Ornatrix Maya: Dynamics with constraints/vertex properties?

I am trying to make some long hair with dynamics added. For this, I need to have variable dynamic strength along the hair strands. For example, the hair near the roots/scalp should not move much, but at the tips, it should be fully affected by dynamics. Normally I would do this with transform constraints (nHair) or by painting the Input Mesh Attract property on vertices (nCloth). However, I can't figure out how to do this with Ornatrix dynamics or the Ornatrix nCloth workflow (it seems there is no nCloth output mesh generated). Is there a way to accomplish this while still using Ornatrix hair (instead of pfx hair)?
12 July 2016 #8813
EPHERE	I will look to add this to our own dynamics node. With nCloth dynamics, the hair is converted to a mesh which is simulated with nCloth and then converted back to hair. You should be able to select this nCloth shape and set the appropriate vertex properties on it through the hair stack. Does that not work for you? Marsel Khadiyev (Software Developer, EPHERE Inc.)
12 July 2016 #8815
dsyee	Thanks Marsel. Regarding the nCloth painting, it does seem to work if I start with a "Fur Ball" workflow. There's a "transform1Temp" mesh marked as Intermediate, and if I make that visible and assign a shader, I can paint vertex weights on it. However, when I use Hair from Mesh Strips to do it, after I hit "Create Nucleus Simulation" I get an error: // Error: file: C:/Program Files/Ephere/Ornatrix for Maya/scripts/AETemplates/AEMeshFromStrandsNodeTemplate.mel line 88: No object matches name: // Then the graph becomes a bit of a mess, there's an nCloth sim created but it doesn't show up in the Ornatrix stack. I think I can work around this by exporting the HairFromMeshStrips as curves, then using those curves for HairFromCurves.
12 July 2016 #8817
EPHERE	I think the problem with HairFromMeshStrips stems from the fact that nCloth conversion needs a base distribution mesh. With mesh strips you just generate hair, without a distribution mesh. Please try throwing a GroundStrands operator on top and grounding the hairs to some mesh. Then, on top of that convert it to nCloth sim. I think that should work. Marsel Khadiyev (Software Developer, EPHERE Inc.)
12 July 2016 #8818
dsyee	Yes, that seems to get rid of the error! Although I get some warnings: // Warning: file: C:/Program Files/Ephere/Ornatrix for Maya/scripts/Stack/OxUpdateStack.mel line 113: Could not find a suitable output to wire into GroundStrandsNode1.inputHairGuides // and later, working with the nodes on top of the nCloth: // Warning: file: C:/Program Files/Ephere/Ornatrix for Maya/scripts/Stack/OxUpdateStack.mel line 154: Cycle on 'MeshFromStrandsNode1.outputMesh' may not evaluate as expected. (Use 'cycleCheck -e off' to disable this warning.) // However, it seems to behave correctly for now...thanks!
12 July 2016 #8820
EPHERE	Yes, I think we are aware of these warnings and they should be benign. Need to do a more thorough investigation. Marsel Khadiyev (Software Developer, EPHERE Inc.)

Posted by:		dsyee
Data created:	12 July 2016