Hi all.
don't want to get anyone's tech hair up in knots over this but I am curious and frustrated and need enlightenment! :D
I use a lot of hair (not having much myself) in my renders but I love hair props to be .hr2 file types instead of conforming. Conforming hair can only be used with the figure they are supposed to conform with whereas the .hr2 can be used on everyone.
Why content creators create ONLY conforming hair (well the best create the regular .hr2 version in my opinion) is beyond me. You get more use out of poseable/morphing .hr2 hair and I am willing to spend the extra money when I find it well made.

What does it take to create .hr2 files as opposed to conforming hair? Isn't the .hr2 version easier to create? I would think so (though I am honestly not a modeler myself).

Is it difficult to convert a conforming hair prop with lots of movement dials to a regular .hr2 file with the same dials or similar dials that move the hair the same way?

Oh and anticipating this response from some well meaning user....Please, don tell me I can just parent the conform hair to the figures head and I am fine. Doesn't work that way with long morphing hair. You parent the hair to the head and try posing the tips and the crown lifts off the head. Try it before you suggest that please...it really is a frustrating phenomenon! :?

Actually Netherworks has put out some rather fine scripts to convert conforming hair from one model to another. 

http://netherworks-studios.com/

I have used the hair conversion system for M4 and V4 with excellent success.  The beauty of the system is you can create both conforming and prop hair.

Hm!?

I went to the site but could find no such converter scripts. I assume these scripts are also for Windows....right?
I am on a Mac.............  :(

I make all conforming hair because I don't know how to make a hr2 to be honest.  I can make smart props, but smart propped hair doesnt always flow with a pose nicely so I just stick to what I know ( plus it wont pass testing sometimes)

So I guess you know why now =)

Quote - Hm!?

I went to the site but could find no such converter scripts. I assume these scripts are also for Windows....right?
I am on a Mac.............  :(

**
THEY ARE HERE**
Seems python based
but I see no Specific mention
of Mac compatibility though

Cheers

Can you point to some examples of HR2 files that are really just hair files (i.e., not figure cr2 files that were placed into the hair library with the file extension changes from cr2 to hr2) and act differently than a hair figure (cr2 file) just parented to the head?  I'm asking because real hr2 files should act just like a parented cr2 file when posing the parent figure.

EDIT: nevermind - what I said doesn't apply to long hair

You don't need to conform comforming hair just for the sake of conformity. Yes, it was a lousy sentence.  Deliberately so.  :)

Load, position, parent.  That's all yer need, apart from maybe scaling.

Simples.

(cue russian meerkat)

No, I haven't been drinking or taking funny chemicals.  

Quote - You don't need to conform comforming hair just for the sake of conformity. Yes, it was a lousy sentence.  Deliberately so.  :)

Load, position, parent.  That's all yer need, apart from maybe scaling.

Simples.

(cue russian meerkat)

No, I haven't been drinking or taking funny chemicals.  

ROTFL too funny!

Quote - > Quote - You don't need to conform comforming hair just for the sake of conformity. Yes, it was a lousy sentence.  Deliberately so.  :)

Load, position, parent.  That's all yer need, apart from maybe scaling.

Simples.

(cue russian meerkat)

No, I haven't been drinking or taking funny chemicals.  

ROTFL too funny!

Thanks.  I'll be here all week. :)

Heh, thanks for the giggle =D

Quote - You don't need to conform comforming hair just for the sake of conformity. Yes, it was a lousy sentence.  Deliberately so.  :)

Load, position, parent.  That's all yer need, apart from maybe scaling.

Simples.

(cue russian meerkat)

No, I haven't been drinking or taking funny chemicals.  

Yep there is usually one in every post. That was the reason I stated not to bother telling me to do that.
Try it some time. Parent a conforming long hair .Cr2 to a head not made to have the hair conformed to. Then once parented to the figure's head select the tips of the hair or try to use the dials to make the hair strands....say, fly away and tell me what happens. From my experience the crown of the hair magically blows off the head or lifts off needing repositioning. Not a good thing to have happen because after all the time needed to try and "fit" the conforming hair to a head it wasn't made for you gotta go back and rotate and spin and try to refit it to the head again. But to make it worse you can't really guage how much "fly Away" dialing you have to do if you have to go back and reposition it on the head trying to get it just right.

BTW the reason I parent the hair to the head first is for cutting the additional effort of trying to position and scale it to a head already in a specific pose. Much easier to do so when the figure is in the default pose.

Quote - Can you point to some examples of HR2 files that are really just hair files (i.e., not figure cr2 files that were placed into the hair library with the file extension changes from cr2 to hr2) and act differently than a hair figure (cr2 file) just parented to the head?  I'm asking because real hr2 files should act just like a parented cr2 file when posing the parent figure.

Hi Chris!
Thanks for stopping in. I posted this on the same thread over at DAZ.:

*"Not sure I agree. I have many hair products NOT Conforming that have a lot of moving changing parts. 3Dream I think is one of those great artists who offer beautifully posable hair that is NOT ONLY conforming but rather also including a standard .hr2 obj prop with the conforming version in the package and I have many others that do either/or in offering hair products. Another is AerySoul whose Ivy's Long Tail hair for example, is a standard Hair Prop with a lot of motion morphs. Kozaburo was another who offered I believe standard Hr2 files rather than conforming as, I believe, does Plus3D with some of their products (offering both in a package).
This was just to name a few.
Variety in use and breath of function is the mark of a great product and I applaud the artists that give us that creative flexibility and....much more bang for our hard earned buck!"

This what you needed Chris?
Actually I gotta admit some ignorance about actual Cr2 renamed and as .Hr2 files etc.
All the .Hr2 files I work with are real .Hr2 files out of the box and have no extension changes( by me anyway or to my knowledge)  and parented to the actor head do indeed move like any other parented obj item. The difference being that unlike that if the conforming hair body  parented to the head, I can still use morph or adjust dials in the file to give some movement to the hair without the whole hair prop repositioning itself. Something I have not been able to work around using .Cr2 Conforming hair.

Not sure I explained it properly.  :(

Quote -

Yep there is usually one in every post. That was the reason I stated not to bother telling me to do that.
  

And that would be me.

Yeah well, I didn't read yer whole post.  Life's too short. :)

Anyhow, "Lock actor" will stop the hair flying all over the place.  Magnets are groovy for making the ends move around.

Well, I parent to a ball prop and parent the ball to the head. That usually gives all the freedom and less hassle than parenting the hair cr2 straight to the figure head. It also lets you do all the scaling and what not without the problems too.

Quote - Can you point to some examples of HR2 files that are really just hair files (i.e., not figure cr2 files that were placed into the hair library with the file extension changes from cr2 to hr2) and act differently than a hair figure (cr2 file) just parented to the head?  I'm asking because real hr2 files should act just like a parented cr2 file when posing the parent figure.

Yes, mine. An HR2 file is a derivative of the Poser prop (PP2) file, except that it should automatically smart parent to the selected figure's head, and if there is hair already parented it will remove it.

 To answer the original question, though: HR2s are easier to make*, and easier to use, except in the case of long hair - that is, hair which is longer than collar length or thereabouts. Rigging long hair is the simplest way to make it work. The alternative is to make an awful lot of morphs, which is frustrating both for the creator and the user. I can't speak for others, but that's the reason for me.

*How to make an HR2 hair: position the hair mesh on a (preferably) zeroed figure, parent to the head, save to the hair library. Simples. :)