When it comes to grooming realistic hair and fur in Maya, clumping is an essential technique. It mimics the natural way hair tends to group together, making it critical for believable character creation. And Ornatrix for Maya, developed by Ephere, offers some of the most advanced clumping tools available today. Check it out and stay informed!
In this tutorial, we take a closer look at the Clump Manipulators, a powerful feature that gives you precise control over clump shapes for refined and stylized results.
What Are Clump Manipulators?
The Clump Manipulators tool allows you to edit individual clumps of hair in a direct, visual way inside the Maya viewport. Unlike procedural-only methods, manipulators offer interactive control over the shape, scale, twist, and position of each clump. This level of hands-on manipulation empowers artists to create highly detailed, custom hairstyles that would be difficult to achieve otherwise.Getting Started.
To begin using clump manipulators:
- Open your character scene with Ornatrix hair and select the hair shape.
- Click the Clump Hairs tool from the Ornatrix shelf.
- Select a group of hairs you'd like to clump.
- Open the Tool Settings and press Create Clump to generate your initial clump.
- To refine the rest of the hair, increase the Clump Count to 60 and generate random clumps.
- Now click Edit Individual Clumps — this is where the magic happens.
Using the Manipulators.
Once in Clump Manipulator mode, you’ll see gizmos appear at the base of selected clumps. These gizmos let you:
- Move the clump using the W key.
- Rotate using E.
- Scale with R.
- And even apply pattern adjustments via T.
Each of these modes has its own independent knot system, allowing for non-destructive and layered edits.
Pro Tips & Tricks.
- Dragging the position arrow along the clump’s stem sets your current editing position — this is where scaling or twisting will occur.
- Holding Ctrl while dragging snaps to the nearest knot.
- Holding Shift moves the selected knot to your new position.
- Scaling along the clump’s length allows you to create knots, which are stored along the hair strand and can be revisited or edited later.
- Each edit mode (move, rotate, scale, pattern) has its own separate set of knots for better workflow flexibility.
Procedural Meets Artistic Control.
The true power of Clump Manipulators lies in their non-destructive workflow. Any manipulations respect the underlying hair shape and can be combined with other operators — making them ideal for layered, procedural pipelines without sacrificing artistic freedom.
Final Thoughts.
Whether you're working on a stylized character or aiming for hyperrealistic fur, Clump Manipulators in Ornatrix Maya give you a secret weapon for advanced hair grooming. With a blend of procedural and hands-on control, you’re free to experiment and refine until you achieve the perfect look.
Try it in your next project and experience the difference!
For more tutorials and updates, visit the official Ephere website or join the Ephere community on Discord.
Finally, don't miss the video tutorial below:
Ephere is an innovative company that is all about making great software. Software that has user satisfaction as its primary goal by making everyday routines go smooth and stress-free. We do this by understanding the market needs and applying our extensive experience and know-how to every project - big or small. This makes for great products when combined with our client's unique and specific needs.
