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The VRayHairSampler is an utility node that provides extra output attributes which can be used when shading Maya hair, whether with Maya's own nHair system or other hair plugin for Maya.

Used with the VRayHairNextMtl material, this node allows you to map color, incandescence, and transparency along the length of a hair strand, as well as the ability to randomize such properties on a per-strand basis to create stunning hair looks.

For additional information on using this node, see the Hair Sampler Texture Setup page. The setup is similar to that of the the VRayFurSampler.

For fur rendering, the VRayHairNextMtl is used with the VRayFurSampler node instead.

^{Image courtesy of Eduardo Oliveira}

The Hair Sampler node contains the unique outputs listed below. These outputs are accessed by right clicking the node in the Hypershade window and selecting Show All Attributes or left clicking the output master port and selecting Other....

Distance Along Strand – Provides information about the shaded part of the hair strand. For the base of the strand, the value is 0.0, and for the tip it is 1.0. With this option, a texture can be mapped along each strand regardless of each strand's length.

Distance Along Strand Absolute – Provides information about the shaded part of the hair strand using absolute distance. This option uses the Hair Max Distance parameter to allow length-dependent mapping. For instance, when used with a gradient, this allows for all hair strands (regardless of length) to have a root color all up to the same length followed by the rest of the ramp. Note that when Hair Max Distance is lower than the actual length of the hair strand, the gradient is repeated over the length of the hair strand.

Hair Color – Provides information about the diffuse color along the hair strand.

Hair Incandescence – Provides information about the incandescence color along the hair strand.

Hair Transparency – Provides information about the transparency along the hair strand.

Position Across Strand – Allows textures to be mapped across each strand.

Random By Strand – Provides an unique random floating point value for each strand in the hair system, which allows shading each strand with a random color sampled from a texture.

Hair Max Distance – Allows the user to set the max strand length when using Distance Along Strand Absolute. Typically, this value should be equal to the longest strand of hair. This option is mappable, allowing different parts in a hair system to have different max lengths.

The ramp is driven by the randomByStrand parameter
The ramp is connected to the VRayMtl's Diffuse Color
Multiple Colors set with no interpolation

The ramp is driven by the distanceAlongStrand parameter
The ramp is connected to the VRayMtl's Diffuse Color
Multiple Colors set with smooth interpolation

The ramp is driven by the Position Across Strand parameter
The ramp is connected to the VRayMtl's Transparency
Multiple Colors set with Linear interpolation