GroomLab_Volumizer

Easily create stylized hair volume in Maya. You can use the output curves and geo as guides in Xgen, Yeti, Ornatrix, etc.

Feel free to Donate so I can add some more features in the future!! :)

#Python3: It came to my attention that this no longer worked with maya 2022 and later because of the switch to python3. I made an updated version that is written in python3.

#v1.5: Added Superellipse! Now you can make kinda square looking hair clumps. Added a new modifier: linear taper. Added resolution adjustability to the output tab. Now you can increase the slider to increase the geo density. ALSO setting the slider to 2 or more will add extra curves inside when you output curves! I dont currently have a way to randomize it yet though... maybe in the future I can think of something. Added groupings and fixed some bugs.

#v1.4: Updated the UI because neumorphism looks kinda cool and I like superellipses. Added tabs! Also added two new buttons to the output tab. They will create curves or geo from all the hairclumps in your scene. Currently the slider in output doesnt do anything, but it will for the next update ;) Another major update was adding a xgen tab to GroomLab! it consistes of common tools I use and a couple other useful things ;) This is starting to become quite the project!

#v1.3: Do the twist!

#v1.2: Added Copy/Paste functionality!! Holy shit that took a long time to get working. I definitely don't know what I am doing xD

#v1.1: Changed show/hide of controls and volumes to be per selection instead of globally. Script will select the hairControls afterwards

#v1.0 First release!

How To Install -

Copy GroomLab.py and the GroomLab_icons folder to your Maya script directory.

windows: C:\Users\<username>\Documents\maya\<version>\scripts

mac: Library/Preferences/Autodesk/maya/scripts (The Library folder is hidden by default so you need to unhide it)

linux: $HOME/maya/<version>/scripts

Open Maya and launch the script editor as Python and paste the code below.

import GroomLab

reload(GroomLab)

GroomLab.GroomLab()


Or if your version of maya requires Python3 it will be:

import GroomLab

import importlib

importlib.reload(GroomLab)

GroomLab.GroomLab()

Select all and middle mouse drag the code into your custom Maya shelf.

Give it a new icon if you wish.

Click it!

How To Use -

Select your mesh you want to grow tubes on.

Volumizer - Grooming

Click the Target button. ( you may need to search around your model for the newly created target ring)

Drag the white target ring to where you want to place a hair clump. Scale the ring if you wish.

Select how many controllers you want (Max is 50 if you type it)

Click Add Hair Clump.

You can drag the new hair clump around if you select the blue ring.

Move the white ring again to drop more clumps!

Move scale and rotate the orange controllers to morph your hair clump.

Remove Hair clump will delete a clump if you select an object in the clump first.

Copy/Paste will copy a selected clump and paste it into the target ring. If you get a naming error, just remove the new clump and try again. It should work lol.

Show/Hide will show and hide controls and volumes

When you finish with a clump, convert it to geo (xgen tube groom) or curves (any groom package).

Volumizer - Modifiers

Twist will twist the controls of a selected clump by the amount in the slider. You can click it back-to-back to see things twist faster.

Linear Taper will scale the controls in a linear fashion by the amount in the slider. Negative values taper in, positive values taper out.

Volumizer - Output

After you lay out some hair clumps you can go into the Output tab and click either the curves buttons or geo buttons. The single icons mean it will convert 1 selected volume. The multiple icons will convert everything in your scene.

In v1.5 you can now use the slider in the output tab to increase the resolution of geo and add more curves to the volume.

Using Geo with XGen Tube Groom-

Select ALL of the hair geo you wish to use. If you want to add more later, xgen will delete everything in the current description. Lame, I know.

Select Tube Groom.

Change guide spacing to add or decrease guide density. Click Test to see.

Change Cut Param to 0.

Increase CV Frequency to 10 to capture the shape of the curves.

Generate!

GroomLab_Volumizer by Nick Rutlinh

Instagram- @nick_rutlinh_3d