HairWorks Quick start 3ds max -> Unreal Engine 4 Pipeline

Community Community & Industry Discussion
1

Hello. Mini guide for NVIDIA HairWorks. + 3 official Nvidia Tutorial.

In order to have earned Hair Works in the Unreal engine 4, you need to download the source code of the engine with the integration of Hair works-a separate branch of NvPhysX / UnrealEngine
https://github.com/NvPhysX/UnrealEngine/tree/HairWorks

To download you need to link your account with git hub epic! Unreal Engine on GitHub - Unreal Engine

Nvidia Tutorials

Nvidia GameWorks integration. NVIDIA GameWorks Integration - Asset Creation - Epic Developer Community Forums

GoodLuck!

2

thank you:)

3

Does it matter what version of physx is installed in 3ds max?
Because I got failed import every time despite hairworks asset working in viewer.
I am currently using physx plugin 3.01 (newer version didn’t export working apex cloth, at least some time ago)

4

PhysX plugin does not matter. But you must have v1.1 of the HairWorks plugin.

5

Ok, that was it. Thanks !

6

do you still have to use github for this? i cant get it working

7

Yes, it is not part of the main Epic repo, and probably won’t be for a very long time if ever.

8

Thank you for taking the time to explain it, it’s really helpful ;]

9

UE4 it can,t work in step 7

10

Do you have to use a bone in order to make it work?

11

It is possible and without bones. Just apply the Hair and fur -> Create hairworks.

12

Yes u dont have to use bones, it just wont deform when applied to a skeletal mesh. For example, I dont use bones when I create hair pieces, coz the head doesn’t really move besides the neck joint, but if I was to make a cloak or something, then I would use bones.

13

hello, thanks for all, but how integrate in ue4 :mad:

14

Hi, after export my .fbx and .apx files into UE4, the fur shows correctly on the mesh.

However, if i add an animation to the mesh, the fur won’t deform with the mesh. (for additional information, the created splines won’t deform with my mesh in 3dsmax, either)

Not sure where I’m missing, I followed

this tutorial for hair creation: NVIDIA HairWorks 3dsMax Tutorial - YouTube

and this tutorial for importing to UE4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09Oy92QGrQc

I think I’m missing something simple, but can’t seem to track down the problem.

Can someone help me here? Thanks in advance.

15

I think you might need to skin your growth mesh to your skeleton for that to work.

16

Hi, thanks for the quick reply.

In 3ds max, I use one skinned mesh and add the “hair and fur” modifier on that mesh.

In this tutorial: NVIDIA HairWorks 3dsMax Tutorial - YouTube he’s using 1 detail mesh and 1 growth mesh create hairworks on growth mesh and then exported the entire scene.

I thought I could skip the growth mesh part, since I could create hairworks using (skinned) detail mesh alone–is this apporach causing the problem?

This is my first time trying out Nvidia’s hairwork, so apologize if this is a dumb question. :open_mouth:

17

That should work (not having a separate growth mesh) but I’m not sure why it wouldn’t be working if it is indeed skinned.

18

An updated information,

I’ve downloaded Nvidia’s HairWorks Viewer, and load up my mesh.fbx and hairwork.apx into the viewer. It turns out the fur sync well with the animation in Viewer.

So I’m sure the hairworks were exported correctly.

So it could possibly be something I missed up or overlooked in UE4 side??

The way I do it, I just made an actor blueprint with the following component hierarchy:

sceneRoot

. Skeletalmesh

. . hairComponent

and assign the mesh and hair asset accordingly. I use the “Use Animation Asset” to assign animation to my mesh.

The fur just won’t sync with the animation no matter what.

Not sure what’s causing the problem. sigh

19

Unfortunately I haven’t got as far as getting stuff into UE4 for HairWorks, so I can’t say what the issue is there :confused:

Maybe @ will be able to chime in and help.

20

Hey, no problem.

I will post this question to the NVIDIA Gamework integration thread.

Thank you for your attention and suggestion. :slight_smile: