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Flexi Hair Texuring Problem.

Katarina Gallacher
Registered User
Join date: 23 Sep 2006
Posts: 2
09-23-2006 15:55
I'm having a problem with getting my hair textured naturally.
Image 1, is the current texture I'm using.
Image 2, is how I would like it to be, a more natural look. (a ingame bought hair)

Is there any tools to make this happen?
Because alphachanneling with magic wand/lasso tools makes the texture look unrealistic and harsh.


Image 1:


Image 2:
Serafina Shackle
Registered User
Join date: 26 Apr 2006
Posts: 25
09-23-2006 17:13
You can use brushes meant for painting hair to create a convincing alpha channel.
There are a few free ones available here. You may also find a few more by searching through the Renderosity Free Stuff & Marketplace.

Basicly you just want a soft brush with several different sized points set horizontal. Then you can set it to fade under the brush options for "size jitter" and/or "opacity jitter" and paint from the bottom up however far you need, working your way across the canvas. I'd recommend using the opacity jitter fade and black as your starting colour for what you're trying to accomplish. :)
Chosen Few
Alpha Channel Slave
Join date: 16 Jan 2004
Posts: 7,496
09-23-2006 17:37
Serafina's advice is good, but there is another way to go about it. Painting a new alpha from scratch with a hair brush will make a good hair alpha, but it won't necessarily match the hair you're using. To make one that does match, try this:
  1. Take a look at the three RGB channels individually, and identify the one that seems to have the most contrast. Duplicate that channel, and rename it "Alpha 1".


  2. Now increase the contrast on Alpha 1 until it's almost completely black and white, with very little gray. You want to be able to just barely make out the individual hair strands when you look at the channel. The channel should be mostly white with just some subtle black defining the strands.


  3. Paint the bottom portion of Alpha 1 (about 1/10 of the canvas) compleltely black, paint the top 80% or so completely white, and then use the burn tool or a scattered paint brush with a low opacity setting to paint gradations of gray into the transitional area between the white and the black. The idea is you want the white strands of hair to fade into blackness as they approach the bottom of the canvas.

    I'd recommend not going quite as severe in the variance of the grays as the example in your picture would require. That girl looks like she has severe split ends. She really needs a trim. Real hair doesn't look that frayed at the ends unless it's very unhealthy. For a more natural, healthy look, you want your gray grade to go quickly from black to white over a short area.


Hope that helps. Have fun. :)
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Katarina Gallacher
Registered User
Join date: 23 Sep 2006
Posts: 2
09-23-2006 17:42
From: Serafina Shackle
You can use brushes meant for painting hair to create a convincing alpha channel.
There are a few free ones available here. You may also find a few more by searching through the Renderosity Free Stuff & Marketplace.


Thank you! I'll try those out.
But one more question, is it possible to make the alphachannel react only to color?
Because i will have the same problem once i've drawn the black brush over the hair.
Do i have to use magic wand/lasso to create invisble alphachannel, or can i set it to one color?
Chosen Few
Alpha Channel Slave
Join date: 16 Jan 2004
Posts: 7,496
09-23-2006 18:06
From: Katarina Gallacher
Thank you! I'll try those out.
But one more question, is it possible to make the alphachannel react only to color?
Because i will have the same problem once i've drawn the black brush over the hair.
Do i have to use magic wand/lasso to create invisble alphachannel, or can i set it to one color?

I wouldn't recommend using the lasso or any of the selection tools for this, and I usually don't recommend using the magic wand ever. As I said above, the way I would create the transition from black to white is by using the burn tool to darken the white areas as they approach the bottom of the canvas.

The end result should look something like this:



Note that I made this in like 10 seconds, and I haven't tested it. It's very likely not quite right for 3D use yet (I can tell just by looking at it that the transition from white to gray is much too harsh), so I wouldn't recommend just downloading the sample and using it as is. I just wanted to give you an idea of the kind of thing to shoot for. You'll probably want to take your time with yours and do a much more professional job on it.
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ShyOne Lehane
Registered User
Join date: 20 Feb 2005
Posts: 266
09-23-2006 20:33
What i have been doing is going directly to alpha channel and u get none of that fade look sample : enclosed mind u its just another idea
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y133/BishDesignz/sample.jpg
Robin Sojourner
Registered User
Join date: 16 Sep 2004
Posts: 1,080
09-24-2006 10:29
Hi Katarina, Forgive me if I'm wrong, but from your question, I have a feeling that you're not clear on what an Alpha Channel is.

Computer graphics store their information in channels; you have one each for Red, Green, and Blue. You might have another for the Alpha, or others for selection masks, and so on.

When you look at the Layers palette, or at your image, you're seeing a composite of the Red, Green, and Blue channels. The Alpha channel doesn't show unless you want it to, in which case it shows as a mask.

So, yeah, what Chosen is talking about is the "invisible" alpha channel; but you don't make it with a lasso. You click on the Channels tab (usually grouped with the Layers tab in Photoshop,) click on the Make New Channel button (in PS,) which looks exactly like the Make New Layer button, and paint directly on that Channel.

It's as easy to use as a Layer, even though it's not one. All of your tools and brushes and many of the filters and third-party plug-ins work on it. You can increase or decrease the contrast, invert, equalize, posterize, or do all kinds of other stuff; but all in gray scale.

Once you have it, you can change the color of your hair at will, and it doesn't affect the Alpha channel in the slightest.

So I'm not sure what you mean about drawing the black brush over the hair. You're not painting on your hair layer at all; you're painting on the Alpha Channel. But if you're talking about adding black streaks to the hair color, once you have the Alpha Channel, the hair will look exactly the same in SL no matter what color you put there.

All of this assumes that you're not using PS 7.0 with its nasty embedded alpha. If you are, then the Alpha channel won't work properly. You'll need the free upgrade to 7.0.1, available on the Adobe site here for the PC, here for the Mac, or, if you need another localized language, you can find links on these pages, for PC or Mac.

Hope this helps!
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