edit: http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=172&page=viewtopic&t=17540 [sidefx.com]
above link makes my 1. question much easier, so considering this solved.
Hi there,

Pretty much a newbie to Houdini (so be gentle) but not a newbie to CG. I'm playing around with the fur tools, so far so good. My question is about fur direction away from a nose of an animal. Any typical cat, lama or killer rabbit has fur that is combed/brushed away from their nose, and flows back across their face. What's the easiest way to get to this starting point? So far been looking at:

1. combing tools - use this tool to stroke by stroke (and repeat 100x) to “comb” the fur from sticking straight up like a normal, to laying flatter against the skin

2. parting tools - less success here so far, but you could create a donut basically around the edge of the nose to help guide the combing, is it redundant?

New to the Houdini forums and tried searching for this (I'm sure it's been done a million times) but was not having any success. Any advice/forum link such as “Ya do that” or “Are you out of your mind? Abort, abort!” would be appreciated!

I humbly offer these free baby carrots as a reward, from me to you, for anyone who can help.



Cheers,

- Phunt

I can't offer advice at this time, however I gratefully receive the carrots

And congrats on the first Houdini forum post!

Cheers,

Peter B

The fur around a muzzle are quite different than the rest of the body, so I might use an existence map to control them.

probbins
The fur around a muzzle are quite different than the rest of the body, so I might use an existence map to control them.

Thanks for the response! I searched for “existence map” (and just “existence” in the help and nothing came up. Do you mean something along the lines of a length map or density map by chance? I am currently using those to much success.

Some more details if it's helpful. The problem I'm having is the combing tools are responsive enough on my 4,900 polygon base mesh model, but when I sub divide it a couple of times to 77,000 polys, there's a huge amount of lag using the combing tools. My understanding is I need to comb on the subdivided mesh otherwise the fur loses whatever information it's referencing (point count?). The other option is to have a higher poly subdivided mesh for the skin/polygon render, and use a lower base mesh to generate the fur. I fear if I did this the roots of the hair would not make contact with the skin and there would be a visual disconnect in the render.

Another side note problem which I'm still looking into, I'm having problem combing the fur very flat against the “skin.” It seems to only want to lay down to 45 degrees or so and something along 20 degrees would be preferred. I'm sure I just need to play around more but since I'm giving out free baby carrots, thought I might bribe your help :wink:

Cheers!

- Phunt

There's various point attributes on the surface of the geometry that controls fur generation. Haven't looked at in in a few months but I'm pretty sure there's lots of direction controls in there.

Since the head of the animal is pretty standardized in terms of direction, you could try placing a node that would cause the furDirection attribute to point away from it over a certain distance. And, if this little node was a digital asset, you could use it to semi-procedurally comb a variety of animals quickly. Or, you could open it up to where the same node could influence whatever things the user would specify, might be more intuitive than using a bunch of maps.

PS* I sit behind you .. where' s my carrots

andrewlowell
PS* I sit behind you .. where' s my carrots

Terrible news! A polar bear came along and ate all of the carrots in a beta carotene induced rage! Them the breaks in Canada ya know.

Thanks for the reply. I may even turn around and thank you in person. I stress the may turn around part. :wink:

Phunt
Another side note problem which I'm still looking into, I'm having problem combing the fur very flat against the “skin.” It seems to only want to lay down to 45 degrees or so and something along 20 degrees would be preferred. I'm sure I just need to play around more but since I'm giving out free baby carrots, thought I might bribe your help :wink:

This would be due to the default “comb lift” value of 0.5. Reducing it to 0 will make the fur lay down flat. You probably want a value around 0.2. If you find the comb does not move the hairs enough, consider increasing the opacity a bit (1 = full opacity). Both of these values are accessible above the viewer while combing.

derrick
This would be due to the default “comb lift” value of 0.5. Reducing it to 0 will make the fur lay down flat. You probably want a value around 0.2. If you find the comb does not move the hairs enough, consider increasing the opacity a bit (1 = full opacity). Both of these values are accessible above the viewer while combing.

Right you are, “comb lift” option was the culprit! I thought that was some sort of distance from skin option vs the angle option based on the name. Anyway, it works and my animal now looks like he's been using hair gel.

Kudos to you!