Fur simulation : creating and animating a character with fur in Blender

Abstract

Hair and fur simulation has been a rapidly evolving technology in 3D computer animation in the past few decades. As 3D animation has become accessible with more powerful hardware and free software, it is worthwhile to assess if the tools hold up to industry standards. The purpose of this thesis was to research if Blender is a viable software in creating fur simulations from an artist’s perspective. What tools there are in Blender, and what kind of artist-friendly workflows can be used when simulating fur were the focus of the thesis.

The theoretical section examined the history, evolution and current methods of hair and fur simulations, and what makes simulations so difficult to realise. To investigate the viability of Blender as a software for hair and fur simulations, a workflow evaluation in the form of a practical project was made.

The results suggest that Blender can be a viable software for hair and fur simulations, but it is heavily reliant on available hardware. Additionally, Blender Hair Nodes tool was still under development at the time of writing this thesis and was essentially missing the possibility to simulate hair. This led to using a workflow, which was a combination of two different systems.