Taos
01-28-2003, 04:26 AM
Because I am moving this week, and I have not posted an update in nearly a month, I decided to throw an ill-advised early release to give you a little taste where this project is going (and to show I'm not dead). So without further ado, I present v0.4.0 of my hair plug in.
This major new version includes support for Subdivision Surfaces, by popular request. I guess not many people use nurbs these days, so, listening to potential users, and drinking a lot of coffee, I figured out a way to still use the same script paint tool to paint the hair onto the surfaces. It requires a speedy machine (as does sub-d's anyways), but is bearable on my p3 Xeon 550. Once past the initial painting phase where you decide hair goes on the surface, the system is every bit as fast with SubD's as it is Nurbs.
Other new features include a new part system, which is now faster and much more flexible. Parts allow the hair to be groomed away from a user defined line and leave a discontinuity in between. In other words, it's just like putting a comb to your head and parting your hair either way. This is assuming you have hair to part. I don't. There are also some enhancements to the general work-flow, but because of the major addition of the Subdivision code (about 35% more), a lot of the attribute editor interface is now broken.
For the next version, I hope to clean up the weird little issues that have sprung up with all my new additions. Also, I have a couple volunteers to work on a Windows port so the vast majority of you will get the chance to use it.
So anyways, I invite you all to go check it out, play with it, and let me know what you think. Also, I am still available if anybody is looking for this type of programmer at your company. Check through your applicants for any recent job postings, and you'll probably find mine in there :) (you can find my email address in my user profile)
Remember, this is still in very heavy development. I highly encourage people to use these early versions and send me feed back to guide this tool into something everybody can use and enjoy. The few users I already have are the ones that demanded subdivision support (I originally was not going to include it until much much later), and I have scheduled variable hair density and wisp tip randomness for v0.6 as requested by Rudy Cortes. (I think he lurks somewhere around here)
Hair Club for CGI-Men (http://www.cis.ksu.edu/~rtp9709/projects/hair/hair.html)
This major new version includes support for Subdivision Surfaces, by popular request. I guess not many people use nurbs these days, so, listening to potential users, and drinking a lot of coffee, I figured out a way to still use the same script paint tool to paint the hair onto the surfaces. It requires a speedy machine (as does sub-d's anyways), but is bearable on my p3 Xeon 550. Once past the initial painting phase where you decide hair goes on the surface, the system is every bit as fast with SubD's as it is Nurbs.
Other new features include a new part system, which is now faster and much more flexible. Parts allow the hair to be groomed away from a user defined line and leave a discontinuity in between. In other words, it's just like putting a comb to your head and parting your hair either way. This is assuming you have hair to part. I don't. There are also some enhancements to the general work-flow, but because of the major addition of the Subdivision code (about 35% more), a lot of the attribute editor interface is now broken.
For the next version, I hope to clean up the weird little issues that have sprung up with all my new additions. Also, I have a couple volunteers to work on a Windows port so the vast majority of you will get the chance to use it.
So anyways, I invite you all to go check it out, play with it, and let me know what you think. Also, I am still available if anybody is looking for this type of programmer at your company. Check through your applicants for any recent job postings, and you'll probably find mine in there :) (you can find my email address in my user profile)
Remember, this is still in very heavy development. I highly encourage people to use these early versions and send me feed back to guide this tool into something everybody can use and enjoy. The few users I already have are the ones that demanded subdivision support (I originally was not going to include it until much much later), and I have scheduled variable hair density and wisp tip randomness for v0.6 as requested by Rudy Cortes. (I think he lurks somewhere around here)
Hair Club for CGI-Men (http://www.cis.ksu.edu/~rtp9709/projects/hair/hair.html)