Free tool: sculpt stylized hair with custom ZBrush brush RenHair

Games artist Renaud Galand has released RenHair, a handy free custom ZBrush brush for sculpting strands of hair for stylized 3D characters.

Announcing the release of the brush on social media, Galand – no stranger to sculpting stylized characters himself, having previously been a lead character artist at Blizzard Entertainment – commented that it’s “definitely something I wish I’d had while working on Overwatch”.

Create subtly asymmetric strands of polygonal hair for stylized 3D characters
RenHair creates polygonal strands of hair suitable for use when modeling stylized 3D characters, such as those for games or broadcast and feature animation.

Users simply draw guide curves on the surface of a model, with the brush generating a hair strand following the curves.

The strands have clean topology, and a deceptively simple form: tapering at the root and tip, but with a subtle asymmetry in the placement of the central ‘ridge’.

The brush includes two sets of two hair strands, enabling users to choose whether the ridge falls to the left or right of the strand, and how close it is to the edge of the strand.

Once a strand has been created, users can modify its form by manipulating the guide curve, making it possible to layer strands into more complex hairstyles, as shown in the video above.

System requirements and availability
RenHair is provided in .zbp format for use in ZBrush. It’s a free download.

Download free custom ZBrush brush RenHair from Renaud Galand’s Gumroad store

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