Monday, January 30th, 2012 Posted by Jim Thacker

Render ZBrush hair in Max with FiberMesh to Splines

One-man 3ds Max development powerhouse Marius Silaghi has released FiberMesh to Splines: a plugin that enables users to export hair created in ZBrush 4R2b’s new FiberMesh system to Max for rendering.

The resulting splines can be adjusted with 3ds Max’s default hair modifier or by using any third-party hair plugin that has a recomb from splines option.

The plugin solves one of the key issues with FiberMesh: since the hair it generates is polygon-based, the result is of limited use for anything other than concept work.

According to Silaghi: “Being polygon hair, [FiberMesh] is pretty much useless for many artists, but with [the] ability to convert them to splines, they are a great addition to every artist’s workflow.”

But the benefits go both ways: FiberMesh to Splines also means that users don’t have to rely on what Silaghi describes as “3ds Max’s clumsy grooming tools” to style hair.

The plugin is available now for 3ds Max 9 and above, price €20 (around $25).

Updated 30 January: Over the weekend, Marius Silaghi has released two new versions of the plugin: one for Maya, compatible with version 7.0 of the software and above, and a standalone edition, which exports the splines as an OBJ file. According the Silaghi, the OBJ can be successfully imported into 3ds Max and Blender, but not Maya or Softimage. Both new versions cost €20.

Read more about FiberMesh to Splines for 3ds Max

Visit Marius Silaghi’s homepage