Expert over the shoulder: Grooming chimpanzee fur with XGen - Part 1

[@Autodesk_Maya]

Just to give a bit of context to the lack of sound: This was a conscious decision on our part for a couple of reasons. One was that we literally set up a screen capture on an expert's computer and allowed him to just "do his thing," so to speak. In fact, part of the agreement in getting the footage at all was that we wouldn't distract him by forcing him to prepare a script or talk to himself (something most people don't usually do at the office). In that sense, think of this as less of a tutorial and more of a "demonstration." We mainly provided the captions in post-processing as a helpful tool rather than a strict step-by-step. The second reason was that you'll notice that many of the captions stay on screen for a very long time while our expert utilizes a specific tool (some of them for over a few minutes!) . These sections would largely end up silent anyway. My suggestion is to just play some of your favorite music over top of it as you watch him work. = )

[@CashFuelzCFXstudio]

+Maya Learning Channel Well THANK you and that certainly makes sense. I'm satisfied with that response and actually enjoyed the video...

[@sizlax]

At least you offered an explanation. Most people leave it up to us to guess why they can't afford a 5$ mic.. But as a side note, I'd never do the voicing at the same time as the video anyways; nor would I suggest anyone else to do so in such a video. Unless the video is going to be showing the person's face, it makes no sense to do so. Add audio afterwards in editing so as to remove any potential mistakes or awkwardly long silences, or "umm, uhh, duuurrrr"s, as well as (in the case of tutorials) best organizing the explanation so it makes sense to the viewer. And if your face is going to be in a tutorial, you can always film those parts separate from the screen-caps, and edit those into the final video while adding any additional audio.

[@user-mu2fb4hf6d]

Not good for newcomers to the plugin, may be able to glean at a morsel or two of useful knowledge if one knows the tool and want to learn more but overall a lame excuse!

[@japaneseextremme3811]

A simple voice over or even just addidng an automated robot voice to narrate the onscreen subtitles would go a long way to making this tutorial useful.

[@Autodesk_Maya]

+Emerlink You can use the + and - keys to grow and shrink the manipulators.

[@theagnistudio4342]

The redshift models dont apper on render please help

[@windlineage2884]

Sound?

[@ariush_music]

thanks a lot . my xgen is not attached to my mesh , when I animate Xgen doesnt react and stay still ,,, what should I do ?

[@Autodesk_Maya]

+shian Persian The xgen primitives won't follow the model in the workspace. For that, you'll need to render it out: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5XYmoSjbc6ma6M

[@syntaxed2]

XGEN was written by a bunch of scripters at disney with zero experience in artistic workflow. UI needs a redesign, get rid of the pre-reqs, have XGEN be completely modular like MASH/C4D/MODO's s cloner systems. Just copy those systems, thats what you autodesk guys do best!

[@CameronCrichtonVFXArtist]

yeah having render density and display density on different tabs - genius! Hopefully the next version will sort all of those issues

[@Autodesk_Maya]

Have you checked out 2017's new Interactive Grooming? The team has made some great strides towards ease of use. kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3-cmauvnJ6MY8U

[@grahamhiggins1816]

Exactly.

[@Imran400e]

The fur is only showing on render view not in viewport... How can i fix that

[@SpidyLetsPlays]

Little help, please. When I am trying to groom with the Pose brush, the fur doesn't move. It's more like a stamp at the end of my motion. Only the shape of my brush remains.

[@classrec6951]

Got solution??

[@YamanPrajapati]

But how I'm gonna apply texture to it

[@sizlax]

I take it this video was made before "collide with mesh" was an option..?

[@Autodesk_Maya]

yup, that's right.

[@CashFuelzCFXstudio]

WHY in the world, UPLOAD a tutorial "PROFESSIONALLY" without SOUND? I was checking my speakers like it was a problem on my end...

[@戴巍-s7i]

+CashFuelzCFXstudio +1

[@oskardiazdeleon]

Love tour tutorial! Do you take on new projects? I have a cartoon character I would like to animate in this style. Would love to connect with you to see if we can make this happen. Great work!

[@janedoeandfriends]

hey i have a problem whit my maya . i know this place is not the place to ask but i don't have any blog accounts so this is my last hope the bug glithc or wharever is it is just that it make the XYZ axiss of all moving tools to close to each other so i can't use them. is there way to fix it please help.

[@Velo222able]

Can XGen export the hair data into Nvidia's Hairworks at all? I believe the Nvidia Hairworks tool needs a .apx file or some such.

[@znbk5652]

well.. how could you attach the grooming to the mesh?? when i'm moving the mesh after i finish painting the grooming the grooming doens't move with the body.. any suggestions please?

[@Autodesk_Maya]

+ZHR NBK It's only the preview that doesn't move with the mesh (you shouldn't really be animating with fur primitives turned on anyway). You can regenerate the preview at any time by pressing preview button in the XGen window. Renders will appear with proper fur position.

[@znbk5652]

Maya Learning Channel​ +Maya Learning Channel well logically I may have to do some change to the grooming after I take my object to another position to what suit my position and angle. what if in another shot I want to make let's say the fur got wet or make something hit the fur and the shape has change.. practically u would say u can instance the xgen or create new scene file.. well I am just assuming that any change may occur during the animation itself. there must be a way to move the grooming with the object.. I hope that will be included in Maya 2017

[@Autodesk_Maya]

+ZHR NBK (*edit* fixed the second link) After consulting one of our experts on xgen, he informed me you can use delta files to achieve shot-based versions of a groom. help.autodesk.com/view/MAYAUL/2016/ENU/?guid=GUID-1BCD66D2-594A-4903-8204-19E9836BBBB7 There are also xgen preset libraries you can use as starting points: help.autodesk.com/view/MAYAUL/2016/ENU/?guid=GUID-32DAA595-96A4-4CD2-A85C-E98982114313 He also notes that groomable splines do not follow an animated/deforming mesh. You must shape and position groomable splines on the static pose of the polygon mesh of the description. Then the default spline versions of groomable splines will follow the animated/deformed meshes.

[@pakapeta7772]

Could you share the model with us plz?

[@YamanPrajapati]

Please do fur tutorial again please

[@canarikal]

What if mesh has displacement?

[@nisgia]

+Can Arikal you need to bake to ptex from mudbox.maya is only baking 8 bit ptex so you`ll have a problem.

[@canarikal]

+nisgia thank you

[@yeahyeahyeahokayyyyy]

Anyone know how to generate random variation to the length of the hair? Kind of an important feature for realistic hair/fur and yet I don't see much help in way of explaining it. I've looked further into it and all I could find were instructions on using expressions. Is that the only way? Seems like there should be a simpler solution. Why not simply have a slider for random length or a modifier? If anyone knows a simple solution, let me know! Thanks.

[@Autodesk_Maya]

Honestly, nowadays we recommend using Interactive Grooming instead. The workflow is much simpler and you would be able to add random variation as easily as adding a map to an Interactive Cut Modifier. kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3-cmauvnJ6MY8U

[@awsomedude9111]

sound????

[@awsomedude9111]

Yeah captions, but what happened?

[@donbal666]

+Garrett хуяунд

[@stasnikitin1456]

Xgen it`s nightmare for any artist. Error after error. Bug after bug. Workflow is painful.

[@shinupetermathew8748]

my hair not showing in ma arnold rendering why any one know

[@Autodesk_Maya]

Did you apply an aiStandardHair shader to it?

[@Frankino]

awwwww great Micheal :D

[@djvarunjoshi]

Hats off

[@PARAMJEETSINGH-cc5ox]

please do not make videos without sound ..... for god sake .... worst 15 minutes of my life

[@TheSimonMarley]

Well at least you another workflow..

[@PARAMJEETSINGH-cc5ox]

@@TheSimonMarley yeah i am sorry for my comment .... i didn't know much about xgen back then and i was expecting for knowledge. hope that explains my situation.