Friday, February 19th, 2021 Posted by Jim Thacker

Hair Cards Tool for Max creates strip-based hair for games


Gameloft senior 3D character artist Mihail Lupu has released Hair Cards Tool, a new 3ds Max add-on that simplifies the process of creating geometry-based hair for use in games and real-time projects.

It enables users to generate geometry strips onto which hair strand textures are mapped. The strips can be generated along the edge loops of an existing mesh, and shaped using 3ds Max’s standard modelling tools.

Generate 3D hair cards for use in games and real-time work
Hair Cards Tool is the latest tool to streamline the process of creating strip-based hair as a faster-rendering alternative to strand-based hair for games and real-time work.

It follows Coiffure, digital doubles TD Florian Croquet’s Maya plugin, and standalone tool Fiber Shop.

Users can generate flat geometry strips onto which hair strand textures can be mapped, controlling their overall form and segmentation with a few simple control parameters.

The strips can also be deformed using Max’s standard modelling tools, creating some complex hairstyles.

Strips can also be generated along the edge loops of an existing mesh, so they can be made to follow scalp topology, or deformed globally by editing an overall mesh representing the hair volume.

Pricing and system requirements
Hair Cards Tools is available for 3ds Max 2021.3+. A Standard licence costs $25, includes the tool alone, and can be used on a single commercial project with up to 2,000 sales or 20,000 views.

A Commercial Use licence costs $50, removes the views limit, and includes a set of readymade hair textures.

Read more about Hair Cards Tool in the ArtStation marketplace