An Artist Simulates a Realistic Hair Braid With Houdini & Maya

Artem Erikenov, a brilliant Grooming Artist whose photorealistic 3D hair and fur projects never cease to amaze us, has wowed us once again by showcasing a neat dynamic hair braid simulation created using a combination of Maya and Houdini.

According to the artist, the dynamics of the braid were simulated as Cloth in Houdini. Then, the guides were imported from Ornatrix into Houdini, simulated with Vellum Hair, and attached to the dynamic braid mesh. Finally, the creator brought everything back to Maya and rebuilt the hairstyle with the animated guides and braid, getting the appealing result seen in the video above.

Earlier, Artem showcased a work-in-progress version of a dynamic braid simulation:

And prior to that, the artist impressed us with a lifelike 3D white cat model, groomed in Houdini and rendered with Chaos' V-Ray in Maya: 

If you would like to learn more about the artist's grooming pipeline, we highly recommend checking out our recent interview with Artem, where he spoke about the creation of a medium-length hairstyle for a woman using Houdini, compared Houdini and Ornatrix, and provided a detailed walkthrough of the grooming process.

We also highly encourage you to visit the creator's YouTube channel, filled to the brim with insightful timelapse videos and breakdowns that will help you learn more about character grooming.

Click here to check out more of the author's projects and don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.