This is a short guide how to use textures with Maya’s new Interactive Grooming system.
Super easy. 🙂

• First you need some hair or fur of course
  • Change the Workspace to XGen – Interactive Groom
  • Select a mesh or some polygon
  • Add a description to it (Create -> Interactive Groom Spline -> Click Create)
  • Adjust the basic attributes in the main (xgmSplineDescription, xgmSplineBase and xgmModifierScale) nodes
  • Use the brushes to create a nice hair/fur (XGen shelf)
• Replace the default hair shader to an aiHair or alHair (http://www.anderslanglands.com) shader
  • Select the Description in the Outliner
  • Assign the new shader
• Paint a texture in Maya or some other software (for example with Substance Painter 🙂 )
• Connect the texture to the shader
  • aiHair: to Root Color and to Tip Color
    • In the UVs section set the U and V parameters:
      U Param: uparamcoord
      V Param: vparamcoord
      You have to set this manualy
  • alHair: to Dye color
    • In the Advanced section:
      U Param: uparamcoord
      V Param: vparamcoord
      In theory this is already there by default 🙂
      Notice: not all Maya procedural texture is supported by the alHair shader

That’s all

The head modell is the well known 3d scan by Infinite-Realities (Lee Perry Smith).

Cheers, D