matter.
You don't need to do anything with your hands. Try to brainstorm and understand the essence of what is written, because the VrayFur maps are arranged in such a way that it is not very easy to figure everything out. I mean RGB maps. In mono maps, everything is simpler.
As you already understood, there are two types of maps in the Maps rollouts: RGB and mono. RGB uses a color image, mono uses black and white.
RGB maps.
Bend direction map– sets the direction of the curvature of the wool villi depending on the intensity of the RGB color channels. The bend is smoothly distributed along the entire length of the villi.
It should not be forgotten that when rendering a scene, the final bend value depends not only on the influence of the Bend direction map, but also on the settings specified in the VrayFur parameters:
Circled in red are the parameters affecting the final result.
In order to understand how the process of map influence on the final result is organized, it should be remembered that the orientation of the bend is tied to the color scale of the axes accepted in 3D Studio Max.
X-axis is red
Y-axis - green
Z axis - blue
Accordingly, in a three-dimensional coordinate system:
Changing the intensity of the red color affects the bending of the villi along the X axis (left/right);
- changing the intensity of the green color affects the bending of the villi along the Y axis (forward / backward);
- changing the intensity of the blue color affects the bending of the villi along the Z axis (up / down);
To understand the effect of color on the curvature of the villi, one should observe the process in at least two projection windows. For completeness of perception, we will use three windows Front, Right and Perspective. Since left / right, forward / backward, up / down in 3D graphics are very relative concepts, it all depends on which projection window to observe the process from, I chose the Front window as the starting point.
The main thing you need to understand is what exactly is considered the zero reference point when bending. It is well known that by changing the three values of the color palette (RGB), you can get any color. The values of the color components vary from 0 to 255. And if, for example, you need to change the bending of the villi along the X axis to the maximum value to the right, then it would be logical to assume that for this you should change the red color value from 0 to 255. But in this case , the question arises, how then to change the bend to the left? After all, all the possibilities for changing colors have already been used! Here you need to understand that in the Bend direction map, the middle of the color palette of each color component is taken as the zero value. Below are the color palettes for the standard RGB color and for the mode used in the Bend direction map settings:
It can be seen that with the standard use of color in any color channel, the color changes from 0 to 255. In this case, the value 128 is the middle. This very middle is the zero reference point when using the Bend direction map, where the effect of color on the final result is minimal. Now it becomes clear that for the maximum change in the inclination of the villi to the right, you should set the value of the red color to the maximum possible, i.e. to set the value to +127. If maximum tilt to the left is required, then the red color value should be set to -127. Same for green and blue. You need to get used to this, because on the display screen you will see that the values \u200b\u200bchange from 0 to 255, and the fact that in the Bend direction map the value 128 is the zero point and changes occur when deviating left and right from it should be kept in mind.
We figured out the theory, now let's get into practice.
Download the source file if you'd like to explore the Bend direction map with me.
Select the Vray Fur object, go to the modifiers panel and assign a VrayColor map to the Bend direction map:
To access the parameters, drag the VrayColor map (by holding down the left mouse button) into a free slot of the material editor as an Instance:
By default, the values of all color channels are 0.5 (RGB = 128) i.e. half of the entire color range. This means that at this stage the same zero is set, which was discussed above, and the effect of the card on the final result of the bend will be minimal (but it will still be, if you turn off the card, then the position of the villi will be different).
We render the scene and get the following result:
You now see the values RGB = 128, but you should remember that for the Bend direction map - this means 0. Therefore, the influence of color channels on the result is minimal.
Click on the color parameter of the VrayColor map, and in the color palette that opens, change the value of the red component to 180 and render the scene again:
In the Front window, you can clearly see that the hairs are curved to the right along the X axis, because we have increased the red component from zero. Change the Red value again to 70 and render the scene:
It can be seen that the villi are tilted to the left, because this time we have reduced the red component relative to zero.
Now let's examine the effect of the green channel. Let's return the red component to zero position (R = 128) and increase the green value to 180. Render the scene and get the following result:
In the Right window, you can see that with an increase in the green component, the villi deviated to the right (forward). Reduce the green color to 70 and render the scene:
Now in the Right window, the hairs have deviated to the left (back).
Now let's examine the effect of the blue channel. Let's return the value of the green component to the zero position (G = 128) and increase the value of the blue component to the maximum possible, equal to 255. Render the scene and get the following result:
Since the influence of the red and green channels is now minimal, there are practically no deviations to the left / right and forward / backward. And the maximum value of the blue channel responsible for the up / down direction made the hair grow (stretch) up to the maximum. Let's reduce the influence of the blue channel to the minimum and get the following picture:
As expected, the fur stuck to the ground.
Initial direction map- a map that determines the initial direction of villi growth. Unlike the previous one (Bend direction map, where the bend was smoothly distributed along the entire length of the villi), here the direction is set only at the very beginning of the hair villus growth. Further, the hair villi grow in the indicated direction and do not change in any way along their entire length. If we imagine grass instead of wool, we can say that the blade of grass receives the direction given by the map at the very initial point of growth (where the grass touches the ground) and, having received the direction, grows in this direction. All the above arguments (for the Bend direction map), about where the zero reference point is located and how the directions of deviations along the axes are related, are also valid for the Initial direction map. Therefore, here we will no longer dive into theory, but immediately move on to practice.
Download the source file if you'd like to explore the Initial direction map with me.
In the same way as we did before, assign a VrayColor map to the Initial direction map and render the image with zero parameters for the influence of the map on the final result:
So far, no change in the direction of villi growth has been observed.
Let's change the value of the red component to the maximum value R = 255:
In the Front window, you can see how the direction of hair growth changed (one might even say refracted) at the very beginning of their growth and the entire bundle of wool went to grow in the right direction.
With the minimum value of the red component R = 0:
With the maximum value of the green component G = 255:
With the minimum value of the green component G = 0:
The blue component when using the Initial direction map gives an unpredictable result. Therefore, it is better not to use it here.
mono cards.
In mono maps, unlike RGB maps, in order to observe the process of changing the parameters of wool, one projection window is enough. Let's select the Front projection window, in which we will observe the ongoing changes.
length map- a multiplier card responsible for the height of the wool villi, where absolutely black color is a multiplier equal to 0.0, and absolutely white color is a multiplier equal to 1.0.
When the map is black, the hair height is 0. When the map is white, the hair height is equal to the value specified in the Lenght field.
Thickness map- a multiplier card responsible for the thickness of the wool villi, where absolutely black color is a multiplier equal to 0.0, and absolutely white color is a multiplier equal to 1.0.
When the card is black, the hair thickness is 0. When the card is white, the hair thickness is equal to the value specified in the Thickness field.
gravity map– a multiplier card responsible for the effect of gravity on the hair fibers, where absolutely black color is a multiplier equal to 0.0, and absolutely white color is a multiplier equal to 1.0.
When the map is black, the gravity effect is 0. When the map is white, the gravity effect is equal to the value specified in the Gravity field.
bend map– a multiplier card responsible for the bending of the wool villi, where absolutely black color is a multiplier equal to 0.0, and absolutely white color is a multiplier equal to 1.0.
When the card is black, the hair bend is 0. When the card is white, the hair bend is equal to the value specified in the Bend field.
Density map- a map that affects the density of wool. The absolute black color of the map corresponds to zero density (in fact, there is no wool in these areas), and the absolute white color represents the normal density of wool specified in the Per area parameter.
If the color of the map is black, the wool density is 0 i.e. practically absent. When the map is white, the wool density is equal to the value specified in the Per area field.
Scroll Viewport display.
There is nothing complicated here. In order to understand how everything is arranged here, it is enough to remove and check the boxes located in this scroll while watching what is happening in the projection windows.
preview in viewport– enables/disables the schematic representation of wool in the projection windows;
Max. hairs– the value set in this field shows the maximum number of hair fibers that will be displayed in the projection windows. Decreasing this value reduces the refresh time in the viewports in case of very dense fur.
icon text– enables/disables the display of VRayFur text in the projection window;
automatic update- If this option is enabled (checked), then as the parameters of the VRayFur object change, the schematic representation of wool in the projection windows will be automatically updated. It should not be forgotten that in the case of very dense fur, this can slow down the computer. In this case, disable this option to switch to manual update mode;
manual update– button for manually updating VRayFur parameters. Applies if the Automatic update mode has been disabled.
That's all I wanted to tell you in this article.
VRayFur is a very simple procedural fur plugin. The fur is generated only during render time and is not actually present in the scene.
To create a VRayFur object, you must first select a mesh from the 3ds Max scene, then go to the Create panel, choose the VRay category, and then click on the VRayFur button. Note that if you have not selected an object, or you have selected an object which is not compatible with VRayFur, the VRayFur button will appear greyed out.
||Select geometry|| > Create menu > V-Ray > V-Ray Fur
||Select geometry|| > Create panel > V-Ray list > VRayFur
||Select geometry|| > V-Ray Toolbar > V-Ray Fur button
Parameters
source object– Specifies the source geometry for the fur. You can click on this button only from the Modify panel (and not from the Create panel).
Length– Specifies the length of the fur strands.
Thickness– Specifies the thickness of the strands.
gravity– Controls the force that pulls fur strands down along the Z-direction.
Bend– Controls the elasticity of the fur strands. When set to0.0, the strands are hard and all straight lines. Greater values cause the strands to bend (e.g. under the influence of gravity).
Taper– Allows the user to add a taper to the individual strands of fur. Increasing this value will make the each strand thinner in its upper end and wider in its base.
MtlID– Assigns a material ID to the generated hairs. This is useful for applying a Multi/Sub-object material to the fur.
Geometric detail
Knots– Fur strands are rendered as several connected straight segments; this parameter controls the number of segments.
Lvl of detail– Level of detail. When enabled, V-Ray will generate less fur geometry for parts of the scene which are far away from the camera. This is done by decreasing the density of the fur strands and increasing their thickness. This parameter helps for two things: First, it conserves memory by decreasing the detail where it is too far to be visible. Second, it helps reduce animation flickering of very fine fur strands when they are far from the camera.
start distance– Specifies the distance from the camera at which V-Ray is going to start implementing the level of detail adjustment. Up to this distance the fur will be generated as specified by the user. After that V-Ray decreases the density and increases the thickness of the strand by a factor of two for every n units of space specified by the rate parameter.
rate– Specifies the rate at which the detail adjustment is applied. Starting from the distance specified in the start distance parameter, V-Ray decreases the density and increase the thickness of the strands by a factor of two for every n units of space specified by the Rate parameter.
Variation
direction variation– Adds slight variation to the direction in which fur strands grow from the source object. Any positive value is valid. This parameter should be adjusted according to the scale of the scene.
Length/Thickness/Gravity/Curl var– Adds variation to the corresponding parameter. Values range from 0.0 (no variation) to 1.0.
distribution
This section determines the density of strands over the source object.
per face– Specifies the number of fur strands per face of the source object. Every face will generate the specified number of fur strands.
Per area– Specifies the number of strands per squared scene unit. For example, if the system units are in meters, this parameter specifies the desired number of strands per square meter; if the system units are centimeters, it specifies the number of strands per square centimeter and so on. The area of the triangle faces (which is used to compute the number of strands for each face) is taken at the frame specified by the Ref. frame parameter. Every triangle face has at least one strand.
Ref. frame– reference frame. When the distribution parameter is set to Per area, this specifies the frame at which the source object is captured to calculate the face area. The captured data will be used throughout the entire animation to ensure that the number of strands for a given face remains constant during animation.
Placement
Determines which faces of the source object will generate fur strands.
Entire object– All faces will generate fur.
Selected faces– Only selected faces (for example with a MeshSelect modifier) will generate fur.
Material ID– Only faces with the specified material ID will generate fur.
Mapping
Generate W-coordinate– In general, all mapping coordinates are taken from the base object. However, the W mapping coordinate can be modified to represent the offset along the hair strands. When this option is enabled, the W coordinate is the offset along the hair strands (0.0 is the strand base, and 1.0 is the tip). The U and V coordinates are still taken from the base object.
Channel– When Generate W-coordinate is enabled, this parameter specifies the channel for which the W coordinate will be modified.
curl
curl– When enabled, adds curls to the fur.
Curl Radius– The radius of the individual curl.
Curl Angle– The number of curls on a strand.
Maps
Base map chan– Some of the texture maps represent vectors in texture space, where the x and y directions are derived from the u and v directions of a texture mapping channel. This parameter specifies which mapping channel is used.
Bend direction map– This is an RGB map which specifies a bend direction of the fur strands in texture space (according to the specified Base map channel). This is the direction in which the fur strands curve to (the amount of curvature is also controlled by the Bend parameter). The red component is offset along the u texture direction, the green component is the offset along the v texture direction, and the blue component is the offset along the surface normal.
Initial direction map– This is an RGB map which specifies the initial direction of the fur strands, in texture space (according to the specified Base map channel). The red component is offset along the u texture direction, the green component is the offset along the v texture direction, and the blue component is the offset along the surface normal.
Length/Thickness/Gravity/Bend map– These maps are multipliers for the corresponding parameters where black is a multiplier of 0.0, and white is a multiplier of 1.0.
Density map– This map is a multiplier for the strand density. Black portions of the map correspond to zero density (effectively no fur will be generated in these areas), and white represents the normal strand density, as specified by the distribution parameters.
Curl map– This map is a multiplier for the strand Curl. Black portions of the map correspond to no curl, and white represents the set curl, as specified by the distribution parameters.
Viewport Display
These parameters control the display of VRayFur in the viewports.
preview in viewport– Turns the preview of VRayFur in the viewports on or off.
Max. hairs– Specifies the maximum number of hair strands that will be represented in the viewport. This lowering this value may help speed up the viewports in the case of very dense fur.
icon text– Enables and disables the display of the "VRayFur" text in the view port
automatic update– When enabled, the viewport preview of the fur will be updated automatically as the source object changes. However, this may slow down the interactive work with the viewports; in this case, turn the option off to disable the automatic update.
manual update– Click this button to manually refresh the viewport preview when automatic update is disabled.
Styling VRay Fur
It is possible to use vertex color maps to style the fur. A separate tool for this task, VRayFurStyler, can be downloaded from this page:
notes
- Avoid applying textures with Object XYZ mapping to the fur. If you need to use a 3d procedural texture, apply a UVW Map modifier to the source object with the option to convert XYZ to UVW coordinates and use explicit mapping for the texture.
- Avoid having very large triangles covered with fur, since the fur is generated in groups corresponding to triangles of the original mesh.
- Shadow maps will not include information about the VRayFur. However, other objects will cast shadows on the fur, even with shadow maps.
- Sharp VRayShadows may produce flickering with VRayFur in animations, because the lighting situation of individual hairs will change very rapidly. Area shadows or VRayLights may produce smoother results.
- VRayFur will not work with Infinite Plane | VRayPlane as a base object.
The special VRayFur tool provided in the V-Ray renderer, as well as the standard Hair and Fur module, allows you to create surfaces covered with fur, but in terms of functionality it still does not reach the standard module. The fact is that wool or fur modeled with this tool does not look very impressive when rendered, and it is completely impossible to create hair and especially hairstyles from them. However, for modeling grass and various surfaces with a small pile (carpets, terry towels, etc.), VRayFur is perfect. Moreover, in some cases (if we are talking about relatively large surfaces in the background), it should even be preferred, since the rendering of fur and wool created in it is an order of magnitude faster than in the case of using the Hair and Fur module.
The VRayFur tool is in the category VRay section geometry(Fig. 52). The fur system is usually generated based on an already existing geometric surface (that is, the surface that should be covered with hair), although you can specify the surface after activating the tool VRayFur by clicking on the button source object(source object). The type of fur is set on the panel Modify by setting a series of parameters (Fig. 53), among which the most important ones are concentrated in the scroll Parameters. This is the length, thickness and bend of the villi ( Length, Thickness and Bend respectively), the degree of influence of the gravitational force on them ( gravity) and the number of villi in the group ( Knots). In addition, in the section Variation There are several parameters that can be used to achieve variations in the type of villi: their growth directions ( Direction var), lengths ( Length Var), thickness ( Thickness Var) and the level of gravity effect ( Gravity var). In section distribution the density of villi on the surface of the object is adjusted - hair can be assigned to a face ( per face) or on the area ( Per area). The first option ensures that each face generates the same number of villi, with the second, the number of villi on a face depends on its size (for about there are more villi on the larger faces, less on the smaller ones). There are also settings for limiting the fur distribution area on the surface of an object (these settings are concentrated in the section Placement). When choosing an option Entireobject all faces will generate fur. Option Selected faces will allow you to create fur only on selected faces (such faces need to be selected with a modifier MeshSelect), and the variant Material ID- only on faces with the specified material ID. There is also a scroll Maps, where texture maps are connected to control the parameters of the fur.
Rice. 53. VRayFur Tool Options
To understand the nuances of creating fur with the VRayFur tool, create a new scene with a regular ball (Fig. 54). Select the ball, activate the panel Create, In chapter geometry Select a category VRay and click on the button VRayFur- Separate villi will appear on the ball, scattered in a certain way (Fig. 55). The result obtained in the projection window and during visualization will bear little resemblance to real fur, since the number of villi is small (Fig. 56). It is not difficult to make the fur thicker and more natural - just increase the density of the villi on the surface of the object by entering in the field Per area, for example, 1 (this will not affect the fur in the projection window, since far from all the villi are displayed there, but it will be noticeable during rendering). And also correct the color of the mezdra (that is, the ball itself, to which the fur coating is assigned), by directly changing its color (Fig. 57). It's also a good idea to make the hairs translucent - for this you will have to create a translucent gradient material (Fig. 58) and assign it to the hairs and the ball itself. In addition, you can reduce the thickness of the villi ( Thickness) and increase their density ( Per area) - rice. 59. The resulting fur is already quite similar to the real one (Fig. 60).
Rice. 54. Original scene
Rice. 55. The appearance of individual villi on the ball
Rice. 56. View of a fur-covered ball with default parameters
Rice. 57. The result of an increase in the density of the villi and a change in the color of the mezra
Rice. 58. Gradient Material
Rice. 59. Fur settings
Rice. 60. View of the fur-covered ball after adjusting the parameters
If desired, the created fur can change many different parameters. For example, to make the villi lie more luxuriantly by decreasing the value of the parameter Bend and increasing the value in the field Knots(Fig. 61), or completely confused, significantly increasing the values in the fields Direction var and Gravity var(Fig. 62).
Rice. 61. Type of fur with fluffy villi
Rice. 62. Type of fur with tangled villi
Terry cloth hanging from the ball
Let's use V-Ray's fur generation method to model the terry cloth hanging from the ball. We will not create the fabric itself (we modeled it in one of the previous lessons), so just open the appropriate scene (Fig. 63). Change the background color to light gray and set up lighting based on one Omni and two Spot sources, for one of the Spot sources turn on shadow generation by type VRayShadow(Fig. 64). Set V-Ray as the current renderer and render the scene (Figure 65).
Rice. 63. Original scene
Rice. 64. Emergence of light sources
Rice. 65. Initial view of the stage
Select the fabric thrown over the ball, activate the panel Create, In chapter geometry Select a category VRay and click on the button VRayFur- the fabric will be covered with sparse villi (Fig. 66). Reduce the length of the villi ( Length) to 5, and the thickness ( Thickness) - up to 0.1. Also provide b about More randomness in the location of the villi by entering in the fields Direction var and Gravity var value 0.4. In the area of distribution choose an option per face(Per face) and increase the density of the hairs on each face by entering in the field per face value 6 (Fig. 67). As a result, the appearance of the image during rendering will change (Fig. 68). Open the material editor and create a new material in it with a gradient texture, set for this texture in the fields color 1, color 2 and color 3 shades of burgundy so that in the field color 1 turned out to be the darkest of them (it will be at the base of the villi), and in the field color 3 (this is a shade for the tips of the villi) - the lightest (Fig. 69). Create a material with the same color in the field diffuse that is set in the field color 1 and assign it to tissue. Increase the density of the villi ( per face) until about 25-30 and visualize - now the fabric is already quite similar to terry (Fig. 70).
Today we will take a closer look at one of the many ways to create grass in 3Ds Max using a VRay render and a VRay Fur object.
1. Let's create a new scene and set centimeters as the unit of measurement.
To do this, in the "Customize" menu, go to the "Units Setup" item:
After that, we set the same units in the "Display Unit Scale" section:
2. Create a standard "Plane".
Plane parameters in my case are 300 cm by 300 cm, the number of segments is 30 by 30, you can do more, for example 700 cm by 700 cm, then set the number of segments to 70 by 70.
This mesh density is necessary for the Vray Fur object, with which we will create grass.
3. Add a Noise modifier to the Plane to turn the plane into a piece of terrain.
Noise parameters in my case are:
Throw TurboSmooth on top with the 1st iteration.
As a result, we got such an object on which we have to “sow” grass:
4. Now let's create the material of the future grass.
The grass itself will be rendered using a Vray Fur object, to which we will assign a VrayMtl material. To create it, we will use the texture of real grass, for example this:
In order to create a VrayMtl material, set the current render to the V-ray render.
To do this, click the "Render Setup" button:
At the bottom of the window, in the "Assign Renderer" section, in the "Production" field, select V-ray as the current renderer.
Now open the Material Editor:
Select a slot and create a VrayMtl material:
In the "Deffuse" slot, assign a "Bitmap" in the form of an image of realistic grass.
Assign the resulting material to the plane and press the button to display the material in the projection window on the object:
5. Let's start creating grass using the VRay Fur object.
VRay Fur is designed to create procedural fur on a polygonal object, while the fur is rendered only during rendering and the result is not present in the viewport, instead conditional fur hairs are displayed there, which allow you to control the parameters to get the final result.
Select the Plane object, in the "Create" section, select the "VRay" group from the drop-down list of objects, click on the "Vray Fur" button:
The result of the VRay Fur action appears on the plane:
By default, the VRay Fur object is created in a random color, like all created objects in 3Ds max.
In order for the “fur” to become grass, you need to configure it, and first apply the created grass material to it.
To do this, select the VRay Fur and drag the grass material onto it.
Making a test render:
6. Setting up VRay Fur.
VRay Fur has a number of settings that allow you to control the appearance of the generated "fur" array. Let's take a look at them.
source object- Here you specify the polygon object for which the VRay Fur action will be applied.
A separate VRay Fur is assigned to each independent object.
Basic parameters:
Length- Here you can set the maximum length of fur hairs.
Thickness- The thickness of the villi.
gravity- Villus attraction, a value that indicates how strongly the fur villi will bend along the z-axis.
Bend- The amount of bending of the villi, with a value of 0.0, the villi are straight.
Taper- Allows you to control the appearance of the villi, making them wider at the base and narrower towards the top.
Geometric detail:
Sides- Number of sides. The option is inactive. Each hair is rendered as a polygon feature.
Knots- The number of nodes on the villus, the more there are, the more segments that make up the villus. Can be useful when you want to set a smoother close-up curve.
flat normals- Flat normals. When this option is enabled, fur hair normals do not change along the width of the hair. This speeds up image rendering. When this option is off, the surface normal changes along the width of the strand, giving the illusion that the hairs are cylindrical.
Variations:
direction variation- Change of direction. This option allows you to change the direction in which fur hairs grow from the original object. The value of the parameter depends on the scale of the scene.
Length/Thickness/Gravity variation- Variations in length, thickness and pull. Allows you to add a random distribution of these three values (each separately) for the hairs in the final array. A value of 0.0 means no variation. The maximum is 1.0. Variations of these parameters allow you to add variety and make the final result more lively and realistic.
Distribution:
This section is responsible for how the density of the villi will be distributed on the object.
per face- “By face”, that is, each polygon will contain the specified number of villi.
Per area- By area, in this case the density distribution will be uneven if the polygons have different sizes. Smaller polygons will contain less density, larger polygons will contain more density.
reference frame- reference frame. Used when animating a scene and specifies a frame with the amount of hair to use throughout the animation of the scene.
Placement:
This section determines on which parts of the selected polygon object the fur will be generated.
Entire object- The whole object will be covered with fur.
Selected faces- Fur will be generated only on selected polygons. This option works if using, for example, a modifier MeshSelect create a selection of some polygons on the object, then it is on them that the fur array of Vray Fur will be generated.
Material ID- Polygons that are assigned the specified material ID will participate in fur generation.
Maps (Maps):
In this section, you can control some parameters using texture maps.
Here you can use several different cards at once.
base map channel- Base channel map. Specifies which texture channel number will be used for all textures involved in fur generation.
Bend direction map- Map of the direction of the bend. This is an RGB map that allows you to determine the direction of the curvature of the fur villi in space.
The red component of the map sets the offset along the U (X) direction of the texture, the green one along the V (Y), and the blue component the offset along the normal to the surface.
Length/Thickness/Gravity/Bend map- Map for length, thickness, pull and bend. For these maps, a black-and-white image is used, where black means zero effect of the parameter, and white means maximum (1).
Density map- Density map. A black and white image is also used for this map, the black parts of which correspond to zero density (fur will not be generated in these areas), and the white part provides the fur density specified in the distribution parameters.
Display in the projection windows (Viewport display):
preview in viewport- Allows you to enable or disable the display of VRay Fur hairs in the projection windows.
Max. hairs- The value of the maximum number of hairs to display in the projection windows.
automatic update- Automatic update of view changes in projection windows.
manual update- Show view updates in the projection window in manual mode.
This is a description of all VRayFur settings from the official V-ray documentation.
It's also worth noting that VRayFur does not work with a VRayPlane as its base object.
Now consider changing a parameter such as Gravity:
By setting some parameters, such as Length (Length), Thickness (Thickness), Gravity (Attraction) and Distribution: Per face = 7 (Polygon distribution) we get this render:
In case the density is insufficient, we increase the number of villi on the landfill per face.
We also adjust the length of the grass depending on what we want to get - tall grassy thickets or a mowed lawn.
7. Let's add the sun to the scene.
We will make daylight with the help of VRaySun and VRay Sky.
In the lighting sources, select the VRay group, in which the source type is VRaySun:
To the question "Do we want to set the VRaySky map as the environment map" answer Yes.
Set VRaySun to the required position in the Top and Front window.
8. For further rendering, we will use VRayPhisicalCamera.
Switch the view of the Perspective projection window to VRayPhisicalCamera01:
And adjust the camera position:
VRay Sun parameters:
VRayPhysicalCamera parameters:
Test render:
After changing the grass texture:
In this example, we did not use Global Illumination in the V-ray render settings, so the picture is not realistic and dark enough, but this was done purely to save time and the purpose was to describe how VRay Fur works.
Sometimes, when 3D modeling, you need to create something fluffy... No, of course, in this lesson we will not talk about kittens (although someday we may touch on this topic), but about everything that has a surface consisting of small hairs. In the interior, these are carpets, various fur products, in architectural visualization - grass, and when people are included in the scene - their hair.
So, to create objects consisting of many hairs, or villi, a very useful modifier is used - Hair and Fur, literally “hair and wool”. And today we will figure out how to use it, and we will create a realistic carpet, fur and hair with it.
So, let's figure out what this modifier is and where to look for it. Those familiar with already know that all modifiers are in the Modify tab in the Modify List drop-down menu. I created a cube to see all the "chips" that I can apply to it, including Hair and Fur. See screenshot:
Let's apply it to our object to see what happens. Select the cube / Modify / Modify List / find our modifier. Here is such a hairy cube I got.
Now let's look at the basic settings of our villi. Scroll down to the General Parameters tab.
Let's consider them in more detail:
- hair count. The parameter responsible for the number of villi.
- hair segments. Responsible for the number of segments - the larger the value, the smoother the shape of our hair will turn out.
- hair passes. Responsible for the number of rendering errors.
- Density. Shows how densely the surface is planted with pile. 100 is the maximum value.
- Scale. Hair scale.
- Cut Length. With this option, you can cut the pile to a given height.
- Rand. Scale. Responsible for the diversity in the length of the hairs. That is, some of them will be shorter, and some will be longer. A smaller value gives a smaller height difference.
- root tick. Base thickness.
- tip tick. Tip thickness.
- displacement. Extrudes hair roots from the surface of the source object. The default is always 0.
By adjusting these settings, you can easily and quickly get a realistic model of a carpet, six animals or hair. What are we going to do.
Quick Carpet Creation with Hair and Fur
First, let's create the base for our carpet. Select menu Create/Shape/Rectangle.
Create a rectangle and set its parameters in the Modify tab. Let its size be 1000×1000 mm. And also we will make it rounded edges, by 100 mm. See screenshot below.
Now we have it just a contour, and we need to fill it. Apply the Garment Maker modifier to it. This will allow us to get a plane randomly divided into polygons.
Next, apply the UVW Map modifier from the same list of modifiers. We will need it if we further want to add texture to the carpet. It remains only to apply Hair and Fur. That's what I did:
So far it looks more like an overgrown lawn than a carpet. To get the desired result, enter the parameters, as in the screenshot:
The rendering turned out to be a nice green rug with a fairly long pile.
However, in the interior, such a coating will look strange, because the villi cannot stand cleanly up. It will be much more realistic if we accept them a little, as if they were like him. To do this, scroll up and find the Hair Styling tool. It will allow us to bend our pile in any direction without any problems.
We press the button and with a ball in a chaotic manner we crush the hairs. Don't forget to press the Finish Styling button.
It remains only to stretch the desired texture and that's it - our carpet is ready and looks quite realistic!
Creating hair on a human head
Hair can be created in the same way. But you need to select the necessary polygons on the head of the 3d model of a person, then simply copy them to the side as a separate independent object. And already apply the Hair and Fur modifier to this object, and then deal with the hair settings. Here is another option for working with hair (watch the video tutorial):
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