Getting Started with FollicleFX

Welcome to FollicleFX! This guide will help you get started with professional hair grooming in Blender.

What is FollicleFX?

FollicleFX is a powerful hair grooming system for Blender that gives you complete control over hair creation and styling. Whether you're creating realistic human hair, stylized character hair, or fur, FollicleFX provides the tools you need.

System Requirements

Blender Version: Blender 5.0 only

Operating System:

  • Windows 10/11 (64-bit)

Hardware:

  • GPU: NVIDIA GPU with CUDA support (recommended for best performance)
  • RAM: 8GB minimum, 16GB+ recommended
  • CPU: Multi-core processor recommended

Note: FollicleFX uses GPU acceleration for real-time performance with 100,000+ hair strands. An NVIDIA GPU is highly recommended.

Installation Verification

After installing FollicleFX, verify it's working:

  1. Open Blender 5.0
  2. Look for the FollicleFX panel in the 3D viewport sidebar (press N if hidden)
  3. You should see the FollicleFX UI with tabs: Guides, Primitive, Modifiers, Surface, Display, Cards

If you don't see the FollicleFX panel, check that the addon is enabled in Blender's preferences.

The FollicleFX Interface

FollicleFX uses a standalone Qt window that stays on top of Blender. This gives you a professional, responsive interface that doesn't interfere with Blender's viewport.

Main Window

The FollicleFX window has several sections:

Header:

  • FollicleFX logo and version
  • Preset selector (save/load hair styles)
  • Hair system selector (manage multiple hair systems)

Tabs (main workflow):

  • Guides - Create guide curves that define hair flow
  • Primitive - Generate hair strands from guides
  • Modifiers - Style and shape hair (clumping, frizz, coils, etc.)
  • Surface - Control how hair follows the surface
  • Display - Viewport visualization options
  • Cards - Generate hair cards for game engines

Status Bar:

  • Shows current operation status
  • Displays helpful messages

Menu Bar

File:

  • Save/Load Presets - Save your hair styles for reuse

Edit:

  • Undo/Redo - Full undo support (use Ctrl+Z in Blender)

View:

  • Always on Top - Keep FollicleFX window visible
  • Snap to Blender - Position window next to Blender

Tools:

  • Generate Clumping Maps - Create clump maps for advanced control

Help:

  • License - Manage your FollicleFX license
  • About - Version and build information

Basic Concepts

Hair System

A hair system is a complete hair setup on a mesh. You can have multiple hair systems on different meshes (head hair, eyebrows, beard, etc.).

Each hair system consists of:

  • Guides - Sparse curves that define hair flow direction
  • Strands - Dense hair generated from guides
  • Modifiers - Effects applied to style the hair

Guides

Guides are the foundation of your hair. They're sparse curves (typically 50-500) that define:

  • Where hair grows
  • Which direction it flows
  • How long it is

Think of guides as the "skeleton" of your hairstyle. You create guides first, then generate dense hair from them.

Strands

Strands are the actual hair - dense curves (typically 10,000-100,000+) generated from your guides. Strands are interpolated between guides, following their direction and length.

Modifiers

Modifiers are effects you apply to style your hair:

  • Clumping - Group strands into clumps (wet hair, tight curls)
  • Frizz - Add randomness and flyaways
  • Coil - Create spiral curls
  • Cut - Trim hair length
  • And more - 9 modifiers total

Modifiers stack - you can combine multiple modifiers to create complex hairstyles.

FollicleScript Expressions

Many parameters support FollicleScript expressions - a simple language for procedural control. Look for the ƒ button next to parameters.

Example: Instead of a fixed value like 0.8, you can use:

rand3(0.7, 0.9, index)

This gives each strand a random value between 0.7 and 0.9.

Expressions are evaluated on the GPU for real-time performance.

The FollicleFX Workflow

Creating hair in FollicleFX follows this workflow:

1. Guides

Create guide curves on your mesh:

  • Select your mesh
  • Open the Guides tab
  • Click Generate Guides
  • Adjust guide count, length, and distribution
  • Optionally sculpt guides in Blender for custom shapes

2. Primitive

Generate dense hair strands from guides:

  • Open the Primitive tab
  • Set density (how many strands)
  • Adjust strand length, width, and taper
  • Click Generate Strands

3. Modifiers

Style your hair with modifiers:

  • Open the Modifiers tab
  • Click Add Modifier and choose a type
  • Adjust parameters to get the look you want
  • Add more modifiers as needed
  • Reorder modifiers by dragging

4. Display

Control how hair appears in the viewport:

  • Open the Display tab
  • Choose display mode (Curves, Ribbons, Tubes)
  • Adjust colors and performance settings

5. Render

Your hair is ready to render in Blender's render engines (Cycles, Eevee).

Quick Start Example

Let's create simple hair:

  1. Select a mesh - Select the mesh where you want hair (e.g., a head)
  1. Generate guides:
  • Open Guides tab
  • Set Count: 100
  • Set Length: 0.15
  • Click Generate Guides
  1. Generate strands:
  • Open Primitive tab
  • Set Density: 10000
  • Click Generate Strands
  1. Add clumping:
  • Open Modifiers tab
  • Click Add Modifier → Clumping
  • Set Tightness: 0.7
  • Hair now clumps together naturally
  1. Add frizz:
  • Click Add Modifier → Frizz
  • Set Magnitude: 0.02
  • Hair now has subtle randomness

You now have basic hair! Experiment with parameters to refine the look.

Tips for Beginners

Start Simple: Begin with basic settings, then add complexity. Don't try to use all modifiers at once.

Use Presets: Save your hair styles as presets so you can reuse them on other projects.

Guides are Key: Spend time getting your guides right. Good guides = good hair. You can sculpt guides in Blender for precise control.

Modifier Order Matters: The order of modifiers affects the result. Generally:

  1. Clumping first
  2. Coil/Curl effects
  3. Frizz last

GPU Preview: Enable GPU preview in the Display tab for real-time feedback while adjusting parameters.

Undo is Your Friend: Don't be afraid to experiment - you can always undo (Ctrl+Z in Blender).

Expressions are Powerful: Learn basic FollicleScript expressions to add variation and realism. See the FollicleScript guide for examples.

Common Mistakes

Too Many Strands: Start with 10,000-20,000 strands. You can always increase later. More strands = slower performance.

Ignoring Guides: Don't skip the guides step. Guides define your hairstyle - without good guides, your hair won't look right.

Too Much Frizz: A little frizz goes a long way. Start with low values (0.01-0.03) and increase gradually.

Wrong Modifier Order: If your hair looks wrong, check modifier order. Clumping should usually come before frizz.

Next Steps

Now that you understand the basics, explore these topics:

  • Workflow Overview - Detailed explanation of the complete workflow
  • Guides Tab - Learn all the guide creation options
  • Primitive Tab - Master strand generation
  • Modifiers - Explore all 9 modifiers in detail
  • FollicleScript - Learn expression language for advanced control

Getting Help

Documentation: Read the complete documentation in the user-docs folder.

Community: Join the FollicleFX community forum and Discord for help and inspiration.

Support: Contact support@folliclefx.com for technical issues.

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Ready to create amazing hair? Let's move on to the Workflow Overview to understand the complete process!