Hair Groom

Believable hair flow. Scalp coverage. Cards for games. Curves/particles for cinematic.

When to Use

• Character scalp hair, beards, brows
• Creature fur / mane / whiskers
• Game hair-card generation and placement
• Cinematic curve/particle grooms

Path Decision

Target = Game / real-time  → Hair cards (+ optional proxy curves)
Target = Cinematic        → Curves or particle hair + materials
Target = Both             → High groom → bake cards / textures

Workflow (Game Cards)

Scalp mesh → Guide curves → Card strips along flow
  → Atlas UVs → Alpha/normal hair texture → LOD cards → Export

Workflow (Cinematic)

Scalp → Particle/curve groom → Clump/frizz/noise
  → Hair shader (melanin/roughness) → Render test → Cache if needed

Groom Principles

1. Flow first, Primary direction before flyaways
2. Density hierarchy, Dense roots, controlled tips
3. Clumps, Hair reads as groups, not spaghetti
4. Silhouette, Outer shape more important than strand count
5. Scalp bleed, Avoid bald patches at hairline

Card Guidelines

LOD	Cards (guide)	Notes
Hero close-up	80, 200	Layered shells
Standard	30, 80	Main masses
Distant	8, 20	Cap + few strips

• Name: SM_HairCard_[Region]
• Atlas: T_Hair_[Name]_RGBA (alpha in A)
• Prefer opacity clip or hashed for Eevee preview

Naming

• Guides: CRV_HairGuide_[Region]
• Cards: SM_HairCard_[Region]
• Collection: COL_Hair_[Character]

Constraints

MUST DO

• Establish hairline and parting early
• Match card UVs to atlas layout
• Test silhouette from game camera angles

MUST NOT DO

• Uniform card width everywhere
• Skip root density near scalp
• Over-detail flyaways before primary masses

Reference Guide