Fiber 2.03 Guide - Introduction

Documentation

This Fiber 2.03 script Guide is an HTML version of the on-line 'Fiber Working Thread' by Fligh % at elysiun.com :

http://www.elysiun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25552

This information was collected and refined by Fligh % mainly from the readme text file and posts by Allan Dennis (RipSting), the creator of the Fiber script; as well as a few quotes from people using the script who posted to the threads.

Note that some of the text from the quotes have been slightly modified. (To fix typos, removing unnecessary details - those sort of things). If you would like to view the entire un-edited text as it was originally posted you can check out the following links:

Fiber 3 GUI

Fiber 2.03 (update May 25, 2004)

Fiber 2.03 release with support for Blender 2.33

Fiber Generator 1.3 here (Update April 3rd)

BREAKTHROUGH in fiber generation and animation!!!

Grass script compatible with publisher (2.25)

What is Fiber?

Fiber is a Python script that works in Blender to create, control (via 'fiber guides'), and animate fibers.
It can used to simulate (but not limited to) such things as the following:

* A field of grass, grain, or other similiar type of vegetation,

* hair or fur for your characters, and

* any other application that uses fibers such as carpets, broom bristles, etc.

Fiber 2.03 Features

¤ A clean GUI with the ability to Load and Save custom presets,

¤ GUI includes a feature that allows you to estimate the number of faces that will be generated BEFORE you run the script,

¤ Utilize Vertex colors to control the density, length, and/or 'gravity effect' of the fibers,

¤ Automatic detection of vertex paint (Generating mesh need not have VCol to work),

¤ Integrated Wind engine allows the creation of fields of wheat, hair blowing in the wind, and many more possibilities,

¤ Wind controlled dynamically through the positioning and sizing of an empty for extreme control over animation,

¤ Use bezier curves to 'comb' hair,

¤ Clumpy hair lets you make dreadlocks, mowhawks,

¤ Guide Fibers let you control the direction the fibers travel,

¤ Auto UV makes texturing easier, also has support for transparency, bumpmapping, etc. ,

¤ All base meshes are stored in a file, so no need to have them selected anymore at runtime!,

¤ Optimized code runs faster and with fewer possible errors,

Proposed Fiber 3.0 Features ( Not yet released )

RipSting is currently in the process of updating Fiber to v3.0
Some new feature will include:

¤ Unlimited length fiber guides (has been restricted to 3-4 verts per guide due to buggy bézier code),

¤ New parameters, and elimination of redundant ones,

¤ Controllable & animatable fiber guides with armatures will be possible, but the python API won't allow automatic creation,

¤ An easier to use GUI ,

¤ Updated to take advantage of new 2.32 features,

¤ Integrating Fiber scripts functionality into a single script, and

¤ Tutorials.