I currently dont have much hair products and only really have the standard free hair. Without having to buy some hair (because im poor at the moment haha) can i make the hair i have look better with shaders!?

i have included a picture of what i have avhieved up to now!

Are you asking about dynamic hair or regular hair meshes?

I have gotten some wonderful dynamic hair by Adorana.  I'm pretty sure it was from the Poser free stuff here.  She also has a set of shaders for dynamic hair, and free skull caps for various figures.

You could see how they work out for you and, if you like the results, you could see how the nodes are set up.  I just looked, and it seems I didn't install them to this computer yet, so I don't have a link to give you.  Shouldn't be too difficult to locate.  Hope this helps!

John

cool, thanks, ill check that out. I didnt realise that dynamic hair and conforming would have diferent shaders either. That is helpful to know!

THANKS!!

I you investigate dynamic hair, my favorite 'free' is "Kate Hair" that comes with Poser7 (and perhaps earlier).  Just scale it up to 105% (or so) for V4 or other models. It comes with shaders for color and noise, which of course can be tweaked.

a big issue -- since you have gone for realism shaders on skin -- is shadows from hair. Nothing shouts "fake hair" more than hair that does not cast shadows on the face.

And thus, a challenge. It costs render time, a lot of render time, to make hair cast shadows properly. Especially if you seek to have STRANDS cast shadows!

But if you don't attempt it, the contrast between the high realism on the skin and unrealistic behavoir of the hair under light will always look odd.

::::: Opera :::::

Good point for final renders on the shadows -- but for shader tests, it can get a little scary, especially with raytraced light, especially with transmapped hair. There's nothing that can kill one's desire to develop a shader as waiting 8 hours at a go for the shadows to show up between tests. grin

yeah, i thought that render looked odd without the shadow! I havent tried applying shadow yet though.
i dont think my computer would take it. For some reason the Larger version of that render took over 7 hours!? (4000x3000pixels) so id hate to think what it would be with shadow!

Ill check into the poser7hair. i havent tried the kids ones!? Is it the strand version with the shaders?!

You can find lots of free hair around. Check this link :)

http://market.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?message_id=2743009&ebot_calc_page#message_2743009

RetroDevil,

Kate hair is strand hair (dynamic hair).

May I respectfully ask the purpose of the 3000x4000 render? If you indeed have a need for such a large image, then everything you do -- and any advice we might give you --  is impacted. For screen viewing, 1920x1080 is already HD or theatrical digital resolution.

::::: Opera :::::

Not to be a cad but I have not yet seen a render where the dynamic hair went at all with anything else in the image, they look utterly alien to the figure and not at all realistic to my eye... I have seen great work done with transmaped mesh hair though... the standard hair that is.

momdot, i am going to rise to your challenge...but have a question....

do you mean for closeups or medium to long shots (where dynamic does not 'go with anything else in the image)

::::: Opera ::::::

a few older examples....

http://jrdonohue.com/amaya/mm5.mov
note the shadow cast by the dynamic hair on the face

http://thepreludes.com/lin6.mov
short close up work

more to come

::::: Opera :::::

i know the 4000x3000 is alot i thought, i was advised at some point that its best to render at that size! so you still have the detail when zooming

I might try around 2000 seeif it looks ok!!

I cant view those files for the dynamic examples at the moment so ill get back to ya on them!!

...detail when zooming...<<<

another approach is to render at something comfortable for yourself viewing on the screen, such as 800x900 (see following examples) but at high "saturation" settings in Poser. 

For instance, set minimum shading rate to .21 and pixel samples to 18. This will result in a longer render time, but you will discover that you can zoom in with less loss of detail than with less aggressive settings.

This width, 800 pixels, is around 4 times less wide than your 3000. But even if you bump up the settings to the numbers I am giving here, it won't take as long as 3000-wide with more modest settings.

::::: Opera :::::

These renders ran overnight last night. I set the AO a little too high, so the skin is not as good as I would normally show, but this is a "hair demonstration" so please forgive.

The hair is "Kate Hair", free with Poser. 

For stills: it is 'pretty good' for medium to long shots, less satisfying for a close up.
For animation: spectacular.

::::: Opera :::::

Operaguy, I stand very much corrected!

The animations were amazing. Just beautiful.

These blond still images are the best I have ever seen and I would be very very happy to achieve that effect but they also have just a tiny touch of the strangeness to them that has put me off dynamic hair, an ellusive feeling they dont "fit " with the mesh interms of lighting and strand resolution... is it that there is too much resolution, like seeing every single pore on a skin? Do I want it fuzzed a little? I don't know... I am perfectly happy with most mesh hair with baked highlights so I don't know why the dynamic hair other than yours seem to me composited from a different render. Somethig about the usual lihghting I think.

Utterly superb I must say. Great work! Usually it is the blond hair that looks the worst.

hey momdot thanks. I actually DO know what you are objecting to in the "strangeness". I share your opinion. I am working on it.

Why am I working on it? Because I DO want to use dynamic hair in stills, for certain reasons, and it is quite a challenge to make it look natural when not actually moving! And the closer you go in, the more unnatural it looks.

The obverse is true for me, also, by the way: No matter how many morphs you have at your disposal, it is impossible to make non-dynamic hair look good in an animation of any length.

Watch for more examples in the near future.

::::: Opera :::::

operaguy,
Awesome animations. Your work is inspiring.
cheerio  lululee

they look really good, i will try those settings and show the result here! thanks. those animations looked good, were they done in poser?

EDIT: Does anybody have an explanation of the various settings on the firefly engine. I actually dont know what most of them do!

thanks lululee and retro...

Yes, that is V4, all in Poser, no postwork, Kate Hair.

::::: Opera :::::