Investigation Blogpost: Week 4

 

This Week's Work:

 Monday-Tuesday (11/01-2):

I went rogue on this part, no tutorial for me! I looked up references on how to do hair (as seen in the last update). Using the curve method, I created a strand of hair. I tried to follow the reference as best as I could but I didn't like the way it was turning out. The shape was awkward and didn't fit what I was going for. The problem was, the other side of the hair was flat so when the hair curled, it only had "texture" on one side. It just looked really ugly. I erased that strand and decided to make a new one. (The example of hair shown below are the remnants of my first try, I deleted some of it).

Wednesday & Thursday (11/03-04): 

I added a "scalp" to the model so I could visualize the hairline, and so, if any of the hair strands peeked through, it would be hard to identify. Using the new strand I made, which was texture all around, I started to create the head. A big mistake I made on the first try was starting from the front, then the back, and then working my way in the middle. So this time, I completely finished the back, formed the middle, and then did the front. It made lining up the strands a lot easier. After figuring out a system, the rest of my time was spent working on the hair shape.

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How to Make Hair! (Tutorial):

You'll need a Path and a Circle, both found in the curves menu after pressing "Shift-A". I also pulled up a Sphere to use as the head.

In the "Object Data Properties" of the Path, click on "Geometry" to open the dropdown menu. Under it, there will be an option to Bevel. Click on the eyedropper tool, and using it, select the Circle. The path should become a cylinder-looking object.

To change the shape of the Path, click on the Circle and go into Edit Mode. Depending on what look you want to go for, you can just use the verts already provided or you could subdivide for more. In this case, I will subdivide.

Selecting the four "corners" of the Circle, I use "S" to shrink the verts inwards. The Path changes the shape accordingly.

To get more "texture", I subdivided the Circle again. Then I shrunk the 4 axis.

I now go into the Path's Edit Mode. Even though the shape itself is complicated, there will only be 5 vertices, all in a straight line. To make the hair look more like a strand, I take the top and bottom verts and shrink them. To shrink, however, you must use "Alt-S" instead of regular "S". The shape changes, creating what appears to be a lock of hair! 

I duplicated the Path, obtaining a second "strand" of hair. To shape it around the head, grab a singular vert and move it around. The path will follow accordingly. You can subdivide to add more vertices in between, which can help to create more precise shapes. You can also extrude to elongate the hair. 

To twist the Path, press "Ctrl-T". With it, you can make the hair curl.

And that is a summary of all that I learned from making hair. I don't know everything about it, but I do know enough to make hair that I'm satisfied with!