Version:

Icon of a magnifying glass.

Maya – Fur Previsualization

Maya – Fur Previsualization

[Example Maya fur visualization.]

To visualize fur on a mesh

  1. Verify that the Cgfx Shader is enabled.

    In Maya, navigate to Windows, Settings/Preferences, Plug-in Manager.

    Find cgfxShader.mll in the list, and then verify that both Loaded and Auto load are selected.

    If you made any changes, restart Maya.
    [Example for setting the cgfxShader parameter.]

  2. Open the Hypershade editor by navigating to Rendering Editors, Hypershade.
    [Example Hypershade editor.]

  3. Create a new material. To do this, in the Hypershade window, navigate to Create, Materials, Cgfx Shader.
    [Example of creating a new material in the Hypershade editor.]

  4. In the Property Editor, click the folder icon next to the CgFX File text box. Note
    If the Property Editor is not visible, navigate to Windows, Property Editor.
    [Example of navigating to the .cgfx file.]

  5. Navigate to your Lumberyard install folder, and then select dev\Tools\Maya\fx\Fur.cgfx.

  6. In the Fur.cgfx Parameters section, specify the following, at a minimum:

    • Enable Fur Combing (disabled/unselected if you haven’t prepared your mesh with vertex colors for fur combing)
    • Use Base Fur Diffuse Map (selected/enabled)
    • ColorSampler
    • FurHeightmapSampler
      [Example fur height map sampler parameters.]

  7. Select the mesh or sub-mesh on which you want to visualize fur, and then right-click hold on the CgFX shader material in Hypershade. Select Assign Material to Selection.

  8. In the main viewport, press 6 to ensure that Shaded Display (with texture maps) is enabled.

  9. Adjust fur settings on the material as preferred.

To apply vertex colors on a mesh

  1. Enable fur combing on the material. To do this, on the Fur.cgfx Parameters, select Enable Fur Combing.
    [Example of enabling fur combing.]

  2. Open the Paint Vertex Color Tool. To do this, click the square box next to Color, Paint Vertex Color Tool.

  3. Since Maya does not permit painting alpha only on a RGBA color set, begin by painting RGBA to specify fur length scaling:

    1. In the Color section of the tool, select RGBA for the Channels.

    2. Click the color swatch next to Color value. Specify 0.5, 0.5, 0.5 as the color using the mode RGB, 0.0 to 1.0.

    3. Set the alpha value to your desired fur scaling setting.

    4. Set other tool settings as needed, and apply fur scaling to your mesh.

  4. Now paint RGB only to apply combing:

    1. In the Color section of the tool, select RGB as the Channels.

    2. Click the color swatch next to Color value. Select the preferred direction.

    3. Set other tool settings as needed, and apply fur scaling to your mesh.