Hair Tool for Blender

bartoszstyperek
811 ratings

Hair Tool is add-on for Blender that will help you generate hair-card, shell hair or curve hair in non destructive way, using geometry nodes and python.

  • For Blender 3.6 - use Hair Tool 3.x (only new hair curves are supported) - and Hair Library 3.0_date
  • For 'old' Blender 3.3 up to 3.6 use 'old' Hair Tool. 2.46 (last version that supports 'old' curves) - use HairLib_18_12_2022 with it.

Links:


Business vs Individual license: if you are company with above 170k $ income you are Business. Otherwise you can buy individual license


Some of customers who purchased Hair Tool:

UNIGINE, Fatshark, Tactical Adventures, Ubisoft , Digital Extremes, Keyword Studios , Rocksalt, Sharkmob, Black Forest Games, QLOC, VERMILA , Event Horizon , NOBODY STUDIO , Emberstorm and others.

There are multiple ways to generate hair-cards with Hair Tool:

  • Hair System - procedural hair generation based on geometry nodes - great for all kind of complicated hair styles (braids, curls, punk etc)
  • using Guide Mesh (grid surface) - best for modeling long hair strands - now rewritten to use new hair curves, in HT 3.0
  • using Track To Mesh - great for short to medium hairstyles
  • interactive grooming - old method that uses particle hair to generate hair-cards, replaced by Hair System
  • drawing and extending hair strands similar to Grease Pencil drawing - now rewritten to use new hair curves, in HT 3.0
  • using short hair modeling method - for short to medium length hair - animal fur, short human hairstyles
  • using shell hair modeling - great for very short hair (fur, carpet). Bit complicated to setup in game engine.

Some of the features:

  • tools for curve based hair modeling (cutting, extending, deforming etc) - rewritten to support new curves
  • automated UV workflow (you can define uv regions, which can then be automatically assigned to hair strand)
  • easy hair rigging and animation with Jiggle physics
  • hair library that contains various hairstyles and sub-components,
  • various adjustable ribbons profiles - Mesh Profile, Curls Profile, Circle, Flat, Braids etc.
  • convert: Curves to Particle Hair, Particle Hair to Curve ribbons, Curve ribbons to mesh ribbons and so on.
  • curve resampling and decimation (increases/decreases curve points count)
  • generating vertex color/weights gradients, transferring UVs and vertex weights from character to mesh haircards.
  • texture baking from new hair curves; supports: normal, ao, diffuse, tangent, ID, root, flow and more maps
  • build-in addon auto-updater
  • and more


Hair tutorials for Blender 3.0 series (these are quite old - I'm in the middle of moving all the tools from od curves to new hair Curves):

New Videos (for Blender 3.3 and above) showing new Hair System based on Geometry nodes:


Hair Tool can be used to export hair to Character Creator. 

Past Updates:

Update 1.7.1

  • hair resample and simplify operators preserve material order
  • added options to remove, resize, reset - uv boxes when using "Draw uv area for Hair" operator in imaged editor window (found under spacebar).

Update 1.8:

Update 1.8.4:

Update 1.8.5 (11.04.2018):

  • finished and polished hair baking in blender (ao, id, root mask, tangent map, normal, depth etc).
  • added channel packing nodes (beta but should work 90% of time)
  • video showing example worfklow and how baking works: https://youtu.be/0UAxl549pNA

Update 1.9.2 (day 20.07.2018) -  some bug fixes added in 11.08.2018:

  • added select Next/Previous to curve editmode -> Select menu. I will select next point on curve.
  • Interactive Child particles count can be set manually over 2000 (use with caution)
  • generated curve ribbons will now have the rotation applied (this fixes bad curve ribbons aligning - 90deg offset)
  • New: Ability to copy hair curve profile. Located in HT menu -> Next to 'Close Profile'

Update 1.9.3 (26.08.2018):

  • Fixed UV bug when going back and forward between curve and mesh mode.
  • Randomize curve tilt - tilt can take positive or negative values.
  • 'Include Parents' - option added in interactive hair combing - this will take into account Parent strands when using 'generate children option'.
  • align curve tilt - make it work only on selected points. Previously it would align whole curve.
  • Curve from grease pencil - now it has option to generate curve ribbons on the fly (https://bartoszstyperek.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/pg_to_curveribbon.gif?w=575&zoom=2).
    Update 1.9.4 (03.11.2018):
  • New clumping option added for - 'Curves from grid surface' operator.
  • Speed boost to all tools that use curves resampling, including 'Interactive hair combing'. This affects lots of tools, but hopefully this didn't introduce any new bugs.
  • fix jumping particle hairs when converting curves to particle hair
  • Some of parameters can now be set above maximum value, by manually entering bigger values (eg. max curve ribbon width can now be set above 10)

Update 2.0.6 (27.03.2019):

  • added auto-update feature, in addon preferences. When new release is out, you can use auto-update to automatically download and install  new version.

Update 2.0.10 (22.05.2019):

  • added compatibility with latest blender api changes  - use only with blender builds after 21 may!
  • Improved speed in interactive hair combing and generation of curves from grid suface

Update 2.1.4 (25.08.2019)

  • Show warning popup when opening baking scene,
  • Hide braid deformer visibility in cycles,
  • added option in preferences to disable drawing grid mesh as 'WIRE',
  • fix braids generation, when only one curve is selected

Update 2.1.6 + 2.1.7 + 2.1.8(For Blender 2.81 16.10.2019)

  • support for blender 2.81
  • adjust particle hair length added (in 'interactive combing' panel)
  • more hair examples in hair baking blend scene
  • randomize rotation in interactive combing
  • flip UV in V (top-bottom) direction
  • new drawing mode - connected
  • fix hotkey - disabling drawing hair would erase ctrl+shift+H pie menu hotkey, and possibly other hotkeys too!

2.20 (for Blender 2.82 only 06.03.2020)

  • texture baking added padding support and new channel compositing nodes
  • mesh ribbons -  added vertex AO bake with bounces approximation
  • taper curve profile (hack)
  • added flatten scalp to UV option in baking scene
  • mesh ribbons - added UV Pick from target
  • replaced default hair material - it no longer needs special light hack. But anisotropic highlights are still faked. It uses new texture too

2.22 (for Blender 2.83 only 26.07.2020)

  • Added Hair Modeling Workspace Tool
  • non square UV baking support,
  • added Straighten strand tool,
  • added ability to define custom texture suffixes in addon preferences,
  • interactive combing now support length vertex group,
  • you can pick uv which will be assigned to drawn strand,
  • added finalize option (merge all selected hair into one, new output mesh)

2.23 (for Blender 2.83 only);

  • fixed baking on solid background
  • fixed Z-up aligning error on curly hair generation,
  • possibly fixed auto-updater on MAC,
  • fixed uv drawing on curves with no materials,
  • fix error when using 'Curves from grid surface' with bezier curve output type
  • fix drawing particle hair regression.

2.24(for Blender 2.83 and 2.9x) 22.12.2020:

  • added Adjust Length for curve strands
  • Hair Draw - added Extend option
  • New 'Set UV region'
  • added Direction bake pass
  • faster and better looking texture padding

2.30 - 16.06.2021

  • Compatible only with  Blender 2.93
  • Added UV Curls
  • 'Profile Generate' now support generating round profiles (required for UV curls)
  • Added Auto UV with optional length threshold masking
  • Added 'Slice Curve Using Mesh' operator
  • Lost of new presets added to Hair Library. Get them from HT Gumroad site.
  • added cleaner uv for Vertex Groups masking in Interactive Grooming

2.35-2.36 - 20.12.2021 (For Blender 2.93 and 3.0 )

  • fixed braid generation in blender 3.0,
  • fix error when selecting hair strands that are too close to camera,
  • added hair rigging with jiggle,
  • Interactive combing now has option to use Blender particle hair settings,
  • Curves from grid now will work on single row of polygon meshes,
  • Load baking scene wont override the default baking scene. Added option to reset baking scene to default one,
  • Interactive Combing - added clumping option, updated UI,
  • fix curve from grid surface on blender 3.0

added Hair Generation with Geometry Nodes (VIP - mostly for baking textures, I take no bug reports yet, no docs were made yet),

2.37-2.38 - 12.06.2022 (For Blender 2.93 and 3.x )

  • Added Short Hair - new modeling technique
  • Jiggle simulation now works on multiple armatures simultaneously, it also works in animation mode too now (thus can be baked into animation),
  • Short Hair - now support picking UVs, Weights and other mesh hair operations,
  • added proper undo/redo to 'Hair UV' operator and improved box interaction precision,
  • Finished implementing 'Radius from UV width',
  • big speedup in UV Sampling and Weights Sampling operators (they are few times faster),
  • MMB will now adjust strand stiffness for workspace hair modeling tool,
  • added control over root radius in hair baking scene,
  • Short Hair - added option to keep sharp border edges when remeshing,
  • short hair - added option to rotate strands randomly (located in modifier props),
  • possible fix to Interactive Combing not generating profile on hair ribbons,
  • restored function of bringing back previous vertex groups in Curves from Grid surface,
  • Display warning when trying to bake texture with texture clamp size enabled in preferences,
  • fix ParticleHair from Curves when using Cloth grooming tool type,
  • added option to align Short Hair strand to comb direction"


2.40 - 11.12.2022 (For Blender 3.3 and above )

  • Huge update to Hair System - can be used for hair-cards generation now

2.41 - 13.12.2022 (For Blender 3.3 and above )

  • Fix being unable to add mask on Windows OS
  • Added UVs and Color transferring option (under Profile -> Utils)

2.42 - 09.03.2023 (For Blender 3.3 and above )

  • Remade UV and Color sampilng for short hair,
  • Short Hair Uvs can now be masked (and layered) by using vertex groups,
  • added Vert Color sampling operator for Mesh Hair objects
  • fix drawing UV boxes if not material is present

2.45 (for Blender 3.3, and above - Last update 12.05.2023)

  • Added New Shell Hair modeling technique,
  • Added Curls Profile,
  • Added Deformers: Braids, Align to Target, to Parent, Push Out, Embed Roots,
  • Hair System Uvs support multiple UV regions now,
  • added option to Bake curves generated by Hair System to curve object data,
  • Added option to bake Hair System uvs regions to mesh,
  • use new Interpolation in Blender 3.5

2.46 for Blender 3.3, and above - Last update 25.05.2023,

  • Added Track Curve and Mesh Deformers,
  • added Mirror Deformer,
  • Automatic parting of Hair System strands based on loose mesh islands,
  • Added Resample and Set Resolution operators for new Curves,
  • Synced Baking Texture setup with Default Hair Texture Setup,
  • fix - curve profile correctly supports UVs of profile made from multiple curves

Hair Tool 3.0 only for Blender 3.6, Last update 20.07.2023

  • New Hair Tool version, all curve profiles are now GeoNodes based,
  • New Hair Curves are now fully supported (dropped support of old curves),
  • added edit mode adjustment for radius and tilt (using Alt+S and ctrl+T) for new hair curves, subdivide, extrude, (un)hide, select root/tips, etc.,
  • 'Curves From Grid Surface' are using geonodes now,
  • Remade - Smooth Operator - can smooth any 'FLOAT' Attribute and position,
  • Added ability to edit any 'FLOAT' attribute in Curves Sculpt mode,
  • Added Helper to Colorize Hair System Strands (manual), and UVs (random),
  • Cleaned up UI, hair modeling tools from right side panel moved into sub-panels,
  • 'Filter Strands' do not force resampling of affected strands any more
  • Added ability to use Guide curve attribute as input mask 'FLOAT,
  • Replaced bgl with gpu module. Addon,
  • Added Smooth deformer,
  • Added Color Set (for system debug),
  • added Simplify Strands Deformer,
  • resample Deformer will keep original points spacing,
  • Added option to 'Import Baking Scene',
  • Added 'Duplicate Strands' and 'Generate Braids' into deformer > Generators section,
  • Whole Hair Library is moved to new Hair System and new Curves,
  • Added 'Hair with Track Mesh' one click preset,
  • Added 'Roll' deformer
  • Added 'Curve Attribute' inputs mask type,


Hair Tool 3.1 - for Blender 3.6, Last update 3.08.2023,

  • Restored options for 'Particle Hair from Curves' and 'Particle Hair to Curves, these are for old curves,
  • nicer error messages when trying to resample/decimate curve with no splines,
  • fix Deformer Updater - not reconnecting new sockets if available,
  • 'Curls' deformer - added Project to/from Normal,
  • added option to copy and paste Deformers (with theirs input masks),
  • Added 'Separate Target per Island' switch option in Track to Mesh/Curve deformer,
  • restored option to flip UVs in Y axis (and fix error when reading Flip_y and no attribute is found),
  • fix Invert behaviour in vertex group input mask,
  • Vertex Group Input mask - added option to sample per strand root or by each spline point,
  • Fixed bone generation of mesh with no armature,
  • Added option to show HSystem popup panel from ctrl+Shift+H pie menu,
  • UV regions are now always unique (previously they could be shader between SetUVRegion deformers),
  • bugfixes


Hair Tool 3.2 for Blender 3.6, Last update 04.09.2023,

  • Added 'Physics' deformer for Hair System it will simulate hair with rope/springs - still VIP - notstable in some cases,
  • Added 'Attach To Surface' deformer,
  • Dupilcate Strands Deformer will give more even strands distribution now,
  • Added option to disable random UV Flipping on profile,
  • Fixes for Curves From Grid Surface,
  • Switched AO generation from python to GeoNodes,
  • Fix Hair Baking material update - giving error,
  • 'Embed roots' deformer - added option to use custom mesh surface,
  • AO - added option to write to alpha,
  • Changed behavior of 'influence range' input in Track To Mesh\Curve deformers,
  • Fix UV sampling,
  • simpler strand interpolation (simpler calculation of rotation difference),
  • fixed 'Draw Hair' on for users with non English UI,
  • Other bugfixes
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Hair Tool for Blender

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