Community
Maya Forum
Welcome to Autodesk’s Maya Forums. Share your knowledge, ask questions, and explore popular Maya topics.
cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Clump ( Xgen Interactive Grooming ) weird behaviour when moving object

3 REPLIES 3
SOLVED
Reply
Message 1 of 4
darlanota
840 Views, 3 Replies

Clump ( Xgen Interactive Grooming ) weird behaviour when moving object

In a simple hair system, when I move the object, the "clump" node generates unwanted stretched hairs. If I turn the clump off and on, it fixes it, but it always happens again, when there is a clump on.

It seems to be fixed if I change some parameter of the clump (for example randomess) but it always happens again.
I can´t animate no object with this error.

Tags (1)
Labels (3)
3 REPLIES 3
Message 2 of 4
darlanota
in reply to: darlanota

OK. I think I have discovered the solution to this problem. So I myself answer myself. Just in case someone else could be of help.
The reason is that subsequent clumps break if in the description_base node we have painted the Density_Mask with a texture.
They don't get along, it seems they don't understand each other.
So thank you all for your support.

Message 3 of 4
Fox4445
in reply to: darlanota

Hi. Finally, someone with the same problem. I can't believe this isn't affecting more people. I arrived at the same conclusion too, that the density map is conflicting with the clump modifiers. I was about to open a new post but then found this one. Having completed my groom for my character, as soon as I try to move the scalp mesh, part of the bangs/fringe just extends longer than the rest of the hair - and this is not acceptable. The problem disappears if I disable the clumps or disconnect the density mask. I have been in a lengthy support case arguing my point, and I think they have reported it now to the development team.


When I say 'move the hair' I mean either by parenting it to the character rig, or just by dragging it with the translate tool in the viewport - no dynamics or complicated alembic setups yet. I have also tried wrap deforming the scalp mesh to the character's head geo. I've also tried the "duplicate the scalp mesh and create a blendshape technique" which doesn't work either, and neither does changing from parallel to DG in prefs.


The only work around so far that is moderately acceptable is to increase the tesselation on the scalp mesh, add an edge loop where the density mask border is, and delete faces to shape the scalp mesh to the shape of the density mask. Then you can delete the density mask altogether, and have to start your groom again using the old guides as curves for the new groom. Save a preset from the old groom and apply it to the new groom to save some  time. However, this will only be of use if your scalp mesh has a hard edged density mask. If you need parts of the hair to be thinner with shades of grey, eg. balding on top, or perhaps around eyes and nose for a creature with fur, then you're in trouble unless you want to convert all your hair to polys, but that drastically increases file size, at least for the scalp with a lot of hair. For my character's eyebrows I will have to convert to polys because they have density masks and clumping but obviously fewer hairs = fewer polys. So if you want clumping and density masks in your groom, which is pretty much always, then I would have to say XGEN IGS is unusable at the moment (please fix it Autoflow). Have a look at the attached file and video. Thanks.

Message 4 of 4
darlanota
in reply to: darlanota

Well. Good answer. I don't feel so alone anymore (unfortunately) :-).
Good research too. Let's hope that the Autoflow development team finally solves something so obvious. As you say.
Because it's really annoying. Thank you, @Fox4445 

Can't find what you're looking for? Ask the community or share your knowledge.

Post to forums  

Autodesk Design & Make Report