8

512 Chapter 8: Modifiers
To stop using the instance node permanently, click
the Clear Instance button (label=X).
Note: Hair does not use animation from instance
objects. If an object is animated, Hair uses its state
at the first animation frame.
Tip: In order for the instances to be properly scaled
and fit to the hair, place the model’s pivot at the
“root” of the object. Hair will then scale your
model appropriately so that the height of each
instance matches the leng th of the hair it has been
applied to. Any part of your model that extends
below the pivot will i ntersect the surface. T his can
be useful; if the hair grows at an oblique angle to
the g rowth sur face, you can raise the pivot in the
original model to make sure the instanced hairs
will extend all the w ay to the growth surface.
Also, bear in mind that the instancing engine will
be deforming your model as it fits it to the hairs.
Make sure that your model has enough divisions
along the Z (vertical) axis for the deformation
to look as smo oth as it needs to; the number of
subdivisions should be approximately equal to
theHairSegmentsvalue. Hairdoesn’tperform
automatic subdivision on the geometry.
Merge Materia l—When on, combines the
material applied to the growth object and
thematerialappliedtothehairobjectintoa
single Multi/Sub-Object material and applies
it to the growth object. When off, the growth
object’s material is applied to the instanced hair.
Default=on.
Note: The merged material is instanced from
the instance node, so that changing the original
material affects the resulting material applied to
the hair.
Convert group
Use these controls to convert guides or hair
generated by the Hair and Fur modifier to objects
that you can operate on directly.
Guides ->Splines—Copies all guides to a new, single
spline object. The original guides are left intact.
Hair -> Splines—Copies all hairs to a new, single
spline object. The original hairs are left intact.
Hair -> Mesh—Copies al l hair to a new, single mesh
object. T he original hairs are left intact.
Render Settings—Opens the Effects panel and
rollout (page 3–215)
and adds a Hair and Fur
render effect (page 3–216)
to the scene, if one
doesn’t already exist.
Note: TheHairandFurrendereffectsettingsare
global, so even if you click Render Settings to
open the effect settings from different Hair and
Fur modifiers, you’ll get the same render-effect
settings.
Genera l Parameters rollout
Hair Count—The total number of hairs generated
by Hair. In s ome cases this is an approximate
count, but the actual count is usually very close to
the specified quantity. Default=9000. Range=0
to 999999.