dc.description.abstract | Fire simulation and hair simulation can be used to create stylized characters and character animation in movies. In this research a system was created whereby fire simulation was guided by hair simulation, which this thesis refers to as Fire-Hair. This simulation system was built inside Houdini, a professional software package widely used in the visual effects industry. The goal of this research was to develop a workflow that utilized velocity field generated by the hair simulation to drive the fire simulation, and to let simulated fire represent the shape and animation of hair strands. This simulation approach is packaged as a digital asset for future use, with all requisite modifiable parameters exposed to artists.
About 20 hair strands were simulated to drive the fire simulation. Hair strand shapes were defined by curves created by the artist; these shapes remain modifiable after creation. Velocity fields which follow hair motion are used as a control field to affect the fire simulation. The final result shows both the physical appearance of fire as well as the shape and motion of hair. The approach was applied to several animated characters to verify reliability and ensure it was visually convincing and robust. The simulated results were rendered using the Houdini built-in render tool, Mantra. | en |