yeh, time + patience,like anything in blender really.I don’t understand any of the hair system at the moment,but at least I know it can be done. 
After I spend all day trying to control the hair’s shape achieved with particles hair. I think I’ll gave up! For short hair is not big deal. But when you’re trying to achieve mid or long hair, it’s a terrible nightmare!!! You don’t have much control of what is going on in the hair. For me, this is the most dificult task to achieve in blender!
The manipulators aren’t precise. And the worse is that you can’t control the distance between the hair root and the start of the hair deformation, making the hair penetrating the head giving awful results.
the images below is the best results I got after a day of study, tests and frustrations…
After today, I decided that I’ll forget the use of particles hair, and study a little more the mesh hair. I already learned how to do the anisotropic specularity for the mesh hair, and this is awesome!
I’ll analise how the Square Enix does the hair for the Final Fantasy Franchise. The majority of their characters uses mesh’s hair, and they are awesome! So, the challenge is launched!
See below what i’m aiming to achieve:
Yep particle hair is a real pain in the ass, and in the CPU as well.Thats particulary my problem, if i want to achieve something nice i need more cpupower, i cant do it if everytime i want to comb the hair i have to do it at 1 fps.I managed to do this, it was akind of a test, but it lookes like shed has the worst hairdresser in the world.
Ill be following your progress
great thread…
Perhaps this can help you guys a bit. The key with long hair is to be patient and break it down into parts so its easier to achieve the desired look. Of course, this is a tutorial and I could have spent more time to make it nicer.
Giovani, if you get me the .blend of your female head, I can try to get you the look you are after.
[video]https://vimeo.com/40034415[/video]
I hope this helps 
Cheers!
A hair modeling tutorial, never found it, thanks, ill give it a try
haha JeannotLandry, i was just about to give a link to your tut lol it is, by far, the best one out there!
Yeah i actually followed that one for my hair, thanks it was a good tut, but i still didn’t get my hair to look how i wanted.
thanks for the help guys!
Jeannot, I had just watched your tutorial on the day you published! 
Very good. Thanks for the help. But the problem with Blender’s particles hair is that you don’t have much control over the hair behavior.
I think it works well for short hair, or long hair with a simple hairstyle. But when you try to make a long hair with a more elaborate hairstyle, you just can not achieve a satisfactory result. At least not before you get too frustrated. Another problem is the physical simulation, which is totally unrealistic.
I do not know about the other 3D programs, whether it is easier to create hair or not. But after my experiments, I think Blender has a long way to go in this regard. For fur and short hair, Blender fulfills its role. But for long hair …
But, the good news is that I’m starting to understand how to do a mesh hair looks pretty realistic. And I can use the soft body or even the cloth simulation together with weight paint, to simulate the hair’s moviment and it will appear a lot better than the particle’s hair simulation. and it renders a lot faster than the particles hair too. :yes:
see below my mesh hair shader:
after I finish the hair, I’ll post images here to receive feedback from you. 
looking good 
Im very interested in that achievement
Hmm that is looking rather nice, but too dark to say for sure, i am looking forward to seeing what you come up with, and the technique you are using.
In my last post, I challenged myself to do a convincing looking polygonal hair. I analyzed a lot of pictures of big animation studios, particularly the studio of Final Fantasy franchise. And I can tell you, that made a lot of difference. :yes:
I’m not yet, with an hair that looks incredible, but I think I’m in the way… The main problem right now, is the absence of shadows projected by the hair. For a more convincing look, I had to disable the shadows of the hair avoiding it to cast shadows in itself. But I do not figure a way out to cast the hair shadows in others objects (like the head). Maybe I can do that in the compositing? any suggestions? :eyebrowlift2:
This is what I got so far (click to enlarge):
Giovanni: That isn’t so bad, but like you said, it doesn’t look incredible. As far as hair shadows with transparent poly planes just make sure that the model you want shadow on, in its material has receive transparent check on under shadow.
I am pretty sure I can get a good result with particle hair. If you want me to try, just send me the head you are using with a picture reference of the style you are aiming for.
Cheers!
Thanks for reply Jeannot!
My head material has the option ‘receive transparent’ enabled. I just have disabled the option ‘traceable’ in the material shader properties of the hair. So, hair shadows are not generated. But, what I want is that the hair does not cast shadows on itself, but that cast shadows on other objects… any idea how to do this?
About the particles hair. I’m doing this character for an short film animation based in the Resident Evil game franchise… The character that I’m aiming to do is Jill Valentine. And his hair have to be this way:
Here is my .blend file:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/nw8l5ozb2dfazw7/female_head.blend 
The main problem for me, is that the root of the hair intersect with the head mesh, especially in the side where the hair goes behind the ear… :no:
Hey Giovanni, sorry it took me so long, been busy, I finally found a bit of time to play with your female head and hair. I hope you don’t mind, I took the liberty of fixing some proportions to fit more what you are aiming for. The hair isn’t completely finished yet, but its getting there. The main Issue I think you where having is that your lighting setup wasn’t appropriate for that type of rendering and in terms of styling the hair, you seem to use way too much hair particles.
Here is what I got so far:
Full Size
I have a .blend with a .ogg movie turn table render of the current wip (need VLC Media Player to play that type of file format) but its too big to attach on here, so give me your g-mail so I can send it to you
Cheers!
Hey Jeannot, the hair is looking really good! I’m envying your patience to achieve such a good results! I absolutely loved the ear shape! and the modifications that you did in the proportions!
my email is [email protected]
thank you so much!
Nice ears, i as watching your particle hair tutorial today, i wanted to test where my model was heading.I will update my thread very soon with the result of the test, hope anyone visits and comments
GiovanniLucca Hey Jeannot, the hair is looking really good! I’m envying your patience to achieve such a good results!
I absolutely loved the ear shape! and the modifications that you did in the proportions!
I am glad you like 
I actually spend only 1h30 on this entire thing, about 30-45 mins tweeking the head model, about 45 mins setting up light, shader and combing, cutting, puffin, etc… (I have done quite a few hair style with blender hair to understand it enough to be fast and efficient with it.)
Nice ears, i as watching your particle hair tutorial today, i wanted to test where my model was heading.I will update my thread very soon with the result of the test, hope anyone visits and comments
If I would be you, I would wait until you have the entire model with the proportions you want done first, Hair and cloth should be last, since they are simulation based.
Giovanni, did you get my e-mail? I added you to my gtalk if you have it.
Cheers!
Yes I received! You did a pretty good job! thanks!
I added you in gtalk, although I do not make much use of it.
unfortunately I’ll have to take this project aside, I’m with very little free time now!
But, when possible, I’ll keep you guys updated!