FOR most computer-generated human models, every day is a bad hair day. But a new technique mimicking the biology of real hair has succeeded in giving these models lustrous locks.
To render virtual hair as an image, a computer needs to know how each strand will reflect light – and there are over 100,000 strands on a full human head. Since 1989, computer animators have relied upon a model that treats each strand as an opaque cylinder. The overall effect of this model is a head of hair with a single highlight – a glossy sheen that runs straight across…
