Hi, folks! i am working up some new textures for an old, old friend--the Millennium Woman Flip Hair from DAZ. Getting back into Voluptuous Vicki and kindly comments from a friend inspired this madness. i am hoping to take these to the Marketplace soon... i would like to know your un-edited reactions and criticisms. As some of you know, i listen! So you get better products. i've got 10 of these textures, and i would like to know what you think about the hair detail or lack thereof, whether it needs a new transmap, coloring, and such. There are/will be: golden blonde, platinum blonde, bleached blonde, frosted blonde, punk blonde, strawberry blonde, brunette, frosted brunette, raven, and redhead. Whew! Kozaburo did a nice dark texture, and you already have an auburn if you have this hair. This first one is Ana (a RealGrrl) with golden blonde, in Anton's global light.

Here's Ana with platinum blonde, same lighting. i chose this lighting because it's fairly hard on a texture--no shadows to hide in. :^)

Ana with strawberry blonde, same lighting.

Ana with raven (blue-black) hair, and a different global light setting.

I like 'em but they don't look real enough, what do you think of this one, made of real hair, BTW hair by kaz. Hair texture by me. Remco

I think they look pretty good Nan... I don't have the flip hair, so I don't know, but is that the transmap that comes with it, or a new one? A new transmap couldn't hurt, the parts that go back over the top of the head... you can see them best in the platinum hair pic, look a little too solid, they might look better if they were more wispy instead of clumpy, same for the part that comes down in front of the face a little bit on the right side... The color on the strawberry blonde, to me, looks a little too uneven, like it's a bad dye job... but it still looks okay... for a bad dye job. ;) My non-female two cents. K-

Ooh! I was hoping for some textures for the flip hair. :o)

Okay...I think the golden blonde looks okay...but it's a little dull. Her hair looks unhealthy. Maybe add some highlights?
The platinum blonde hair just looks like a helmet almost. I would try ading some more darker colors in there to make the distinction between hair strands.
The strawberry blonde....well...it needs work. It does look like someone really screwed up her dye job.
It think the black hair looks pretty darn good...but it also looks a little dull.

I think that about covers my first reactions. They look like they are coming along though. I think a new transmap would be beneficial also.

RemCreations - I can barely see those hair textures. Maybe show them in brighter lighting on a lighter background?

Remco--thanks. The lighting and background in your pic (i've seen this somewhere before...?) makes it difficult to assess the texture(s), though it's nice for the faces (which are cute). Is that the underside of the hairband i see on the rightmost image? The hairbands throw me off. Some might like them, but the ones painted into the hair are not to my personal taste. Can you make their ends less sharp? Those edges look painful. True, my textures don't all look quite real. They are definitely not even to Beta stage! i am thinking that more definition of individual hair is required in places. Cin-, thank you also. This is the old DAZ transmap. The long pieces that go around the head, you say? They just look too...tubular, i guess, though the ones in the bangs have always been OK. The strawberry blonde is rather streaky, isn't it? i'll have to back that off some, then. This is an oddly difficult hair to texture! i have been painting is completely with "hair" brushes, too. The render seems to lose that definition. Perhaps i should increase the resolution, too.

Why dont you go down to your friendly hairdresser and pick long samples up of the floor. Then scan them into a high quality scanner and go fom there.?? A real challenge would be to make very fine long Blue/Black hair as you would see on most Asian women. Another point is the cross section of hair varies from Round to Oval.

WOW! It's good to see some new hair textures! And no one has attempted this one before. The Platinum and the Raven are lovely! Especially that Raven. If I was better at magnets, i'd work on that right bang. It always leaves this fuzzy shadow on the head. It's too short and too wispy. On the Strawberry Blonde, I really like the definition above the ear, and the color of the bang above it looks pretty realistic to me. I think you're doing well with this - please keep going. You're onto something here. Is there a better transmap for the hairline? I notice the Flip hair and the Hollywood hair could all use good hairline maps.

Ok here you can see it better, with a new light and light background.I didn't change anything only the light and the background colour Remco

Tazmanet, the hairdresser idea is a good one, though it has shortcomings, because when a flat hair texture (scan) is applied to a mesh it looks, well, flat, as NikitaCreed says. One of the reason Kozaburo's hair always looks so good is because he paints highlights onto the texture. The trick is getting them in the right place (my current problem) and making them look like hairs instead of something painted. As it is, i actually do paint hairs & use "hairy" brushes, but they seem to be blurring when rendered. Hmm. i use Jaager's excellent free hair color palettes--he's already done the scanning & hard work--as a jumping off point for tones and values. Anyhow... consensus is pointing toward a new transmap, too! No surprise there. Thanks again, everyone!

Fred, use a digital camera I did that and it's much better than a scanner. I hope you like my hair textures. You can see it much better now on light background. Remco

My personal opinion is they all look terrific! I don't have the Flip Hair, but these are quite good! Congratulations. :) Irene