http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=247326The only thread I've found about it.
I'd just do single dreadlock i.e. as a cube extruded a few times, with diffuse texture and heavy bump. Then I'd copy and align (moving vertices by hand) copies around the head. At the end I'd subdivide the whole dreadlock-mass once (to avoid high poly count).
For animation in other software I'd make a cloth simulation (with rather high stiffness and distances between). For Anim8tor I have two ideas:
1. I'd make bones from roots to the ends and attach GROUPS of dreadlocks (making bone chain for each dreadlock would be overkill). Predator's dreads aren't very long and are quite heavy and stiff so you don't need more than 2-3 bones for each group. They only move up at roots when he jumps or turns head very fast.
This can be helpful too:
http://tysonibele.com/Main/Tutorials/Secondary/secondary.htmPros: accuracy, possibilities
Cons: takes a lot of time, more difficult to control
2. Another solution would be to model dreads with whole Predator and conform them to the body - while rigging attach them to the the bones responsible for head, neck and arm movements (
in case you don't know Poser's conforming hair and clothing). And add only single morph for dreadlocks (dread's moved up) for jumping and turning head action (and maybe later additional morphs for head tilted right/left/down for additional accuracy).
Pros: fast and simple when animating little movements
Cons: if too many poses required then creating morphs and in-between morphs and using them on timeline may be even slower than using bones
Tell me if it works, or when I wrote something unclearly (language barer from my side may be a problem with explaining complex stuff).
BTW. I'd model and animate normal hair in similar way - I'd just use planes instead of tubes...
