Modeling and Styling	Parametric Effects	Animation	Rendering	Import/Export
Edit Guides _Modifier	Surface Comb _Modifier	MassFX Dynamics _Modifier	MentalRay _Object	Alembic Export _Exporter
Ground Strands _Modifier	Curling _Modifier	Strand Multiplier _Modifier	Strand Animation _Modifier	Ornatrix Hair _Exporter
Guides from Surface _Modifier	Frizz _Modifier		Fast Ray Tracer _Atmospheric	Shading and Materials
Guides from Mesh _Object	Hair Clustering _Modifier		Accurate Ray Tracer _Atmospheric	MR Hair _{MR Shader}
Guides from Shape _Modifier	Guide Clustering _Modifier		Hair Draw _Effect	Hair Texture _{2d Map}
Hair from Guides _Modifier	Propagation _Modifier		Render Settings _Modifier	Cheap Shader _Shader
Baked Guides _Object	Gravity _Modifier		Shadow Maps _Shadow	Expensive Shader _Shader
Baked Hair _Object	Length _Modifier		Raytraced Shadows _Shadows	Translucent Shader _Shader
Hair Presets _Object	Detail _Modifier		Deep Shadow Maps _Shadow
Hair Preset Maker _Object	Symmetry _Modifier		VRay _Modifier
Guides from Guide Mesh _Modifier
Guides on Spline _Modifier
Hair Shells _Modifier
Mesh from Strands _Modifier
Hair from Mesh Strips _Object

Hair Clustering Modifier

Hair Clustering Modifier
- Parameters
C++ SDK Access
MaxScript Access

_{Hair clustering with 10 clusters (left) and 100 clusters (right)}

Clustering is often required to quickly simulate realistic hair in both short and long form. In nature clustering is caused by external forces such as static charges between hair strands and synthetic forces caused by gel and hairspray.

To accomplish this task, hair has to be separated into groups which are then pulled together to form clusters. Each group is represented by one of the hair strands thats forming it, and it is usually the central strand. The user has full control over how each group does its clustering. This control consists of a set of cluster knots which determine the amount and direction of clustering at each point on a strand.

_{Hair clustered with 500 clusters, using a noise map for clustering amount}

For very quick results clustering can be controlled on a global scale. Clusters can be randomly generated and spread evenly throughout the surface. Then one knot structure, presented on the main panel, controls all of the clusters.
A special threshold parameter controls how close a strand has to be to a particular cluster to get affected. You can control threshold with a global value and through a global texmap. In experience this value can be well controlled by a noise map with high contrast in upper and lower limits.

Parameters

Gen. count
Total number of clusters to generate. Only after hitting the 'generate' button the clusters will be generated. Hitting 'Clear all' will remove all hair clusters.
Use UV coordinates
By default hair will be clustered together based on the distance of hair roots to each cluster. If this option is on UVW coordinates of clusters will be used instead. Note that for this to work you hair needs to inherit surface dependance.
Threshold
If a specific root is further away from the cluster than this threshold, it will not get clustered.

C++ SDK Access

Hair Clustering modifier is accessible via Ornatrix C++ SDK. You need to get an instance of HairClusteringModifierFPInterface which exposes numerous methods:

#include "Public\HairClusteringModifierFPInterface.h" 

// Get "Ground Strands" interface:
auto hairClusteringInstance = HairClusteringModifierFPInterface::GetInterface( myModifier );

MaxScript Access

You can access Hair Clustering modifier via its MaxScript interface. For example:

-- Get MaxScript interface
hairClusteringInstance = $MyHairObject.modifiers[#Ox_Hair_Clustering]

You can call the following functions on this interface to manipulate Hair Clustering programatically:

-- Removes all currently generated clusters. The modifier must be active in the modify panel for this to work.
hairClusteringInstance.ClearClusters()

-- Re-generates clusters used by this modifier from current input hairs and parameters. The modifier must be active in the modify panel for this to work.
groundStrandsInstance.GenerateClusters()

You may also use standard properties exposed by showProperties myModifier to access and change this modifier.

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