Tools, Functions, Modes

Tools

The numerous Hair tools are designed to manipulate (style) the guide so you can style hair any way you want. Guides determine the direction and length of the hair (hair style). Hair is interpolated between the guides, and can be seen when the image is rendered. Select a Hair object, whose guides you want to edit (more than one Hair object can be styled simultaneously).

As you already know, the various Cinema 4D tools affect either selected elements or, if no element is selected, all elements. The selection mode can even be changed to only affect visible elements, for example.

In the following, we will explain all available (guide) elements.

All tools contain settings that are available in the Attribute Manager (when that tool is active).

Furthermore, most tools are interactive, i.e., you can manipulate the guide directly in the editor view while simultaneously pressing the mouse button.

Spline Mode

Guides can also be edited to a certain extent using Cinema 4D tools. Two methods are available:

1. Create an empty spline object (main menu: Create / Spline / Primitive / Empty Spline) and drag it into the Points Link field. The guides will be created based on the shape of the splines and can be edited using common tools.
   
   
2. Select the Hair object and convert it to splines (main menu: Hair / Convert to Spline). You will then have a normal spline object, which can be converted back into a Hair object after it has been edited. This will, though, unroot the guides, which will have to be replanted using the Set Roots command (main menu: Hair / Set Roots).
   
   However, preference should be given to using the Hair tools since they are designed for optimal editing of guides and are more numerous. The main reason guides should be edited using the Hair tools is that the hair reacts somewhat like IK (Inverse Kinematics), which means moving a given point will affect neighboring points.