STEP by STEP

CREATE A PLUME FOR HENRY VIII’S HAT

01To Create a base for the new hair PLUME

begin, create a simplified surface with the line tool whilst snapping to vertexes on the top of the cap. The surface does not need to cover the entire cap, but only a reduced area where the plume will appear.

Next, create the form with shapes bounded by three or four vertexes at most (rectangles or triangles) and then weld all the vertexes. Apply the Surface modifier and ensure the normals are pointing upwards. Make the surface non-renderable in its properties dialogue.

02 hair and fur assignment

With the new surface selected, we now need to open up the drop-down Modifier list in the top right, and select the Hair and Fur option.

Start by adjusting the general parameters in order to achieve the approximate length required for the plume. Tweak the hair strand thickness and the hair density to your liking with the Hair Count option. Adjust the amount of hairs on display to help with GPU memory under the Display tab, and then switch on the guides icon.

03 COMB and Cut

Under the Styling tab choose the Select button and select an area of hair guides that you might want to work on. Then click the Hairbrush button and the Scale button underneath. Work in the top and side viewports and stretch the hair with the green comb icon on screen. Switching from the Scale button to the Translate button will enable you to easily comb the hair into a style of your choosing, and switching from the comb to the cut icon will allow you to snip off ends in order to neaten and tidy the plume.

04 render Settings

Once the hair has been combed and cut into the required style open the mr Parameters tab, select Apply mr Shader and click into the box under. Choose Vrayhairmtl. Drag and instance the material into an empty slot in the material editor and adjust the colour and glossiness parameters, or choose a preset.

Next open the Environment dialogue from the Rendering tab in the main top menu and select the Effects tab. Add Hair and Fur and under Hair Rendering Options select ‘mr prim’ for the Hairs options.