How to transfer XGen hair?

[Anonymous]

Hi,guys

I have a trouble need to help...I want to know how to transfer XGen hair? For example:when i have made the XGen hair on a model ,if i  want to change another model ,how can i directly transfer the done XGen hair to another model ,then i'll don't need combing again.

Thank you !!

[Christoph_Schaedl · Accepted solution]

you could save a preset...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E8OeyhAiLc

but you cant transfer a real groom... xgen is based on ptex... you need the exact same topo to transfer a groom...

you could work with scalps and just import the scalp and create a blendshape to fit the new head...

[Anonymous]

  Thanks sir !!

  I have another problem amazing, Do you know how to copy the XGen hair ?

[Michael_Todd]

You can duplicate a description via the UI:

You can also move descriptions between collections.

You can also export collections and descriptions:

If you need to move descriptions to new geo with different toplogy, it's a bit trickier as has been pointed out, due to the ptex topology dependency. It can be done but there will be some loss as painted maps will have to be repainted and clump maps regenerated for the new topology.

Convert your guides to curves and save them out to disc as a new file or almebic cache. Export the collection. Open the file with the new geometry and select it, import the collection you just exported. XGen will ask if you want to Create a New Collection or overwrite the original. You can create a new one and then xgen will create an empty collection folder for it on disc. You can then copy the original folders and files into this new collection folder. After importing Xgen will complain as it will not be able to find files or guides. Just to be safe, select the geo and replace the faces in the binding:

You should also Fix the patch names if the geo has a different name:

Import the file with the curves you converted from the guides then use the curves to guides utility to turn them back to guides, you can just hide or delete the curves or if they are animated in the cache, you can maintain a dynamic link to drive the guides shape over time (if needed)

Then you'll need to regenerate the clump maps for the new topology. Just open up the setup maps dialogue, and save out new maps. If you have painted maps or masks, you'll need to repaint them for the new geo, but once you do this, you should be able to see the collection on the new geo.

It's a bit convoluted but it can be done.

Groomable spline however cannot be transferred in this way, the maps will be lost

[Michael_Todd]

Also, if you transfer to new geo and overwrite the original collection, if you're new geo has a different name, it won't actually overwrite the old maps, it will make new ones with the name of the new geo. This allows for the collection to be used in two different scene files with different geo. 

[Anonymous]

Thanks !!

[Anonymous]

I did my grooming on an alembic cache file. Now I'm trying to replace the alembic cache with a different animation. I loose the xgen connection. Is there a better way of going about this? its the same topo, just different animation. Same starting position in the first frame.

[Michael_Todd]

You could use a blend shape to the new model if they are the same, topologically.

Then export the groom and import the groom files back in again to the new shape.

Cheers

[magillaGuerilla]

Importing Alembic will basically delete your existing mesh and replace it with newly imported mesh. This will break everything, including blendshapes. Change your alembic options to update rather than replace the geo and it should maintain connections. 

[d-e-a-n]

Is it possible to transfer multiple descriptions at a time? For example if you have 5-7 descriptions on one mesh you currently have to transfer each of them individually, which can be very time consuming. 

[JordanYounglove]

So I'm trying to transfer a groom from a base mesh to a posed version of that same mesh. Same UV's and same topology. Transfering the description does NOT work. Well it does something, but I'd have better luck starting from scratch. There simply has to be a way to do this without starting over.