Maya Dynamics: nHair, Xgen, and Interactive Grooming

Pluralsight

Course Summary

This course will introduce users to the most important basic functions and workflows found within Maya 2017 to create hair using nHair, Xgen, and interactive grooming splines. Software required: Autodesk Maya 2017.

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Course Description

Creation of hair in CGI, once a difficult and time consuming task, is becoming far more accessible and easier to create with every release of Maya. This course, Maya Dynamics: nHair, Xgen, and Interactive Grooming, will introduce users to the most important basic functions and workflows found within Maya 2017 to create Hair. First, you will begin learning about the nHair toolset. This will include several methods of hair creation as well as setting up dynamics for hair. Following this, you will be given a crash course in creating hair in Xgen. This will include working with groomable splines for short hair, as well as hair splines for longer hair. Finally, you will be introduced to the amazing new interactive grooming feature in Maya 2017, a feature that is sure to become the future of hair creation in Maya. By the end of this course, you'll know multiple methods, as well as the pros and cons of each of these methods, to create hair inside of Maya 2017. Software required: Autodesk Maya 2017.

Course Description

Creation of hair in CGI, once a difficult and time consuming task, is becoming far more accessible and easier to create with every release of Maya. This course, Maya Dynamics: nHair, Xgen, and Interactive Grooming, will introduce users to the most important basic functions and workflows found within Maya 2017 to create Hair. First, you will begin learning about the nHair toolset. This will include several methods of hair creation as well as setting up dynamics for hair. Following this, you will be given a crash course in creating hair in Xgen. This will include working with groomable splines for short hair, as well as hair splines for longer hair. Finally, you will be introduced to the amazing new interactive grooming feature in Maya 2017, a feature that is sure to become the future of hair creation in Maya. By the end of this course, you'll know multiple methods, as well as the pros and cons of each of these methods, to create hair inside of Maya 2017. Software required: Autodesk Maya 2017.

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Course Syllabus

Course Overview
- 1m 50s

—Course Overview 1m 50s

Introduction to nHair - Part 01
- 1h 2m

—Analyzing Your Assets 2m 13s
—Using the Create Hair Tool 7m 37s
—A Look at the Hair System and Nucleus Nodes 1m 51s
—Using the Paint Hair Follicles Tool 4m 22s
—Working with Hair Clumps 9m 5s
—Working with Collisions 8m 52s
—Working with Hair Dynamics 7m 0s
—Hair Dynamics Settings 9m 19s
—Hair Dynamics Settings Continued 7m 40s
—Caching out Simulations 4m 13s

Introduction to nHair - Part 02
- 1h 4m

—Working with Curve Types & Deforming Hair 9m 56s
—Changing the Length of the Hair 7m 5s
—Create Hair Using Existing Curves 7m 50s
—Working with Hair Color and Displacements 7m 3s
—Using the Paint Textures Tool 5m 48s
—Setting up Basic Renders 6m 30s
—Rendering in Arnold 9m 32s
—Rendering in Arnold Continued 10m 19s

Introduction to Xgen - Short Hair & Fur
- 59m 17s

—Getting Started with Xgen 10m 10s
—Working with Grooming Brushes 8m 34s
—Starting Your Beard 8m 52s
—Adding Noise and Creating Primitives 8m 9s
—Painting Density & the Physical Hair Shader 9m 54s
—Creating the Eyebrows 8m 23s
—Completing the Eyebrows 5m 12s

Introduction to Xgen - Long Hair
- 56m 2s

—Getting Started with Hair Splines 7m 59s
—Working with Hair Splines 7m 48s
—Working with Utilities 6m 31s
—Using Curves to Guides 9m 10s
—Refining a Hairstyle with Modifiers 8m 49s
—Adding Animation to the Hair 8m 30s
—Lighting and Rendering the Hair 7m 13s

Introduction to Interactive Grooming Splines
- 1h 15m

—Setting up the Display Options 3m 21s
—Getting Started with Grooming Splines 7m 46s
—Interactive Grooming Tools 8m 44s
—Interactive Grooming Tools Continued 8m 54s
—Working with Sculpt Layers 8m 50s
—Working with Hair Modifiers 7m 53s
—Adjusting the Hair Density 8m 45s
—Animating the Hair 9m 0s
—Rendering the Hair 11m 47s