Help with fur - realism.

[Fuzzle]

I'm trying very hard to learn how to do realistic fur, but that information seems to be locked away in the deepest recesses of the internet as no google search or tutorial is at all helpful.

I was hoping someone with knowledge in this area could tell me how to create specific styles of brushes that will give me this fur effect? I' got a one pixel brush, I've got several pixels in a bunch brush and variations on that, but I seem to be struggling in making the fur look decent. I would really appreciate some insights and some guidance on how to create this look, but through my own abilities, not through a filter or generated manipulation. I do everything through the brush, otherwise it doesn't feel like my work.

By the way here is my work so you know where I stand artistically.

http://www.furaffinity.net/user/fuzzlepup/

Thank you
~Fuzz

[melemel]

Have you tried creating a dynamic brush? That might help

Start with a faint line something like the attached image
Turn it into a brush: Edit > Define brush
Select your brush from the brushes thumbnails
Now open the brushes dialog window: Window > Brushes
Now adjust the brush dynamics. Click on Shape dynamics and Scattering and
play with the settings til the preview at the bottom looks furry.
Then save it (the little 'page' icon at the bottom of the window) and it will appear in your brush set.
You can experiment with drawing different initial lines to get smoother or more textured effects.

[melemel]

Oh ,and here's how it turned out. Bear in mind this was two minutes work - you can make it much better if you spend more time!

[suzzie1234]

Dont know how much time or money you want to spend to permanently solve this.

I have created human hair brushes to fix and repair bad cutouts of human hair against a background. Extract always leaves some fuzzyness around the edges of hair. The brushes I have are of hair edges and some fur ones that I occasionally use. I was able to create them myself with a special product that allows me to get hair fine accurate cutouts of the hair and fur.

There is nothing inside Photoshop that will allow you to get good fur cutouts. I have been using Vertus Fluid Mask $179USD with Photoshop. If I photograph hair or fur against a light gray background in my studio I can get single hair strand precision in the cutout. Every single hair strand is cleanly cut out with NO edges, NO halos or fuzzyness in the cutout. From there I make my Photoshop Brushes... and now I am able to stamp hair or fur anywhere I want, make it any color, and give it texture, and blend it in with any existing image. You make perfect hair once... and then use it on any project in the future.

Its a bit involved maybe...but ive spent a whole year researching a solution on my own just like you...because I have a need for perfect human hair touch-ups....and this is the only solution that worked to absolute total perfection every time.

You can PM me or contact me at info@GlamourRetouching.Com if you want to chat further on this.

[steve.ledger]

You can PM me or contact me at info@GlamourRetouching.Com if you want to chat further on this.

We'd much rather you continued here than in private

[suzzie1234]

Didnt want to take up additional bandwidth on a non-xara specific subject...but no problem if you like.

[Burpee]

Yes, I am interested in the brush or procedures too, though I use PSPXI. Ivan made a Xara fur brush that I love and I think it could be created similarly in PS or PSP.

It is made by Ivan in Xara and he calls it 'catfur'. It is made up of a circular bitmap of fur that is feathered around the edge. Looks very convincing.
http://talkgraphics.com/showthread.php?t=11294
So you can get an idea of what it looks like.

[JojoBoudreau]

Try this:

http://www.deviantart.com/#order=9&q...toshop+brushes


ETA: You can also search there for some GREAT tutorials on how to use those