Afro-textured hair in animation has long been oversimplified, but new algorithms now capture its true form
I was actually a digital hair artist once. This kind of thing would have been great. Hair, even straight hair, is a pain in the ass, too complex to model explicitly. You can only author rough descriptions and hope the implicit shape that gets generated looks and moves in a way that isn’t horrible. You control maybe 10% of the hair, everything is interpolations and expressions.
The more complex the shape the harder it is since there’s strict limits on the amount of explicit data you can author and the sheer amount of geometry needed to make it not look like shit. The artist is at the mercy of the system more than in other areas of CGI. Games are even worse. I would have killed for something that looked this good.
In before Trump signs an EO making this illegal
Yeah, this research isn’t kosher. Too many trigger words.
Systematic barriers within animation, including diversity in hiring, often means improvements on how to better illustrate Black characters can fall to the wayside.
(Emphasis mine)
Nice subtle dig
