Simulation - Animating with Blender: How to Create Short Animations from Start to Finish - page 273

Comb will act like a comb or brush when dragged
across the strands. Smooth straightens them. Puff causes
the base of the strands to become perpendicular to the
skin. Cut functions like a precision laser cutting device.
Length can be used in Grow or Shrink mode to make
hair longer or shorter. And, as in Sculpt mode , the F
key can be used to quickly adjust the size of the on-
screen brush while Shift-F can be used to interactively
adjust brush strength. The other important setting on the
panel, Defl ect Emitter , tries to prevent hair from pass-
ing through the emitting surface (usually the skin) while
grooming. Keep this enabled unless otherwise noted.

From here, it becomes a fairly tedious process of
playing with the tools, alternating between Comb ,
Smooth, Puff, Length , and Cut to get just the right
style. For learning to do it, there is no substitute for
simply playing around with a head full of hair. Here
are some best practices for getting started:

Figure 14.65 Particle mode and the grooming tools

● Try a high strength (more than 80) comb for styling, but only use the edges of the brush. This gives a
little more control over partial combing than simply setting the brush to a very low strength, like 20.
● On longer hair, comb from the base of the hair outward to the end, directing it where you want it to go
along the length of the stroke. This works better than just trying to style the endpoints of the hair.
● If hair becomes stuck inside the mesh ( Defl ect Emitter isn't perfect), it will become jittery and hard to
control as you comb it. To fi x this, turn off Defl ect Emitter , comb the hair away from the mesh, then
reenable it.
● For fur, use a brush with maximum strength and just lay the fur down against the mesh in the directions
you want it to go. Afterward, disable Defl ect Emitter and use the Puff tool until the fur has the correct
balance of “poofi ness” and “lay down” you are looking for.
● While you groom, constantly view your model from different angles. Just as in in real life, it would be
embarrassing to leave hair scraggly or sticking out on the back of the head just because you forgot to
check the mirror before leaving for work.

Particle Mode in the 3D view has three different
ways of selecting strands to directly move them with
the G key transform mode or to limit the effects of the
grooming tools. Just like the Vertex/Edge/Face selec-
tion modes when editing a mesh, these are available on
the 3D view header. Figure 14.66 shows the option
buttons. The fi rst is called Path Edit Mode , which
is the default and not useful for direct selection. The Figure 14.66 The different strand selection modes