hair-groom

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

Topic	Reference	Load When
Hair Card Atlas	references/hair-card-atlas.md	When needed
Groom Flow Regions	references/groom-flow-regions.md	When needed
Cinematic Vs Game	references/cinematic-vs-game.md	When needed