How to use PixelHair on any custom Character In Blender
Last Updated: February 14, 2025In this tutorial, I’ll guide you step by step on how to use any hairstyle from PixelHair in your projects. Let’s dive in! First Look After purchasing a PixelHair hairstyle, you’ll receive a RAR file to download. What’s Inside? Extracting & Accessing Your PixelHair Hairstyle After downloading, unzip the file using any extraction software you prefer. I personally use WinRAR (it’s free and just a personal choice, no affiliation). Once extracted, you’ll find a Blender (.blend) file containing the hairstyle. What’s Next? If you want to directly add the hair to your project → Jump to the “Append” section of this tutorial.If you’d like to preview or tweak the hair before using it, keep reading! We’ll cover that next.
Hair Blend File
Last Updated: February 14, 2025Once you open the PixelHair blend file, your Blender window should look something like this Identifying the Hair Mesh in the PixelHair Blend File In the PixelHair blend file, you’ll find only one mesh (except in instances when there is a hair asset attached like beads for example ) this is the base mesh where the hair grows from. Why is this important? How to Find the Mesh Name:
Hair Particles (optimizations)
Last Updated: February 14, 2025Now that we know the mesh’s name, let’s look at the hair particles. If you opened the PixelHair blend file and thought, “Where’s the hair?”, don’t worry! The hair is there, but it’s hidden. This is not the same for all PixelHair files, some have the hair hidden and some don’t. How to Make the Hair Visible Making the Hair Visible Without Lags Now that you know where the hair is, the next step is to make it visible. Why Is the Hair Hidden by Default? PixelHair uses high-quality settings to ensure the best final renders. These settings can slow down lower-end computers, especially when previewing in the viewport. If you have a high-end PC, you can skip this section and move on.If not, follow these steps to make the hair visible without lagging your system. Two Settings That Impact Performance: Strand Steps – Controls hair flexibility. Too low, and the hair looks stiff and blocky. Too high, and it slows down your viewport. The trick is to reduce them just enough while keeping the style intact. Children Amount – Duplicates hair strands for a fuller look. The more children strands, the heavier the hair file. Adjust the Hair Particle System Optimizing Strand Steps for Better Performance In Blender, strand steps range from 1 to 10. Higher numbers mean smoother, more flexible hair, but they also slow down performance. Lower the Strand Steps Find the ‘Strand Steps’ setting (under ‘Viewport Display’ in the Particle Properties tab). If the current value is close to 10, reduce it by around 2 points. Example: If it’s at 10, lower it to 8. If it’s already low, reduce it only slightly to keep the hair looking good. Optimizing Children Amount for Better Performance Now that we’ve adjusted strand steps, let’s talk about children hair. What Are Parent & Children Hairs? Parent Hair (Guides): These are the main strands that control the hairstyle. They can also be refered to as hair guides. You manually style these to shape the hair look. Children Hair: These are automatically generated around the parent hairs. They add volume to make the hair look fuller and more realistic. More children = better volume and realism but higher performance cost. Reduce the Children Amount Go to the ‘Children’ section in the Particle Properties panel. Look for ‘Display Amount’ (this controls how many child hairs are visible per parent). Reduce the amount by half to balance quality and performance. Example: If it was 100, lower it to 50. If the number was already low, decrease it slightly instead of halving it. Why This Works Keeps the hair looking natural while reducing viewport lag. Only affects the preview, not the final render. Still gives you a good representation of the final hairstyle. Final Check: If Blender feels smoother, great! If it’s still lagging, you might need to lower strand steps a bit more. Unhiding the Hair in Blender Now that we’ve optimized strand steps and children amount, it’s time to unhide the hair so you can see it in the viewport. Locate the Hair Particle System Go to the Particle Properties panel (right-side menu). Look at the list of hair particle systems. Make the Hair Visible Find the TV Icon: This icon controls whether the hair is visible in the 3D viewport. Click it to unhide the hair so you can see it. Check the Camera Icon (Optional): This controls whether the hair appears in the final render. If it’s disabled, click to enable it. By now, you should have a hair system optimized for both your computer and your project. The next step is to repeat this process for the other hair systems. This ensures the entire hairstyle is visible and performs well. Since we started with the most demanding hair system, adjusting the rest should be easier. You might not need to tweak every hair system, especially if there’s no lag after making them all visible. Once all hair systems are adjusted and visible, you’ll see the full hairstyle in your 3D viewport. In the next section, we’ll focus on applying this hair to your character.
Applying PixelHair to your character
Last Updated: January 23, 2025Applying the hair to your character is a straightforward process. First, ensure you save your changes to preserve the current state of the hair before importing it into your project. Once saved, open a new Blender file and load your project. Before applying the hair, it is important to note that the character’s head shape can significantly affects the final appearance. If the head closely matches an average human shape or aligns with the hair mesh, the result will resemble the previews shown on the website. In some cases, artists have attempted to apply PixelHair over an existing sculpted hairstyle, which can result in an unnatural fit due to the additional volume and uneven scalp shape. To achieve the best results, ensure the character is bald with a proportional head shape. If necessary, adjust the scalp’s shape and size for an optimal fit. To apply the hair, navigate to ‘File’ in the top-left corner of Blender, then select ‘Append’. This will open the file browser. Locate the saved hair file, double-click to open it, it should look like this. Double-click “Object” to open the folder. Locate the object with the PixelHair mesh name identified earlier. (If you don’t remember the name, you can quickly check in the original file, which should still be open.) Select the correct object, then click “Append”. The Pixelhair mesh will now be imported into your project, but it may not be positioned correctly. To align it properly, start by selecting the hair mesh. (If the particle hair system is visible, temporarily disable it in the viewport to improve performance and reduce lag while adjusting the mesh.) Next, select the Move Tool. If the move gizmo is not centered on the Pixelhair mesh, right-click the mesh, choose ‘Set Origin’, then select ‘Origin to Center of Mass (Surface)’. This will reposition the gizmo to the center of the mesh. Now, use the Move Tool to align the hair mesh over the character’s head. If necessary, scale the mesh by pressing ‘S’ and dragging the mouse. The goal is to fit the Pixelhair mesh as closely as possible to the character’s head, which should look like this. If your hair mesh, like in my example, is partially inside the character’s head, don’t worry. We’ll use Blender’s sculpting tools to adjust it for a better fit. First, make sure the hair mesh is selected. Then, switch from ‘Object Mode’ to ‘Sculpt Mode’ using the dropdown at the top-left corner of the window. In Sculpt Mode, select the ‘Elastic Deform’ brush. Use your mouse to gently adjust the hair mesh, ensuring it fits better on the character’s head. The goal is to have most of the mesh outside the character’s head, as shown in the example below. This is important for the next steps. it’s better for the hair mesh to sit slightly above the scalp than to be embedded inside it. The mesh doesn’t need to fit perfectly against the head; small gaps are fine. Pay close attention to the ears, ensuring that the hair mesh’s ear openings align properly with the character’s ears, as shown in the example below. Now that the Pixelhair mesh aligns with your character’s head shape, the final step is activating the shrinkwrap modifier. While still in Sculpt Mode, select the Modifier icon in the Properties Panel. For some of you, the purchased Pixelhair might already have a shrinkwrap modifier set up. If it does, simply ensure it’s enabled. If not, you can add one manually. Adding the Shrinkwrap Modifier to the PixelHair Mesh Now, the shrinkwrap modifier should be at the top of the modifier list, which is our focus. With the shrinkwrap modifier open, locate the ‘Target’ setting. Next to it, you’ll see an eyedropper icon. This ensures the Pixelhair mesh sits properly on top of the character’s scalp. If applied correctly, the Pixelhair mesh will snap to your character’s head, achieving the desired fit. However, in some cases, you might encounter errors, particularly around the ear area. This happens when the Pixelhair mesh is too far from the scalp and closer to the ear, causing the shrinkwrap modifier to misinterpret the target surface. Fixing Shrinkwrap Errors This should correct the issue and properly align the hair mesh to the scalp. With all errors fixed and the Pixelhair mesh properly aligned to your character’s head, it’s time to switch back to Object Mode. Now, unhide the hair particles, and voilà! Your character now has the new hairstyle applied. Feel free to render it or use it in your project as needed. Enjoy working with it!