Production Hairstyle Layering Strategy

The 4-tier AAA card hierarchy

In high-end game production, hairstyles are built in structured, overlapping tiers rather than a single uniform pass. Each tier serves a specific optical and geometric purpose, progressing from wide, dense foundation cards that hug the scalp to delicate, airy wisps that break the silhouette.

Tier 1: Scalp Cap & underlayer

The Scalp Cap is the foundation of any real-time hairstyle. Its primary job is opacity occlusion: preventing the viewer from seeing bald scalp skin through parting gaps, and blocking bright environment light from leaking into the roots.

1. Create the Base Occlusion Layer

   In the Hair Layers panel, create a dedicated layer named Base_Scalp_Cap. Set a dense root count (e.g. 800–1,200 roots) with a low strand segment length and high root radius.

2. Bake flat, dense card strips

   In Stage 3, bake texture cards specifically designated for underlayers. These cards should have high alpha coverage (almost solid near the root, with soft feathering only at the tip).

3. Conform close to the scalp surface

   In the Groom workspace, draw these cards using Draw Strips (B). Keep them conformed tightly to the head mesh, with zero longitudinal twist (T) and slight concave width bend (E) so they hug the cranial curvature.

Tier 2: Main form & silhouette clumps

Tier 2 creates the recognizable character hairstyle. These cards establish the flow lines, parting direction, curls, waves, bangs, and sideburns.

Key practices for Tier 2:

• Follow natural hair growth directions: Hair originates from the crown/whorl and radiates outward. Place cards along the anatomical flow rather than in arbitrary criss-cross patterns.
• Vary Card Tangents with Twist (T): Real hair locks twist slightly along their length. A twist of 15° to 45° along the strip spine allows light to slide across anisotropic normal highlights, preventing the cards from looking like flat 2D ribbons.
• Taper Width from Root to Tip (W): Natural hair clumps are thicker at the mid-body and taper toward the tip. Use HairStorm's Width Size tool (W) to narrow tips.

Tier 3: Breakout clusters & depth

Tier 3 sits immediately on top of the main form cards. These are narrower, more energetic clusters that break out from primary locks to introduce organic imperfection and visual rhythm.

1. Use Fill Gap or Redraw Strip

   Identify gaps between large clumps where the silhouette looks overly rigid. Use Fill Gap or press R (Redraw Strip) to introduce intermediate secondary cards that bridge the flow.

2. Offset height slightly above Tier 2

   Breakout cards must float 1–2 mm above Tier 2 cards to avoid coplanar Z-fighting. Use the Move Brush (M) or Comb Brush (C) to subtly sculpt the hair volume outward.

3. Introduce angular variation

   Angle breakout cards 10°–20° away from the primary flow direction. This subtle cross-flow creates realistic self-shadowing in Ambient Occlusion and Depth maps.

Tier 4: Flyaways & micro-wisps

Flyaway cards are the secret to convincing real-time hair. Human hair is filled with stray strands that escape the main clumps, catching rim light and softening hard polygon boundaries against game environments.

Guidelines for placing Flyaways:

• Hairline & Forehead: Place baby hairs along the hairline, temples, and nape of the neck with gentle curvature toward the face.
• Crown & Parting Line: Add short, randomized flyaways along the crown and main parting line to disrupt the sharp scalp seam.
• Periphery & Silhouette: Float thin flyaways outside the silhouette bounds so rim lighting ignites individual strands in engine cinematic shots.

Implementing in HairStorm

HairStorm is purpose-built to execute this 4-tier pipeline without requiring separate software:

Card budget & polygon density

Different target platforms require different hair card budgets. When planning your groom, allocate your card budget across the 4 tiers proportionally: