Maya Tutorial: Create Xgen Grass

This is part 1 of a video series on making Xgen grass that interacts with a bouncy water balloon. The grass will have nHair dynamics while the ball has nCloth dynamics. In this video we begin by making the Xgen grass.
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[@jerbinjerard6855]

now thats pretty useful rather than creating it manually thanx a lot man that will save a lot of time....

[@ameeerr2834]

Dude you have such an awesome skills of teaching keep it up.

[@cgjcTools]

Thank you.

[@princepjohnson]

Excellent tutorial! You're a great teacher. Very easy to follow and the results are beautiful.

[@rosharch]

Loved it. Easy to follow. Thanks

[@ingameus]

Thank you so much. Learnt a lot. Keep teaching...

[@cherrycoked3]

Thank you, this is the best tutorial I've seen

[@cgjcTools]

Glad it helped and that you enjoyed it

[@besthobbit]

You rock, thank you so much.

[@Mericali916]

Forever GOAT'd

[@lord_francio582]

updating my maya 2020 to 2022 allowed me to open the XGen Expression Editor ^^

[@smashedlegends]

Hi! Why you did not use the option that XGen has for grass? (when you click on description) ?

[@nex3000]

Thanks!

[@galberger3937]

Hi. Is it possible to add a wind zone for this? If yes can you show how?

[@user-dg1bm6fd1i]

i wrote the command [rand(0,.7),1, rand(0,.2)] and it still black i mean at the commands window it shows a green square up there but at the viewport and render its black

[@viviansomes8053]

when I render, my grass isn't green after adding the expression. I have gone over the tutorial multiple times but it still is showing the default brownish color. any ideas?

[@daisycakes4]

Did you figure it out? Mine is doing the same thing...

[@cgjcTools]

Make sure you are using the proper renderer according to the material you are using. Also check the render output for xgen. There is an output tab and if you scroll down you can choose which renderer you want to you. Also make sure you assign a shader to the description.

[@paulb6181]

my grass is just hite no color at all any suggestions please

[@melleram]

Hello, thank you for these helpful Maya tutorials! I just subscribed! I was wondering if you could make a tutorial of a simple meadow of grass and flowers swaying in the wind? I am currently making a school thesis film that relies heavily on wind-blowing foliage, clouds, and raining blossoms. Any tutorials on these aspects would be deeply appreciated! Cheers!

[@cgjcTools]

Thank you for your input. You can have the flowers in a similar manner as what is in this tutorial. Instead of connecting xGen you can create a wire deformed between your flower geometry and the animated nHair curve. Hope that helps for now.

[@melleram]

@@cgjcTools Thank you for replying back!! I am still new to Maya especially with xGen. I have only been taught basic animation, modelling and rigging in my school unfortunately. I hope you can make a new video soon.

[@justincase7773]

what hotkey did you use to bring up folder structure?

[@cgjcTools]

In windows? Window + E

[@justincase7773]

@@cgjcTools Thanks for the fast response a very useful hotkey for use in windows. I wonder why no one teaches or talks about Maya paint effects grass or trees, is it outdated, useless or simply doesn't work with Arnold?

[@cgjcTools]

@@justincase7773 it works with Arnold it’s just not typically as high quality as other methods. It generates a lot of geometry as well that can make files very heavy.

[@toniagaillot6215]

my grass does not appear in the arnold render view why ??

[@SilesianWarrior]

In Xgen check Preview/Output tab, output settings, set renderer to Arnold. Save, close, open again.

[@DanielA46]

6:32 when I write out {rand(0,.07)1, rand(0,0.2)} it tells me "Syntax error near '{': {rand(0,.07)1,rand(0,0.2)}" what do I do?

[@mariamancipec]

u have it wrong it is: [rand(0,.7),1, rand(0,.2)] insted of using "{" use "[" i hope it helps :)

[@DanielA46]

@@mariamancipec thanks this helped a lot

[@uhohspaghet]

I’m having a problem writing {rand(0,.07)1, rand(0,0.2)} it’s giving me errors

[@cgjcTools]

What are the errors?

[@ericpinkman1017]

For some reason I can't open the expressions editor.

[@cgjcTools]

You might have to reset tour preferences. In documents -> maya -> version number -> delete the folder called Prefs. You can also rename it if you don’t want to delete it. Then restart a new Maya

[@tatianai6622]

@@cgjcTools I have the same issue, and deleting preferences folder didn’t help 😭

[@cgjcTools]

@@tatianai6622 how are you trying to open the expression editor? Can you send me screen grabs via email so I can further assist? [e-mail]

[@DonJuanMair]

I am getting this same problem too. I get ; Create Map Save Expression As Load Expression Reset to a Slider

[@danielburnett6817]

@@DonJuanMair im also getting this error

[@animatedworld190]

5:01 How did she opened this window beside the window ,,aiStandaredSurfece1,,?

[@artistictreehgr]

Do you mean the property editor next to the shader? If you don’t have it open by default then in the hypershade window select window -> Property Editor…

[@dark_maverick5199]

when I render I don't see the grass

[@cgjcTools]

What do you see? Does it render the light? In the XGen properties did you set the renderer to Arnold?

[@dark_maverick5199]

@@cgjcTools Just the plane. Yes It renders the light and yes I did that also🥲

[@cgjcTools]

@@dark_maverick5199 your remderer is set to Arnold. Under windows-> settings/preferences-> plug-in Manager search xgen to see if they are all checked on. Make sure your xgen is assigned an Arnold material. If it’s still not working feel free to send me your Maya and xgen file to [e-mail] so I can help debug better.

[@dark_maverick5199]

@@cgjcTools Thanks it worked. ❤❤❤❤

[@cgjcTools]

@@dark_maverick5199 Awesome. Glad you got it working now! ^^

[@raulramirez3724]

im not getting the render

[@cgjcTools]

What do you see? Just black?

[@pwp99]

@@cgjcTools yes,how to fix it?

[@cgjcTools]

@@pwp99 make sure you have a light in your scene. You can use Arnold dome light. Increase intensity and exposure to increase the amount of light.

[@asahinaize]

@@cgjcTools i get this error: [xgen] Could not initialize the Patch renderer. How to fix this?

[@cgjcTools]

@@asahinaize there could be several things. Did you set project? Are you trying to use a render farm? Try these first: forums.autodesk.com/t5/maya-forum/quot-xgen-could-not-initialize-the-patch-renderer-quot-error/td-p/8920678