Render an nHair simulation

nHair created using Paint Effects can be rendered directly using the Maya Software renderer. If you convert the Paint Effects to polygons, then you can render nHair in the mental ray and Maya Hardware renderers. (See Convert Paint Effects to geometry in Paint Effects.) Alternatively you can output just curves to another renderer, such as RenderMan.

Tip: You can render more hairs cheaply using Paint EffectsMulti Streaks. These attributes are in the Multi Streaks section of the hairSystemShape node Attribute Editor.

You can render either a single frame, or render an animation by performing a batch render. For information, see the following:

To render a single frame of an nHair simulation

  1. Before rendering be sure to display the hair system’s Current Position (nHair > Display > Current Position) and go to the frame you want to render.
  2. Click the Render Settings button in the Status Line and do the following:
    • Select a renderer from the Render Using drop-down list.
    • If you’re rendering Paint Effects using the Maya Software renderer, then turn on the Oversample and Oversample post filter options in the Paint Effects Rendering Options section in the Maya Software tab. This makes the hair even more realistic looking.
    • If you’re rendering using mental ray, see Render Settings: mental ray tabs for information about the options in the mental ray tab. You can use the Production: Rapid HairQuality Preset when rendering hair in mental ray (Render Settings window, Quality tab). Alternatively, you can use the Production: Fine Trace Quality Preset as a starting point if you want to trace fur or hair in reflections.
  3. Click the Render button in the Status Line. This renders the current frame in the Render View window.

To render an nHair simulation

  1. Before rendering be sure to display the hair system’s Current Position (nHair > Display > Current Position).
  2. Click the Render Settingsbutton in the Status Line. The Render Settings window appears.
  3. Select a renderer from the Render Using drop-down list.
  4. In the Common tab, do the following:
    • In the File Name Prefix field, type the prefix you want to use for the rendered images.
    • In the Frame/Animation Ext field, select name.ext.#.
    • In the Start Frame and End Frame fields, type the first and last frames in the sequence you want to render.
    • Optionally, go to the renderer-specific tab and turn on Motion Blur in the Motion Blur section.
      Note: The animation will take longer to render with Motion Blur turned on.

      Motion blurred scenes would benefit from scene nCaching to prevent simulation problems during frame sampling. See nCaching overview.

    • If you’re rendering Paint Effects using the Maya Software renderer, then turn on the Oversample and Oversample post filter options in the Paint Effects Rendering Options section in the Maya Software tab. This makes the hair even more realistic looking.
    • If you’re rendering using mental ray, see Render Settings: mental ray tabs for information about the options in the mental ray tab. You can use the Production: Rapid HairQuality Preset when rendering hair in mental ray (Render Settings window, Quality tab). Alternatively, you can use the Production: Fine Trace Quality Preset as a starting point if you want to trace fur or hair in reflections.
  5. Do one of the following:
    • Select Render > Batch Render.
    • Select Render > Batch Render > . The Batch Render Frame window appears. Change the options if desired and click Batch Render.

    To view your rendered animation, launch Fcheck and then open the rendered .iff file. For more information on viewing the animation, see Open a file in FCheck.

Rendering using distributed render

If you are performing a distributed render, or if you are splitting up the render for any reason, you should create a hair nCache. Creating an nCache lets you do distributed rendering and have the simulation match exactly.

For details, see nCaching overview.

Parent topic: Rendering nHair