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Hierarchical Controls for Art-Directed Hair at Disney
Introduces hierarchical sculpting controls into Disney's hair pipeline for layered art-direction of hair motion across varying simulation scales.
Abstract
Creating appealing shapes and silhouettes of a character's hair while maintaining the organic motion produced by physical simulation is a challenge in Disney's very stylized animated worlds. This talk describes the introduction of hierarchical sculpting controls into our hair pipeline and presents a set of tools for creating and manipulating this consistent structure to achieve art-directed hair motion. From grooming through animation, simulation and technical animation, hierarchy is leveraged both for efficiency and for preservation of the hairstyle's structure. To date this hierarchical workflow has been used on two feature productions, allowing for the efficient art-direction of a wide variety of hair types and styles.
How to read this
- Category
- Production talk: hierarchical art-direction controls for hair
- Contributions
- Introduces hierarchical sculpting controls into Disney's hair pipeline for layered art-direction of hair shape and motion
- Presents tools to create and manipulate a consistent hierarchy spanning grooming, animation, simulation, and technical animation
- Leverages hierarchy for both efficiency and preservation of hairstyle structure across simulation scales
- Context
- Extends Disney's stylized-hair workflow, building on The Art and Technology of Hair Simulation in Disney's Moana (Thyng et al. 2017) toward more art-directable hierarchical control.Builds on: The Art and Technology of Hair Simulation in Disney's Moana
- Correctness
- Studio practice, not peer-reviewed; results are production-proven, reported as used on two feature productions, so the value is in the workflow rather than in validated quantitative claims.
- Clarity
- Accessible; a single pass conveys the hierarchical-control concept and where it slots into the pipeline.
- How to read it
- Read once for how hierarchy is defined and reused from groom through sim; a useful reference for art-directable hair pipelines, no formal second pass needed.
Related work
- Scriptable Character FX Solution 2019 / DigiPro
- Art-Directing Asha's Braids in Disney's Wish 2024 / SIGGRAPH
- Choreography of Hair and Cloth in Disney's Moana 2 2025 / SIGGRAPH
- The Art and Technology of Hair Simulation in Disney's Moana 2017 / SIGGRAPH
Keywords
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