LI Strand Forge Hair for Genesis 9

Authors:

The LI Strand Forge Hair is a flexible hair construction system for Genesis 9, built around a diverse collection of hair sections, proxy rigs, and strand-based assets that can be used individually or combined to create entirely custom hairstyles.

At its core, this set is designed to cover some scenarios where your character is wearing headwear or for adding small elements to existing hair systems... but I took it further and built a range of complete hairstyles as well.

Included are multiple fitted hair sections, fringes, neck hair, side panels, temporal pieces, and a couple of vellus-style elements, all designed to attach to the LI Strand Forge Hair Cap. These pieces have no morphs, but when combined with the dForce Hair Generation settings, you can achieve quite a range of looks for that particular clump.

Then there are the Hair Rigs - these can be used as they are, great for adding extra Anime Hair sections, and will work well with Filatoon... but primarily, they have been designed to act as a proxy and come with plenty of pose controls to get you started and a bunch of Strand-based Hair sections that have been fitted to them. I've also thrown in a bushy tail asset.

Also included is a standalone Dad Cap, usable as a regular wearable for any character, plus two Genesis 9 versions. One fitted to the Strand Forge Hair - Cap for improved morph compatibility across a wider range of character shapes and a version fitted directly to Genesis 9. Plus, I've thrown in Beanie 01, which is also fitted directly to the cap.

To help you get started, a large selection of wearable presets has been included — perfect as quick-use options or as learning examples to explore how the system works under the hood.

Materials have been kept to a minimum, with the main focus being on asset creation.

For expanded shading, coloring, and simulation presets, this product pairs perfectly with LI Strand-Based Omni Suite: https://www.daz3d.com/li-strand-based-omni-suite

As a bonus, several utility assets are included, along with small "Bone Bending" scripts designed to help quickly shape knots, bends, and clumped forms using the proxy rigs.

LI Strand Forge Hair is ultimately about flexibility, a diverse set of hair-building assets supporting both masculine and feminine looks, from subtle additions to fully constructed hairstyles.

Happy rendering!

NOTES:

The hair sections fitted to the rigs were not intended for simulation. dForce Hair settings have been applied solely for access to the Hair Generation settings.

All strand-based assets include dForce Hair simulation, primarily intended to add strands and refine style. Some assets perform best using Hair Root Radius Mode, while others work really well in Target Surface Mode. There will be times when Target Surface Mode will break the look of the hair base.

Strand-based Hair Generation is a 'rabbit hole' and primarily depends on density maps. Many of the primary hairstyles provided can be taken much further in customising the look, but that will depend on the maps. You could always use the Image Editor to combine maps. Because of the huge variety, I have not created material presets to cover this aspect.

In the Wearable Presets Cap Opacity maps have also been used as Hair Density Maps..... deep, deep rabbit hole.