Is there a way to have both UV based textures and Root/Tip colors for Xgen hair in arnold 5 ?

[suresh_kumar1]

I m trying to create a hairstyle with UV based color textures. if I apply textures to the color attribute in hair shader, it takes it as length texture. I used aiUserdata to convert that as UV based. But now I cant get the length textures some how. I want both options to have a better result. an UV texture with tip and base color to add depth to the hair. Can anyone suggest a way or work around to achieve that ? It would be a great help.

Thanks :).

[teddude75]

@suresh kumar Hey, What workings for me is using a ramp plug into the base color (or melanin value). You can test it out on an example plane to get the right effect. Each input of the ramp can be a texture like base color and tip color and also can be blended smooth or linear. Also make sure the ramp is V ramp. Good luck

TED

[suresh_kumar1]

Hey Edward Conry, Thanks for the respond :). I havnt tried connecting any maps to the melanin value. I will give a try on that. ( I think its good method for hairstyle. how ever I m looking for a method that works on Fur or any generics as well ) Both Root to Tip color and UV textures work individually. How ever if I apply UV based texture to diffuse , it neglects the base color completely. I m just curious if there is anyway to have UV textures with Root to Tip color for more control and variations.

[teddude75 · Accepted solution]

@suresh kumar Ok Here's my example. The ramp uses implicit uvs. I set up ai hair with a ramp and added textures to each side of the ramp. I didn't make a custom texture. I just grab a tiger texture from the internet but any texture will work. The left side is the root and the right is the tip. I did a sloppy method by adding the texture to both the root and the tip and over exposing the texture on the tip to make it lighter. You might want custom textures and colors for your fur. Of course, this is just an example to get my point across. Also the interpolation method for the ramp should be smooth.

[suresh_kumar1]

@Edward Conry, Thanks a lot for the screenshots and solution. This is exactly what I m going after. But unfortunately its not working out for me. I tried to test it out quickly. I m not sure if my settings are entirely correct or there is a bug. I followed the same settings. Still I m getting the Root to tip texture rather than UV textures. the implicit UV is checked as well. For the record I m using arnold 5.0.2 . Attached screenshot of the render and mat setups. Please have a look when you get time. Thanks for the suggestion and solution. Much appreciated.

[teddude75]

@suresh kumar I'm not sure what look your going for. These texture maps and are made for the root and tip are still uv dependent. This means if your scalp geometry is not uved from 0 to 1 then it would cover the whole texture but if it only the top right it will only use the texture for the top right. It would be better to take the uv snapshot in Photoshop (or Substance painter) and paint your custom texture for the tip and root and that would help with whatever look your going for.

TED