How to Model: Hair, the Anime Way

Level of detail (LOD) in Team Fortress 2

Disclaimer

Most of the projects that I will be doing are for a game that I am developing on my own code named Project Ninjio. In short, the game is a story action driven role playing game (commonly referred to as an action RPG). It features 2 uniquely styled areas, one in which the cities are built to flow along with nature, and the other where the cites are hyper futuristic. The game is set in a futuristic China, where after a large war, the country is split into the two settings described above. The game is built in the Unity 3D game engine.

How to Model: Hair, the Anime Way

The characters of My Hero Academia

Introduction

While working on the model for Bing Nu, I have struggled a bit to make the hair for her look both realistic yet have it fit in with the art style of Ninjio. I have watched numerous tutorials online, however most result in a hyper realistic hair style and shape which would not suite the pre-defined art style of Ninjio. While watching a little bit of Boku No Hero Academia (My Hero Academia in English), one of my favorite animes to watch, I realized that the way hair is done in anime is quite different compared to other art forms.

Unlike other art forms which use individual strands and strokes of hair to make the hair flow and act realistic, anime hair tends to clump the pieces of hair together in one shape. This results in anime hair being more expressive of the character than that of traditional art forms where the hair is just there. Another benefit of using this anime hair style is that the hair on the character could not follow the laws of physics and still look good.

Since this discovery, I have developed a method for modeling this style of hair on characters inside of the Blender 3D modeling programing.

The steps

Step 1) Start out with the head that you wish to cover in hair.

Step 2) Create two bezier curves by pressing Shift-A and then to Create Curve and then to Bezier Curve.
Step 3) Create a bezier circle by pressing Shift-A and then Create Curve and then to Beizer Circle

Step 1

Step 2 (and 3 I guess)

Step 4

Step 4) Under the Shape tab of the Curve Options editor window, set the preview resolution of the bezier circle to 2. Then rename the circle to something that you will remember, I use Hair Bevel Object for mine. Move the circle somewhere in the scene where it will not be in the way of the rest of the modeling.
Step 5) Using one of the bezier curves, go into Edit Mode on it, move the control points and the handles around until they match the ones show in step 5's image. Rename the curve to something you will remember, I use Hair Taper Object for mine. Move the curve somewhere in the scene where it will not be in the way of the rest of the modeling.
around with the handles to make it look like
Step 6) Using the other curve, go into it's Geometry Options under the Curve Options editor window and set the Taper Object to the bezier curve you made in step 5 and the Bevel Object to the circle you made in step 4.

Step 5

Step 6

Step 7) Now position the bezier curve that you made in step 6 so that the control points are where you want your piece of hair to start and end. Maneuver the handles of the curve to make the piece of hair fit along the head. You may want to resize your Hair Taper Object and Hair Bevel Object 
Step 8) Repeat steps 6 and 7 until you are satisfied with the results.
Step 9) Select all the piece of hair and then press Control-J to join all the separate bezier curves into one object

Step 7

Hint: use the mirror modifier to decrease the time that you spend modeling the hair!

Final Results

A monkey with hair, because why not?

 This week's work log:

Monday October 9th: Day Off: Columbus Day

Tuesday October 10th: Started work on Bing Nu’s hair, most ended work ended up scrapped

Wednesday October 11th: more work on Bing Nu’s hair

Thursday October 12th: Finalized work on Bing Nu’s Hair

Friday October 13th: Made hands for Bing Nu, added finishing, modeling, touches