<p><strong>Many hair simulations render their hair as lines (usually splines). Since hair is a really thin object.</strong></p>

<p>if the hair is braided, rather than having thin infinitesimally small cylinders, you have something much thicker and with more volume per individual strand.</p>

<p>The line method is  efficient, since lines are computationally cheap to render.</p>

<p>However for braids it would seem you would need triangles, which would imply a high concentration of really small triangles on each individual braid, which sounds very expensive.</p>

<p>Are there any algorithms that attempt at dealing with this issue? Particularily ones that are good at trading quality for memory useage?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-03-07T18:07:59.497Z
It is not uncommon to simulate each braid with the same physical model of a single strand that is used as a skeleton for a hair model wich could maybe be made up of splines or not
Sebastián Mestre
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-03-07T18:21:33.497Z
I am not asking about the animation/simulation, only about the modelling/mesh
Makogan
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-03-08T14:47:24.683Z
What level of fidelity are we talking about here? Are we talking about indie-game, AAA game, CG animated series, or feature film?
Nicol Bolas
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-03-08T16:27:05.867Z
Static mesh on a mobile game
Makogan
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-03-09T04:07:03.357Z
For a static mesh on a mobile game, you could model each braid as a cylinder with appropriate bump mapping, and maybe parallax mapping, depending on how close the camera can get to it. Would that be sufficient?
user1118321
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-03-09T16:49:47.893Z
If i do  cylinder however, would I not end up using a really large amount of triangles for the overall head?

My main issue is I need to send the model over a network and this needs to run in a broad number of devices, so cheap and drity that minimizes triangle use trumps quality.
Makogan
<rendering><mesh><model><particles>
How to model braids?
Makogan
# How to model braids?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-03-07)

**Many hair simulations render their hair as lines (usually splines). Since hair is a really thin object.**

if the hair is braided, rather than having thin infinitesimally small cylinders, you have something much thicker and with more volume per individual strand.

The line method is efficient, since lines are computationally cheap to render.

However for braids it would seem you would need triangles, which would imply a high concentration of really small triangles on each individual braid, which sounds very expensive.

Are there any algorithms that attempt at dealing with this issue? Particularily ones that are good at trading quality for memory useage?

**Tags:** rendering, mesh, model, particles

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: It is not uncommon to simulate each braid with the same physical model of a single strand that is used as a skeleton for a hair model wich could maybe be made up of splines or not  
> **username_0**: I am not asking about the animation/simulation, only about the modelling/mesh  
> **username_2**: What level of fidelity are we talking about here? Are we talking about indie-game, AAA game, CG animated series, or feature film?  
> **username_0**: Static mesh on a mobile game  
> **username_3**: For a static mesh on a mobile game, you could model each braid as a cylinder with appropriate bump mapping, and maybe parallax mapping, depending on how close the camera can get to it. Would that be sufficient?  
> **username_0**: If i do  cylinder however, would I not end up using a really large amount of triangles for the overall head?  My main issue is I need to send the model over a network and this needs to run in a broad number of devices, so cheap and drity that minimizes triangle use trumps quality.  

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## 0 answers

