Generator Tab (Guides)

The Generator tab is where you create the foundation of your hair — guide curves that define where hair grows, which direction it flows, and how long it is. Think of guides as the "skeleton" of your hairstyle. Everything else in FollicleFX builds on top of them.

What Are Guides?

Guides are sparse curves (typically 50–500) placed on your mesh that control:

• Position: Where hair grows on the surface
• Direction: Which way hair flows
• Length: How long the hair is
• Shape: Straight, curved, or custom sculpted

Guides are NOT the final hair — they're templates. In the Primitive tab, you'll generate thousands of dense strands that interpolate between these guides.

Why Guides Matter

Good guides = good hair. Spend time getting your guides right before moving to the Primitive stage. You can always come back and adjust guides, but starting with a solid foundation makes styling much easier.

Distribution Panel

The Distribution panel controls how guides are placed on your mesh surface.

Method

Choose the algorithm used to scatter guide root positions on the mesh surface.

Method	Description	Best For
Random	Guides are scattered randomly across the surface. Fast, but may create uneven density — some areas might have gaps while others cluster.	Quick tests, organic natural placement
Poisson Disk	Guides are evenly spaced with a guaranteed minimum distance between them. No two guides will be closer than the Min Distance value. This produces a "blue noise" distribution that looks natural without clumping.	Professional work, production hair, even coverage
Grid	Guides arranged in a regular grid pattern. Perfectly uniform and predictable, but looks artificial.	Stylized hair, technical tests, debugging
Vertices	One guide per mesh vertex. The number of guides is determined entirely by the mesh topology — the Count slider has no effect.	Maximum control, low-poly meshes, eyebrows, facial hair
Face Centers	One guide at the center of each mesh face. Like Vertices, guide count depends on mesh topology.	Controlled placement, quad-based meshes
Even	Uses advanced sampling to distribute guides as evenly as possible across the surface. Slightly slower than other methods, but gives the most uniform coverage.	High-quality even distribution, final renders

Count

The total number of guide curves to generate on the mesh surface.

• Range: 1 – 10,000
• Default: 100

What it does: Sets how many guide curves are scattered on the mesh. More guides means better coverage and smoother interpolation when generating strands, but increases the amount of data to manage.

When to adjust:

• Simple test: 50–100
• Head hair (medium quality): 150–300
• Head hair (high quality): 300–500
• Eyebrows / facial hair: 20–80

Performance: Guide count has minimal impact on viewport performance. The main cost comes from strand count (set in the Primitive tab). Don't be afraid to use 200–400 guides.

Min Distance (Poisson Disk only)

Minimum allowed distance between any two guide root positions. This parameter only appears when Poisson Disk is selected as the distribution method.

• Range: 0.01 – 10.0
• Default: 0.1

What it does: Enforces a gap between guide roots. Larger values = fewer, more spaced-out guides. Smaller values = denser, tighter packing.

When to adjust:

• Dense hair: 0.03–0.08
• Normal hair: 0.08–0.15
• Sparsely distributed: 0.2+

Use Density Map

Enable a painted density texture to control where guides are placed on the mesh surface.

• Default: Off

What it does: When enabled, guide placement is restricted by a grayscale texture painted directly onto the mesh. White areas receive guides; black areas receive none. Gray values produce proportionally fewer guides.

This is useful when you want hair only on specific regions (e.g., top of head, not the face) without needing separate mesh geometry.

Density Map Buttons

Button	Icon	What it does
Paint	🖌️	Enter Blender's texture paint mode to paint the density map directly on your mesh. White = guides, Black = no guides.
Save	💾	Save the current density map to an image file for reuse.
Load	📁	Load a previously saved density map image.

Guide Properties Panel

The Guide Properties panel controls the characteristics of each individual guide curve.

Length

How long the guide curves extend from the mesh surface, in Blender units.

• Range: 0.001 – 10.0
• Default: 1.0

What it does: Sets the length of each guide curve from root to tip. This determines the maximum possible hair length — strands generated from these guides cannot grow longer than the guides themselves.

When to adjust:

• Buzz cut / very short hair: 0.01–0.05
• Short hair: 0.05–0.15
• Bob cut: 0.15–0.25
• Shoulder length: 0.3–0.5
• Waist length: 0.5–1.0
• Floor length: 1.5–3.0

Auto-update: Changing length on existing guides auto-updates them while preserving sculpted shapes. The shape of each guide curve is scaled proportionally.

Control Points

Number of vertices (control points) per guide curve.

• Range: 2 – 32
• Default: 8

What it does: More control points = smoother curves with more detail, which is especially important for sculpting complex shapes. Fewer points = simpler curves that are faster to process.

When to adjust:

• Simple straight hair: 4–6 points
• Natural wavy hair: 8–12 points
• Complex sculpted shapes (curls, braids): 16–32 points

Performance: More control points add a negligible cost. The difference between 8 and 16 points is barely measurable. Don't hesitate to use 12–16 if you plan to sculpt.

Variation Panel

The Variation panel adds randomness to guide curves for a more natural, organic look.

Noise

Random displacement applied to guide curve shapes.

• Range: 0.0 – 1.0
• Default: 0.0

What it does: Adds random variation to the guide curve positions. At 0.0, guides are perfectly straight (or follow their exact sculpted shape). Higher values introduce organic, natural-looking variation to break up uniformity.

When to use:

• 0.0: Perfect placement (stylized, sleek looks)
• 0.05–0.15: Subtle natural variation (realistic hair)
• 0.2–0.4: Moderate variation (casual, bedhead looks)
• 0.5+: Strong variation (messy, wild hair)

Visual effect: Guides shift slightly from their ideal positions, creating organic imperfection. A little goes a long way — 0.1 is usually enough for realistic hair.

Seed

Random seed number for all randomization in the Generator tab.

• Range: 0 – 999,999
• Default: 42

What it does: Controls the random number generator. The same seed always produces the same random pattern. Different seeds produce different random patterns while keeping all other settings identical.

When to use: Change the seed to try different random variations without touching other parameters. If you like your hairstyle's overall settings but want to experiment with different random scatter, just try a few different seeds.

Interpolate Guides Panel

The Interpolate Guides panel lets you resample your existing guides to a different count while preserving the sculpted shapes. This is collapsed by default.

Target Count

The desired number of guides after resampling.

• Range: 10 – 5,000
• Default: 100

What it does: Sets the output guide count. New guides are generated by interpolating from existing ones — they inherit the shape, direction, and length patterns of their nearest neighbors.

Resample Guides Button

Click to execute the resampling operation. Your existing guides are redistributed to the target count, with new guides inheriting shapes from their neighbors.

Create & Edit Panel

The Create & Edit panel provides tools for manual guide creation and editing.

Create Empty Hair

Creates an empty hair system on your selected mesh with zero guides.

When to use: You want to manually draw/sculpt every guide from scratch, or you need to set up a new hair system before importing guides.

Workflow:

1. Select your mesh in the viewport
2. Click "Create Empty Hair"
3. Enter a name for the hair system in the dialog that appears
4. Enter Blender's sculpt mode to draw guides
5. Use Blender's curve sculpting tools (Add, Comb, etc.)
6. Exit sculpt mode when done

Best for: Complete artistic control, unique hairstyles, facial hair, eyebrows

Convert Curves to Guides

Converts any Blender curves object into FollicleFX guide curves.

When to use: You've created curves in Blender (or imported them from Houdini/Maya/other DCC tools) and want to use them as FollicleFX guides.

Workflow:

1. Create or import curves in Blender (any method)
2. Select the curves object
3. Click "Convert Curves to Guides"
4. In the dialog, choose the Target Mesh (the scalp/surface the guides belong to)
5. Toggle options:
   • Compute UVs: Automatically project guide roots onto the mesh to compute UV coordinates (recommended)
   • Keep Original: Preserve the original curves object alongside the new guides
   • Auto Resample: Automatically resample curves with non-uniform point counts to a consistent count (essential for Houdini/Maya imports)
   • Resample Points: Target point count when resampling (0 = auto-detect median)
6. Click OK — curves become FollicleFX guides parented to the mesh

Best for: Importing guides from other tools, reusing existing curve work, precise technical control

Edit in Sculpt Mode

Opens Blender's built-in sculpt mode to edit existing guide curves.

When to use: You've generated guides (or created empty hair) and want to hand-sculpt their shapes — combing, adding, deleting, or reshaping individual guides.

Workflow:

1. Generate guides first (or create empty hair)
2. Click "Edit in Sculpt Mode"
3. Use Blender's curve sculpting tools:
   • Comb: Drag guides to change their flow direction
   • Add: Draw new guides directly on the surface
   • Delete: Remove unwanted guides
   • Snake Hook: Pull individual guide tips
   • Smooth: Even out bumpy sections
   • Pinch: Pull guides together
4. Exit sculpt mode (Tab key or mode dropdown)

Best for: Refining generated guides, creating custom flow patterns, artistic hairstyling

Mirror Guides Panel

The Mirror Guides panel lets you mirror guide curves across an axis, which is essential for creating symmetrical hairstyles efficiently. Sculpt one side, then mirror to the other.

Axis

The axis to mirror across.

• Options: X, Y, Z
• Default: X

What it does: Selects the plane of symmetry. For most character heads, X is the correct axis (left ↔ right symmetry).

Direction

Which guides are used as the source and which side receives the mirrored copies.

• All Guides: Mirrors every guide to the opposite side (creates a fully symmetrical set)
• + → −: Only guides on the positive side of the axis are mirrored to the negative side
• − → +: Only guides on the negative side are mirrored to the positive side

When to use: Use + → − or − → + when you've sculpted one side and want to copy it to the other. Use All Guides for a quick full-symmetry pass.

Merge Threshold

Guides whose root position is closer than this distance to the mirror plane are not duplicated.

• Range: 0.0 – 0.1
• Default: 0.001

What it does: Prevents doubling of guides that sit exactly on the center line. Guides within this distance of the mirror plane are kept as-is rather than creating a mirrored copy on top of them.

Replace Opposite Side

Delete existing guides on the target side before mirroring.

• Default: Off

What it does: When enabled, all guides on the target side are removed first. When disabled, mirrored guides are added alongside existing ones on the target side.

When to enable: When you want a clean mirror — no leftover guides from previous work on the target side. Leave it off if you want to blend mirrored guides with manually-placed ones on the other side.

🪞 Mirror Button

Click to execute the mirror operation with the current settings.

Generation Buttons

These two buttons live at the bottom of the Generator tab and control the primary generation workflow.

Generate Guides

Creates new guides on your mesh using all the current parameters (distribution, count, length, control points, variation).

When to use: First-time guide creation on a mesh, or when you want to generate an initial set of guides with the current settings.

What it does:

1. Analyzes your mesh surface and UV layout
2. Places guide roots according to the Distribution settings
3. Creates curves with the specified Length and Control Points
4. Applies Noise variation if set
5. Parents the guide curves to the mesh and sets up surface binding

Reset

Completely resets and regenerates guides from scratch, discarding all sculpted shapes.

When to use: You want to start over with a clean slate — new distribution, new random placement, no memory of previous sculpting.

Auto-Update Feature

Once you've generated guides, FollicleFX automatically updates them when you change parameters. This is one of the most powerful features of the Generator tab.

How it works:

1. Generate guides (click "Generate Guides")
2. Optionally sculpt them in Blender's sculpt mode
3. Adjust any parameter (count, length, noise, seed, etc.)
4. Guides update automatically — preserving your sculpted shapes!

What gets preserved:

• Sculpted curve shapes (direction, flow, bends)
• Relative positions between guides
• Overall silhouette and hairstyle form

What causes a full reset (sculpted shapes lost):

• Changing the distribution method (e.g., Random → Poisson)
• Changing the Min Distance parameter
• Clicking the Reset button

Example Workflow:

1. Generate 100 guides with Random distribution
2. Enter sculpt mode and carefully comb/shape them into a bob cut
3. Realize you need 250 guides for better strand coverage
4. Change Count to 250 (don't click Generate — just change the slider)
5. New guides are added, inheriting shapes from their neighbors. Your bob cut is preserved!
6. Adjust Length from 0.15 to 0.2 for slightly longer hair — again, shapes are preserved

Practical Examples

Example 1: Simple Straight Hair

Distribution: Poisson Disk
Count: 150
Min Distance: 0.1
Length: 0.25
Control Points: 6
Noise: 0.0

Result: Clean, evenly distributed straight hair — great as a starting point for sleek styles.

Example 2: Natural Medium Hair

Distribution: Poisson Disk
Count: 250
Min Distance: 0.08
Length: 0.4
Control Points: 8
Noise: 0.15

Result: Natural-looking medium-length hair with subtle organic variation.

Example 3: Long Flowing Hair

Distribution: Even
Count: 400
Length: 1.2
Control Points: 16
Noise: 0.1

Result: Long hair with smooth curves, high control point count ready for sculpting flowing shapes.

Example 4: Short Textured Hair

Distribution: Random
Count: 300
Length: 0.08
Control Points: 4
Noise: 0.3

Result: Short, textured hair with lots of organic variation.

Example 5: Eyebrows (Precise Control)

Distribution: Vertices
Length: 0.03
Control Points: 4
Noise: 0.05

Result: Precise eyebrow guides following mesh topology. Use a low-poly mesh shaped to the eyebrow region.

Example 6: Symmetrical Long Hair

1. Distribution: Poisson Disk, Count: 150, Length: 0.8
2. Enter Sculpt Mode → sculpt the +X side only
3. Mirror Panel: Axis=X, Direction= +→−, Replace Opposite=On
4. Click Mirror
5. Change Count to 300 (auto-update adds guides while preserving shapes)

Result: Perfectly symmetrical long hair, sculpted on one side and mirrored to the other, then densified.

Tips and Best Practices

Start with Poisson Disk: It's the best all-around distribution method for most hair. It guarantees even spacing without gaps or clumps.

Don't Skimp on Guides: More guides = better strand interpolation and smoother results. 200–400 guides is typical for head hair. Guides are cheap — strands are the expensive part.

Use Enough Control Points: 8 points is a good default. Use 12–16 if you plan to sculpt complex shapes. Using 4 points for complex curly styles will give you blocky, unnatural results.

Sculpt After Generating: Generate guides first, then sculpt them. This is much faster than manually drawing every guide from scratch.

Mirror for Symmetry: For symmetrical hairstyles, only sculpt one side. Use the Mirror Guides panel to copy it to the other side. This saves 50% of sculpting time and guarantees symmetry.

Length Matters: Set guides slightly longer than your target hair length. You can always trim with the Cut modifier, but you cannot extend guides after the fact.

Noise is Subtle: A little noise (0.05–0.15) goes a long way. Too much (0.5+) looks messy and uncontrolled. Start low and increase gradually.

Use Density Maps for Complex Regions: Instead of trying to control guide placement with mesh topology, paint a density map. White = hair, black = no hair. This gives you painterly control over coverage without modifying your mesh.

Save Before Resetting: The Reset button is destructive. Save your file before clicking it, or use Ctrl+Z if you accidentally lose sculpted work.

Common Mistakes

Too Few Guides: Using 20–50 guides for head hair. This creates patchy, unrealistic strand interpolation with visible "seams" between guide influence regions. Use 150–400 guides for head hair.

Wrong Distribution: Using Random when you need even coverage. Random distribution can leave gaps in some areas while overcrowding others. Use Poisson Disk or Even for production work.

Too Short: Making guides too short, then realizing you need longer hair. Guides set the maximum possible hair length — you can trim but not extend. Always set guides slightly longer than your target.

Ignoring Sculpting: Not sculpting guides after generation. Generated guides are just a starting point — they all point straight out from the surface. Sculpt them to match your desired hairstyle flow.

Resetting Instead of Adjusting: Clicking the Reset button when you just want to change count or length. Use auto-update instead — change the slider and your sculpted shapes are preserved!

Too Many Control Points for Simple Hair: Using 32 points for simple straight hair. This is unnecessary and makes sculpting harder (more points to manage). Use 4–8 points for straight or simple wavy styles.

Forgetting to Mirror: Sculpting both sides of a symmetrical hairstyle independently. Use the Mirror panel — sculpt one side, mirror to the other. It's faster and guarantees perfect symmetry.

Parameter Reference Table

Parameter	Panel	Range	Default	Description
Method	Distribution	6 options	Random	Algorithm for scattering guide roots on the mesh
Count	Distribution	1 – 10,000	100	Total number of guide curves
Min Distance	Distribution	0.01 – 10.0	0.1	Minimum spacing between guides (Poisson only)
Use Density Map	Distribution	On/Off	Off	Enable painted texture to control guide placement
Length	Guide Properties	0.001 – 10.0	1.0	Guide curve length in Blender units
Control Points	Guide Properties	2 – 32	8	Vertices per guide curve
Noise	Variation	0.0 – 1.0	0.0	Random displacement on guide shapes
Seed	Variation	0 – 999,999	42	Random seed for reproducible results
Target Count	Interpolate Guides	10 – 5,000	100	Desired count when resampling guides
Mirror Axis	Mirror Guides	X / Y / Z	X	Axis to mirror across
Direction	Mirror Guides	3 options	All	Which side(s) to mirror
Merge Threshold	Mirror Guides	0.0 – 0.1	0.001	Distance to mirror plane below which guides are not duplicated
Replace Opposite	Mirror Guides	On/Off	Off	Delete existing guides on target side before mirroring

Next Steps

Once you have guides set up, move to the Primitive Tab to generate dense hair strands from your guides.

Related Topics:

• Primitive Tab – Generate strands from guides
• Flow Direction Modifier – Override guide direction with arrows/curves
• Texture Masks – Learn more about painted map workflows
• Workflows and Tips – Complete hairstyle workflows

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Guides are the foundation of great hair. Take your time, experiment with different distributions, and don't be afraid to sculpt! Once you have solid guides, the rest of the workflow becomes much easier.