Play an nHair simulation

To see how hair and dynamic curves react when forces are applied to them, play the simulation. To make changes to the hair system or follicle attributes while the simulation is running, select Fields/Solvers > Interactive Playback.

To tweak the hair simulation, adjust attributes such as the Stretch Resistance, Bend Resistance, and Mass attributes in the Dynamics Properties section of the hairSystemShape. See hairSystemShape. You may also need to adjust Nucleus node attributes such Gravity, Substeps, and Space Scale. See nucleus.

Note:

There may be performance issues with playback if output is set to NURBS curves and the number of curves is high. As a workaround to provide faster interactive feedback, create hair with output set to Paint Effects and NURBS curves, and hide the group containing the output curves. Then in the hairSystemShape, set the Hairs Per Clump to 1 and the Clump Width to 0.

In some instances, you can improve playback performance by turning on the Disable Follicle Anim attribute in the hairSystemShape node. See Improve nHair simulation and cache playback performance.

To play the simulation

  1. Increase your frame range, for example, to 1000.
  2. Select nHair > Display > Current Position.
  3. Click the Play button to play the simulation. Watch the hair react to dynamic forces as the simulation plays.

To play and interact with an nHair simulation

  1. Increase your frame range, for example, to 10000.
  2. Select Fields/Solvers > Interactive Playback.
  3. Interact with the hair simulation while it’s running, including modifying dynamic hair system and follicle attributes, as well as transforming the surfaces to which the hair or dynamic curves are attached to see how the hair behaves.
  4. Click the Stop button to stop the simulation.

Related topics

Parent topic: nHair simulation and caching