I found that root proximation is a quite complex theme. I'm also not sure what the rebuild of Ornatrix will bring in this direction, so i decided to leave this feature out in this tutorial.

That's why we jump straight to clustering.

So, you want real hair and fur? Wet or dry or fluffy nice fur? Yo! For that you will need clustering. Ant that's what this channel makes - clustering,

In real life static and cosmetic forces make hair form clusters. Ornatrix has a cluster channel along with global settings to affect this aspect. The global settings are multiplied with channel values to get the final cluster amount. Therefore if we want complete randomness, we have to set all cluster values to 1 and let the channel map do its work.

The picture on the left is made by Song Hwasup. You can pick up the Max6 scene for examining in the tutorials section.

Alright, let's do some work now. The picture on the left uses two maps. One for the lenght - so that you can see the actual cluster map, wich is behind the hair object.

In this example, the clustering is applyed in the WU direction - this is along the guide hairs. That's why the roots a not clustered (black) and the tips are 100% clustered (white).

You can vary the gardient setting to achieve different cluster "shapes". The amount of the clusters are determined in the Ornatrix Object settings.

Let's see some further examples....

As you can see, just a little variation in the "tip color" is enough to achieve a completly different cluster structure.

Now let's go back to the first cluster structure and apply a different lenght map.

Wow, well that's impressive. Just like a "real" haircut. The hairs keep their clusters intact while the lenght map cuts them. The vertical "shape" of the cluster is not rebuilded, you see the clusters just as they where cutted with a very sharp scissor.

Ofcourse you can make realy weird things with simple methods. Not very usefull what you see - but it's fun to see what can be done.

Now let's cut this! Weird thing.

Cluster maps can be applyed also in the other UVW directions. You can even paint a map and use the map for clustering your object. I.E. more clusters on the head of the object, less clusters on the body....

This is realy helpfull if you are working on realy furry animals. Just imagine how much work it would be to alternate manualy the clustering on a complex model.