You can use an object's UV coordinates to place hair follicles on its surface. With this method, follicles are added to the entire surface of the object. To specify the location of the hair follicles, use the Paint Follicles tool. See Use the Paint Hair tool.
To create nHair using the object UV coordinates
- Select the object surface on which you want to create hair.
- From the FX menu set, select nHair > Create Hair >
. The Create Hair Options window appears.
- Select the type of curves you want to use from the Output list.
- To set nHair to collide with the polygon surface, turn on Collide with mesh.
When on, Maya converts the selected object surface to a passive collision object. By default, nHair collides with passive collision objects.
If you are adding nHair to a NURBS surface, you must convert the object to a polygon object before the hair collides with a surface object. See Creating nHair on surfaces.
- Turn on Grid, and set the U count and V count values to specify the number of follicles you want created along the U and V directions of the surface.
- Modify the remaining hair options as required.
For descriptions of the hair options, see Create Hair Options.
- Click Create Hairs.
Hair follicles are placed along the UV coordinates of the polygon object. To adjust the placement of follicles after creating the hair system, use nHair > Randomize Follicles to add randomization values to the follicle locations. You can also edit the UV values of individual follicles.
Use the Paint Hair tool
You can use the Paint Hair tool to place hair follicles on specific areas of your surface.
To paint hair follicles
- Select the object surface on which you want to create hair.
- From the FX menu set, select nHair > Paint Hair Follicles > .
The Paint Hair Follicles Settings window appears.
- Select the type of curves you want to use from the Output list.
- Set the Follicle Density U and V, the Points Per Hair and the Hair Length.
- Paint on the object surface where you want hair follicles to appear.
For information on the Paint Hair Tool options, see Paint Hair Follicles Settings.
- To set nHair to collide with the polygon surface, convert it to a passive collision object by selecting it and selecting nCloth > Create Passive Collider.
By default, nHair collides with passive collision objects. If you are adding nHair to a NURBS surface, you must convert the object to a polygon object before the hair collides with a surface object. See Creating nHair on surfaces.