Videogame barbers have it hardest

  • Posted December 3rd, 2008 at 11:49 EDT by
  • 2,781 views
  • 22 Comments

If your favorite videogame character has a full head of hair, chances are, it isn't their strong point. This is due in part to the fact hair follicles and how they flow from the roots of your head are very hard to recreate in a digital format.

What does this matter? Well, this leads to the overuse of lead characters that are either bald, wearing a skull cap or have the least amount of hair possible.

A great website known as NewScientist has released a video to demonstrate how designers are making strides in this field in order to create more life-like hair every day. The rendered hair within this video is actually quite impressive and would definitely lead to a higher sense of realism within gaming.

We've included the video below for you to enjoy.

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What are your thoughts?

  1. The_Joker

    • 12:09pm GMT - December 3rd, 2008

    Lol glad the didnt choose to make Nariko bald :P

  2. ephracis | ephracis

    • 12:43pm GMT - December 3rd, 2008

    The pitch of the voice of the narrator is REALLY annoying. However, I really hope they can make hair look realistic and also act realistic in video games. Hair and face is the most important part of a character, since that's the general area where you (mostly) look at a person.

  3. DJDarkViper | DJDarkViper

    • 1:02pm GMT - December 3rd, 2008

    lol Bjork

  4. Staticneuron | Staticneuron

    • 1:07pm GMT - December 3rd, 2008

    Except this article really doesn't seem to be about games. The talk about simulatied real time in PC but they never mentioned in a game engine. This is more likely for Movie and TV cg artistswho would like to see the final results before a production render.

  5. Funeralfog | blksabbath

    • 1:19pm GMT - December 3rd, 2008

    @ 3: lol yeah Bjork is wierd

  6. gingo | gingo

    • 1:22pm GMT - December 3rd, 2008

    psn id: gingo... Narikos hair in heavenly sword is definitely one of the most impressive hair graphics i've seen, but you can imagine its quite hard to recreate hundreds of singular strands

  7. LilSciz | LilSciz

    • 1:30pm GMT - December 3rd, 2008

    Well personally, Uncharted/Naughty Dog did hair really well and believable. There technique is quick rendering and somewhat dynamic. Follow the links for examples. First link is the ploygon mesh, second link is the finished model.

    www.rd3d.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/10001/drake_zbrush2.jpg

    www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/attachment.php

  8. supamariobrotha | supamariobrotha

    • 1:46pm GMT - December 3rd, 2008

    solid snakes hair in mgs4 looks good imo

  9. ryuken

    • 2:09pm GMT - December 3rd, 2008

    haha Snakes hair does look good. 

  10. zombieking36

    • 2:39pm GMT - December 3rd, 2008

    Uncharted: Drakes Fortune is all I want to say :)

  11. AndrewMilky | AndrewMilky

    • 2:39pm GMT - December 3rd, 2008

    Get a life gingo.

  12. DemonOfRazgriz07 | DemonOfRazgriz07

    • 4:06pm GMT - December 3rd, 2008

    @ 11: wtf did gingo do to you? he was just simply stating that it's impressive. wow

  13. iTHIZZ | gamesNmusic

    • 4:23pm GMT - December 3rd, 2008

    @11 What are you talking about? gingo is a psu.com icon/legend. Anyways, hair graphics in older games always bothered me, especially in wrestling games. lol

  14. tadpole3159 | faulkner8991

    • 4:42pm GMT - December 3rd, 2008

    @gingo

    in games hair is a texture assigned to a flat polygon, its layered to make it look real. its a pain in the toosh for sure but you dont make each strand of hair.

    in film hair is painted and each strand is grouped into a group of about 10 or so, you choose the amount, and they will follow the main strand in that group, again pain in the toosh and extremely holy in detail.

    you dont model each stand :P

  15. bplewis24

    • 5:00pm GMT - December 3rd, 2008

    Notice that most everybody in Uncharted: Drake's Fortune had a full head of hair.  Naughty Dog gets the job done.

  16. dukelord | KillZone3000

    • 5:45pm GMT - December 3rd, 2008

    Just look at Final Fantasy XIII hairs to know this is no surprise.

  17. J1gs4w | d3v1ldr1v3r

    • 9:57pm GMT - December 3rd, 2008

    Yeah, they are making strides everyday, creating CG hair, why isnt this time and effort going into cancer research?

  18. vipergts2207 | D-Smitty

    • 10:44pm GMT - December 3rd, 2008

     @17 I'm pretty sure the people working on making this life-like hair have almost no clue how to cure cancer. You'd probably need at least a degree in biology to know where to start, which once again I'm sure the people working on this don't have. Am I too, supposed to work on a cure for cancer even though I'd have no effing clue what I was doing.

  19. rabidcujo

    • 11:58pm GMT - December 3rd, 2008

     what the he11 PSU? you ban my account because i thought the guy at the end of this video was gay?! Go To &@#^%PSNIDGINGO

  20. Arnekun | Arnekun

    • 3:03am GMT - December 4th, 2008

    It seems like games like Heavy Rain (amazing graphics) should use this new tech. FFVersusXIII and FFXIII probably should too, but their hair already looks pretty realistic.

  21. tadpole3159 | faulkner8991

    • 3:36am GMT - December 4th, 2008

    lol no.19 they told you XD

  22. rexdeath | rexdeath

    • 8:31pm GMT - December 5th, 2008

    I think most of us would prefer it if Kratos was bald and that's all that matters =P

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