What is the "Shell Technique"?

Development Asset Creation
1

I am curious to know what the shell technique is referred to in this forum post:

https://forums.unrealengine.com/showthread.php?62491-WIP-Fur-amp-Fiber-Assets&p=295157

Apparently it was used to create NeoFur.

2

You make a number of shells around your mesh (layers) the higher the number of shells the better the quality since you won’t see the stepping. On each layer you have the texture but it expands the alpha map so that as it gets to each layer going out the details get smaller, which gives an effect of the details being 3D. It’s like taking a mesh and slicing it into layers, it’ll look similar to how the real 3D version looks. It’s also how Epic did the big fireball in the Infiltrator demo–they did a simulation in 3ds Max with FumeFX and then rendered into layers and reconstructed the layers in UE4.

3

Very cool, thanks! I am looking for some good options on adding fur to a quadruped I am modeling. Do you think this is a good option? Or is there something better I can do?

4

I would just use the Neofur option