NEW Hairshader for V-Ray Next

https://www.chaosgroup.com/blog/v-ray-next-the-science-behind-the-new-hair-shader

can we compare with cycles hair shader? :confused:

The Cycles hair shader right now is based on the standard Kajiya Kay shading model split into two parts (transmission and glossiness).

However, new models have since come out that offers a marked improvement (there’s been a paper for instance that talks about hair shading superior to the newer Marschner model from Disney even).

Node groups made by others already approximate the melanin factor in hair, but some of the updated models out there require an implementation in the code itself.

The Cycles hair BSDF is not based on Kajiya-Kay, but on the Marschner model and in parts that you have to put together yourself.

For Google Summer of Code there seem to be a lot of students interested in implementing the Disney model that this V-Ray shader seems to be based on as well, so hopefully we’ll accept one of those proposals. Melanin and randomization options could be a fun extension if there is enough time. In the end melanin is effectively picking colors from a color ramp, and randomization is also possible also with custom nodes, but it would be nice to have that builtin.

For Google Summer of Code there seem to be a lot of students interested in implementing the Disney model that this V-Ray shader seems to be based on as well, so hopefully we’ll accept one of those proposals

sounds good