Stylised Blender Hair Study

For the study of creating characters, I wanted to break down the process I have found in the creation of hair within blender for 3D stylised hair. I have shown my process and breakdown of my development as well as the finalised renders. Which I have shown for illustrating my workflow and the hair in its final form.

Using both realistic and 3D examples of hair for reference is what I used for the base of understanding the following of the desired hair look and how to make sure it is connected in a natural way. I looked into anime hairstyles and my own hair for examples of how both stylised and natural hair can be formed.

From this reference sheet, I was able to refer to examples of my desired hair look and how it should look at the end result. A function I believe I have been successful within for this study.

Taking renders from within blender allowed me to experiment with the rendering properties within the software as well as the lighting. Using the 3 point lighting system for the scene which consisted of a fill-light, key light and a backlight. This provided the hair with more pronounced shadows and exposure helping show all angles of the character effectively from the sunlight being emulated.

For the renders I looked into the types of engine options that would produce the best options, Eevee, Cycles were the two options I looked at for rendering the hair. Eevee is used more for video games as its a more real-time rendering option which creates faster renders but lowers the realism in detail and depth whilst cycles are seen in more movies especially animated films as its p[roduces ray tracing effects which makes for a more realistic rendering capability but this also requires a longer rending time. This is why I have chosen to use cycles as the quality of the renders is better and time and quantity is not a factor unlike if this was in-game renders.

Angles of hair model

Presenting all angles of the stylised hair following the references I have followed within this study. The front, back and side viewpoints allow for a full 3D presentation of my finalised hair study for my portfolio demonstrating my process and development within the creation of stylised hair for game-ready characters.

Demonstrating my development process throughout this study is important for documenting my process within the creation of stylised hair which I can use for later usage. Illustrating my hair through the use of blender materials has helped break down the way lighting and colour can create the desired look of the hair and proves more insight into the process of creating hair within creative software.

Illustrating my process of the use of cylinders and for path, curves were the pipeline of creating the hair design and creation of low poly hair which was sculpted on the head for the hairs final renders this workflow was useful in demonstrating my process and the effectiveness of the creation of hair within blender.