Use texture adjustments after a bake you are happy with. They are useful for making hair darker, changing its tint, or controlling shine. Return to the source hair if the problem is the shape, spacing, or number of strands.
Inspect the bake first
Complete a bake, switch to Texture, and open the Texture maps panel. Select an available map tile to view it. A locked or unavailable tile usually means that map has not been baked.
Choose the baked map first. Edit contains its Filter Stack and the map-specific Base Stage; these are texture controls, not source strand modifiers.
- 1Select the map to edit
The orange outline marks Albedo as the selected baked map.
- 2Open Edit
Expand Edit below the map thumbnails to see the selected map's editing controls.
- 3Build the Filter Stack
Add Filter inserts a texture filter for the selected map. This example has no added filters yet.
- 4Start with the Base Stage
The expanded Albedo Base Stage exposes Saturation, Value, and Levels before added filters.
- Albedo: Are the colors and the complete bundle visible?
- Alpha: Are the tips intact, and are empty areas clean?
- Roughness: Does the hair have the amount of shine you want when viewed on cards?
- Normal: Is the strand detail consistent, rather than unexpectedly flat or broken?
Press F over the viewer to fit the image, or 1 for a 1:1 view. Zoom in to inspect fine edges, then fit the image again to judge the whole layout.
Make a color adjustment
Select Albedo and open Edit
Work on Albedo for a color correction. Each map has its own adjustments; editing Roughness instead will change the surface response, not the hair's color.
Add Brightness / Contrast
Click Add Filter, choose Brightness / Contrast, and reduce brightness a little. Keep enough difference between strands to read the bundle.
Compare the change
Disable and re-enable the filter to compare it with the previous result. If the change is too strong, reduce the filter's opacity rather than adding an opposite correction.
Check it on the asset
If you have a groom, inspect the cards under more than one environment light. A color that looks good in the flat image may look too dark or too bright on the character.
Open Add Filter under the selected texture map's Edit section. Brightness / Contrast is a texture adjustment, not a source-hair modifier.
- 1Keep the intended map selected
Albedo is selected here; the new filter belongs to this map.
- 2Open Add Filter
Use the Add Filter button in Edit's Filter Stack.
- 3Choose Brightness / Contrast
This gallery tile adds the color adjustment illustrated in the next figure.
This genuine recapture uses Brightness -0.08, Contrast 0.00, and Opacity 1.00 on Albedo. It shows one enabled state, not a before/after pair; use the eye to compare in your project.
- 1Check the selected map
Albedo has the orange selection outline.
- 2Toggle the filter to compare
The eye is enabled in this captured state.
- 3Control the contribution
Opacity is 1.00. It is separate from the Brightness and Contrast values.
- 4Use a small negative correction
Brightness is -0.08 and Contrast remains 0.00.
Order, opacity, and blending
The texture stack works from the Base Stage upward. New filters appear at the top and are applied last. This is different from the top-to-bottom strand modifier stack.
Drag filters to change the order. For example, changing contrast before a color treatment can produce a different result from changing it afterward.
Scroll horizontally to view all columns.
| Control | How to use it |
|---|---|
| Enabled | Compare with and without the filter while keeping its settings. |
| Opacity | Reduce the contribution of a filter that is too strong. |
| Normal blend | Start here when learning a filter. |
| Multiply / Screen | Try these for darker or lighter treatments, checking the result at a low opacity first. |
| Add / Overlay / Darken / Lighten | Use for a specific look after the basic correction works. Avoid changing blend mode and several filter settings at once. |
Choose a filter
Scroll horizontally to view all columns.
| Filter | Use it to |
|---|---|
| Brightness / Contrast | Make a broad lightness or contrast correction. |
| Levels | Adjust the darkest, lightest, and middle tones. |
| Hue / Saturation | Shift color or make it more or less vivid. |
| Invert | Reverse the selected map's values using Amount; reduce its contribution with Opacity. |
| Blur | Soften a harsh transition. Check that fine hairs remain visible. |
| Threshold | Make a hard black-and-white separation. Use carefully on thin hair. |
| Solid Color | Add a uniform color treatment using opacity and blending. |
| Root / Tip Tint | Set different root and tip values on a supported map. Bake Root/Tip when the transition needs to follow curved hair. |
| Curves | Adjust selected tonal ranges more precisely than a single contrast control. |
| Detail Boost | Emphasize fine detail. Reduce the effect if bright or dark outlines appear. |
| Gradient Remap | Replace tones with colors from a chosen gradient. |
The gallery depends on the selected map. For example, Alpha offers Threshold, and Roughness offers Root / Tip Tint; neither appears in the Albedo gallery shown earlier.
Control reference: Levels, Hue / Saturation, and Curves
These are added-filter inspectors on Albedo. Added Levels is not the Levels control inside Base Stage, and the straight Curves graph is a neutral reference, not a finished correction.
This is an added Levels filter on Albedo, not the Levels controls inside Base Stage. The captured input/output endpoints are 0.000 and 1.000, with Gamma 1.000. This is one inspector state, not a before/after comparison.
- 1Set blend and contribution
Normal blend and Opacity 1.00 are shown for the added filter.
- 2Set input, gamma, and output
Input Black/White and Output Black/White are separate pairs, with Gamma between them.
Hue / Saturation on Albedo exposes Hue, Saturation, and Lightness. All three are neutral in this reference. This is one inspector state, not a before/after comparison.
- 1Set blend and contribution
Normal blend and Opacity 1.00 are shown for the added filter.
- 2Use the three color fields
Hue uses degrees; Saturation and Lightness have their own numeric fields.
Choose the combined RGB curve or an individual color channel. This Albedo reference shows the untouched diagonal, not a completed tone correction; Reset RGB and Reset All Channels are separate actions.
- 1Choose RGB or one channel
RGB is active. R, G, and B are the adjacent channel choices.
- 2Inspect the complete curve
The visible diagonal is the neutral input-to-output mapping.
- 3Reset only what you intend
Reset RGB affects the combined curve; Reset All Channels is a broader reset.
Control reference: Invert, Blur, and Detail Boost
Read the units as well as the field names: Blur and Detail Boost use pixel radii, while Amount and Opacity have separate roles. These single states do not compare results.
The current Invert inspector on Albedo uses Amount. It does not show separate per-channel inversion switches. This is one inspector state, not a before/after comparison.
- 1Set blend and contribution
Normal blend and Opacity 1.00 are shown for the added filter.
- 2Adjust Invert's Amount
The visible Amount is 1.00. Do not confuse it with the separate Opacity above.
Blur's Radius is measured in pixels. The captured Albedo example is 0.00 px, not a demonstrated blur improvement. This is one inspector state, not a before/after comparison.
- 1Set blend and contribution
Normal blend and Opacity 1.00 are shown for the added filter.
- 2Set a pixel radius
Radius is the filter's detail control; 0.00 px is shown here.
Detail Boost on Albedo has a pixel Radius and a separate Amount multiplier. Amount is 0.00 x in this control reference. This is one inspector state, not a before/after comparison.
- 1Set blend and contribution
Normal blend and Opacity 1.00 are shown for the added filter.
- 2Separate radius from amount
The captured values are Radius 1.00 px and Amount 0.00 x.
Control reference: Solid Color and Gradient Remap
Solid Color chooses a uniform value. Gradient Remap has a Driver and editable stops; check the driver before changing the ramp. Both examples below belong to Albedo.
Solid Color is an Albedo texture filter. Choose its Color separately from the blend mode and Opacity; this reference uses white. This is one inspector state, not a before/after comparison.
- 1Set blend and contribution
Normal blend and Opacity 1.00 are shown for the added filter.
- 2Choose the filter color
The wide white swatch is the Color control, with an eyedropper beside it.
Gradient Remap on Albedo uses Driver Auto in this reference. The on-screen hint describes the Root/Tip map direction, and the gradient runs from black at 0% to white at 100%. This is not a mask/compositing comparison.
- 1Set blend and contribution
Normal blend and Opacity 1.00 are shown.
- 2Check the actual Driver
Auto is selected below the Root/Tip-map explanation.
- 3Edit the gradient stops
The complete ramp, 0%/50%/100% positions, and selected black 0% stop controls are visible.
Control reference: Alpha and Roughness filter choices
Compare the available tiles, then inspect the added filters. Threshold and Softness belong to the added Alpha Threshold filter here. The Root / Tip Tint example belongs to Roughness, not Albedo. These references do not show an enabled/disabled texture comparison.
Select the map before opening Add Filter. Alpha's gallery includes Threshold in the middle of the second row. It does not show the Albedo-only Hue / Saturation or Solid Color tiles. A gallery reference does not demonstrate any filter result.
- 1Confirm the selected map
Alpha has the orange selection outline in Maps.
- 2Read this map's filter gallery
Alpha's gallery includes Threshold in the middle of the second row. It does not show the Albedo-only Hue / Saturation or Solid Color tiles.
This is the added Alpha Threshold filter, not Base Stage Threshold. Its Threshold and Softness are distinct parameters. This is one inspector state, not a before/after comparison.
- 1Set blend and contribution
Normal blend and Opacity 1.00 are shown for the added filter.
- 2Set Threshold and Softness
This example shows Threshold 0.500 and Softness 0.000; inspect fine strands before choosing final values.
Select the map before opening Add Filter. Root / Tip Tint is offered at the right of the second row. Threshold is also present; filter availability depends on the selected map. A gallery reference does not demonstrate any filter result.
- 1Confirm the selected map
Roughness has the orange selection outline in Maps.
- 2Read this map's filter gallery
Root / Tip Tint is offered at the right of the second row. Threshold is also present; filter availability depends on the selected map.
Roughness offers Root / Tip Tint. The current example has white root and tip swatches, with a 0.000–1.000 blend interval; this is not a universal color-map preset. This is one inspector state, not a before/after comparison.
- 1Set blend and contribution
Normal blend and Opacity 1.00 are shown for the added filter.
- 2Choose root and tip values
Root Color and Tip Color are separate swatches. The captured example uses white for both.
- 3Set the blend interval
Blend Start is 0.000 and Blend End is 1.000 in the example.
Save and export the edits
Save the project to keep the editable filter stacks. Then use Export Settingsand Run Export to write the selected maps. The main export includes the current Base Stage and enabled filters; you do not need a separate export to preserve your color edits. Packed textures use the edited maps too.
The Texture viewer also has an export dialog. Use it when working from that view; it is not a special route for otherwise missing filter changes. Choose the destination and maps deliberately in either dialog.
Texture padding can extend edge colors into the empty areas around hair. The shared Padding amount controls both the automatic preview and export dilation; 0 disables dilation. ReadKeep texture edges clean before the final handoff.
After exporting, open the file from the chosen output folder to confirm the correction is present. If it differs, check the selected map, enabled filters, and file location before rebaking.