Mastering Hair Physics: Tips & Tricks for Smoothly Simulating Hair Movement

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  • Thread starter Thread starter papillon68
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    Hair Physics
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Discussion Overview

The discussion focuses on techniques for simulating hair physics in a digital environment, particularly how to manipulate hair vertices to achieve realistic movement and positioning. Participants explore concepts related to the physical properties of hair and the challenges of maintaining its length during manipulation.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Technical explanation, Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant requests help with simulating hair movement, specifically how to reposition hair vertices while keeping the overall length constant.
  • Another participant suggests that the simulation needs to account for properties like elasticity or stiffness to mimic how hair behaves when pushed or pulled.
  • A different viewpoint compares the hair simulation to Bezier curve manipulation, noting that while this technique can adjust curves, it may not preserve length as desired.
  • There is a consideration of how hair might behave differently in various mediums, such as a viscous fluid, which could influence the simulation dynamics.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing opinions on the best methods to simulate hair movement, with no consensus on the specific physical properties or techniques that should be used.

Contextual Notes

Some assumptions about hair physics and the effects of different materials on hair behavior remain unresolved, and the discussion does not clarify the mathematical or technical specifics of the proposed methods.

papillon68
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Hi, I'd like to ask some help and suggestions about simulating hair physics (so basically pulling hair vertices around, and smoothly disposing the adjacent ones).

Please take a look at the embedded video (which shows an application tha can do it): the hair displayed there is made of 15 vertices; once the user drags the active vertices (those inside the circular cursor area), all the hair vertices are moved and repositioned accordingly. To notice that hair length remain the same during the process.

Thanks for any help.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW4sa_vXBRg
 
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Sorry, I had troubles embedding the YT movie, now it's there.
 
suggestions. you're going to need to model whatever it is that makes the hair stand up on end again, after being pushed down. elasticity? stiffness? i don't know what it's called. but generally, your video shows hair behaving like a string of dough, which doesn't seem authentic. usually if you push the middle of a hair to the side, the top will bend with it, and the whole thing will just bend at the point of contact. of course that depends on how long it is.
 
It basically looks like a Bezier manipulation of a line to adjust the curves. Try out any program that has Bezier curve shaping, and you will see the same effect, although the length of the line or hair would not stay the same in most programs.

Whether or not a hair will behave like that, is beyond my knowledge of the physics of hair. But if a hair is being manipulated in a viscous fluid or gel, one would think something similar would occur, depending on the viscosity of course.
 

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