Quick Start: Your First Atlas

This walk-through takes you from an empty scene to baked maps and textured cards in about ten minutes. Every step links to a chapter with the full details.

1. Set up the scene

1. Start a new Blender file and save it (File ▸ Save As). Baked maps go next to the .blend by default.
2. In the 3D Viewport press N and open the BStrands tab.
3. Click Activate Curve-BStrands.

You now have a starter bstrand inside a 2 × 2 m bake zone.

The viewport right after Activate: the starter bstrand and the BStrands tab.

2. Start from a preset

1. Open the Presets section under the bstrand list.
2. Click Pick a Preset and choose Curl ▸ Soft-waves.

The preset applies as soon as you pick it. Press Ctrl+Z if you want the previous look back.

3. Add a second lock

1. Click + beside the bstrand list. The new bstrand appears in the middle of the bake zone.
2. Pick Braid ▸ 3-Braid from the preset menu.
3. Move it beside the first lock: press G, then X, and drag.

Tip

Keep bstrands from overlapping. Each one gets its own rectangle of the atlas.

4. Adjust the shape

• Open Scatter and drag Width, Length and Thickness, or drag the coloured arrows in the viewport.
• Open Modifiers to see what the preset built. Try raising the Braid’s Tightness, or add a Noise modifier with Add Modifier.

See Strands, Presets and Scatter and Modifiers.

5. Colour the hair

Open Material and edit the Root to Tip Gradient: the left end colours the roots and the right end the tips.

See Material, Edit and Paint.

6. Frame the bake zone

In Atlas & Bake Zone ▸ Bake Zone:

1. Leave Aspect on Power of 2 for a standard game texture.
2. Set Resolution to 2048 for a quick first bake.
3. Click Fit Zone to bstrands. The yellow zone wraps both locks.
4. Click Update Bake Zone to look through the bake camera.

The Bake Zone section and the viewport seen through the bake camera, with the yellow zone around both locks.

7. Bake

1. Open Texture Bake. All ten maps are enabled; untick any you don’t need.
2. Click Bake 10 Map(s) at the bottom of the section. A progress bar shows each map; Esc cancels.
3. Click the image icon beside a map to open it in an Image Editor.

The maps are written to a BStrands folder next to your .blend, named like BStrands_albedo.png.

See Atlas and Baking.

8. Use the atlas

• In Cards, click Create UV-Ready Cards. You get one textured card per bstrand, ready to place on a head.
• Or, in Export & Save, click Export UV Layout (AHC) and import it into Agile Hair Cards.

See UV Slots, Cards and Export.

The textured UV-ready cards next to the original strands.