Edit Sinks Tool
Available from main Ornatrix shelf.
Use Edit Sinks Tool to create or modify existing Surface Comb sinks to direct hair along the growth surface.
Creating sinks
With the tool activated, click and drag on the character's surface mesh to draw an arrow on the surface, this arrow will be used by the Surface Comb operator to deform the hair depending on some user defined properties. When using the Edit Sinks tool a new Surface Comb operator will be added automatically to the hair stack if none exist. You can see the changes in real-time as you drag the arrow across the surface. Add as many sinks as needed to define the desired hairstyle or fur.
Use following keyboard shortcuts when creating sinks (key needs to be pressed before mouse):- Default: Creates a directional sink
- Ctrl + Drag: Creates a curved sink
Creating and managing curved sinks
Editing Sinks
To edit your sinks open the Tool Settings window to find all the settings for the tool and activate the Edit Mode option in the Sink Editing Settings section. When in Edit Mode, you can either click at the sink root to modify the overall sink position, or the sink arrow tip to modify its direction.
| Using Sinks with the Surface Comb operator |
Move Along Surface
Move Along Surface option (on by default) controls how the sink directions are edited in viewport when dragging the sink tip manipulator handle. When this option is on the sink directions will always stay parallel to the mesh surface at the point of sink's position. When it is off the sink direction handle can be freely moved in 3 dimensions. It is useful to be able to freely edit the sink direction when creating detailed grooms with surface comb.
Per-sink parameters
Sinks properties can be modified in a per-sink basis. You can edit all sinks properties thought Maya'sTool Settings window while the tool is active. In the Tool Settings window you will find all the global properties for sinks. If you click a sinks and select it you will be able to change its individual properties like:- Sink Type
Specifies whether the sink will Repel, Attract, or Direct hair - Mirror Axis
Determines if the sink will be mirrored to the other side of the mesh, and which axis will be used for mirroring. Default is None. - Sink Group
Specifies a single or multiple group of the sink. Groups are used to define parts within the sinks (similar to how Hair from Guides operator does it) but can also be used to assign groups to hair, or to create a channel. See more below. - Slope Curve
Provides a custom slope curve for this sink. Allows controlling the effect of the sink along the strand length, only for this sink. - Flow
Determines the effect of the sink based on the distance of the hairs from the sink. Value of 0 (default) will apply the sink equally to all affected strands. Positive value will affect hairs by the sink more if they are closer to it. Negative value will affect hair less if they are close to the sink.
After you change these parameters any newly created sinks will inherit the specified values.
Per-sink slope ramps
While the Slope Ramp parameter allows specifying the shape of the strands globally it is also possible to specify the shapes for individual sinks. To specify the slope shape for a specific sink first select it and then press the Override button in the Slope Ramp Override group of the Attribute Editor. You can now expand and modify the ramp to affect the selected sinks.
Due to some limitations the ramp control might not refresh its visual appearance after sinks are selected. This is benign, however, and you can get visual feedback as soon as you start editing the ramp.
To revert selected sinks back to using the global slope ramp use the Reset button.
Deleting sinks
To delete a sink switch Mode option to Edit and press Sinks Editing Tool button. Then select the sinks which you want to delete in viewport and press the Delete button on keyboard.