For those who don’t know the tool: HiPhyEngine LLC plugs into Blender as a Python addon, then runs sims through its own solver and returns results to the timeline. Think character sim prep, cloth, Rigid Body, sand, snow, mud, Hair, shotwork, and less collider drama.

What shipped and what it tries to solve

HiPhyEngine presents itself as a fully coupled, high fidelity physics engine aimed at character simulation inside Blender. The core pitch is a unified solver that can handle rigid body, hair, cloth, and soft body together, with an intersection free guarantee.

Alongside the Lagrangian style setups for meshes, HiPhyEngine also includes an MPM solver for snow and sand style simulations. The documentation frames this as bringing those effects into Blender workflows without relying on separate, subscription based tools. Those statements are product claims.

The developer, Haixiang Liu, has a Mathematics and Computer Sciences bachelor degree from HKUST, and doctoral work on simulation and high-performance computing at UW Madison. He also worked for six years at Walt Disney Animation Studios on character simulation and grooming tools.

How it fits into Blender without breaking your scene

HiPhyEngine is implemented as a standard Blender Python addon that reads and writes scene data through the Blender Python API, which forces you into a few workflow rules.

First, clean geometry matters. The intersection free guarantee assumes the starting and input geometry is intersection free (D’uh). HiPhyEngine also offers controls to disable collisions on selected vertices if you do not need them participating.

Second, sim kickoff happens across the timeline. When a sim runs, the solver exports relevant scene objects frame by frame, using the final evaluated state from the editor. If a modifier is not visible in the editor, it does not make the trip.

Third, modifier stack placement is not magic. Because of Blender Python API limits, the sim deformation applies at the start of the modifier chain. Any modifier that changes position or topology after that can cause issues. Triangulate is acceptable, and using a second object if you need a heavy modifier stack after the sim result is also OK.

Finally, cache handling is deliberately manual. The solver does not automatically save caches when a Blender file saves, to avoid slowdowns and disk I/O spikes on large sims. You trigger save and load operations via the solver controls, and the docs point out that this leaves room for custom cache versioning scripts.

Simulation setup details that matter in production

The quick start walks through a first sim using an affine body setup, a collider, and a solver node. Affine bodies are presented as very stiff objects that can be treated like rigid bodies for setup purposes.

Mesh requirements are strict: sim meshes must be triangle meshes. HiPhyEngine does not perform internal triangulation, so what you see in the scene is what the solver gets. Coordinate systems and units also show up early. The quick start notes that the engine is generally coordinate system agnostic except for gravity, and it sets expectations about unit scale by stating the internal length unit is centimeters.

A solver scale parameter can convert between scene and solver units, with follow on adjustments needed for parameters like collision radius that stay tied to model units.

The sim run itself is asynchronous. The UI reports progress, and the timeline updates meshes as frames become available. This is a simualtion workflow that matches how many artists already think about baking, just with a different backend.

Platform reality check before you get excited

HiPhyEngine supports Windows and Linux, and requires an x64 CPU with AVX2 support. The docs say any Intel or AMD CPU from the last decade should be enough. On the host side, the addon targets Blender 4.5 and later. The docs call out that the Steam build of Blender might run into permission issues during dependency installation.

HiPhyEngine installs dependencies into Blender’s Python environment on first load, using pip or wheels. The docs name Intel oneAPI Math Kernel Library and pybind11 as dependencies, and warn that first load can take from seconds to minutes depending on network speed. The quick start also states compliance with the VFX Reference Platform VFX2025 and VFX2026 standards from the VFX Reference Platform site, and ties that to Python 3.11 and Python 3.13 support as used by Blender 4.5 and later.

Features, licensing, and the fine print that comes with them

HiPhyEngine has five different material models and a fully coupled approach that handles interactions between them without extra setup. It also describes features like animated collider de-intersection and a soft collider feature intended to clean up incoming animation meshes before simulation. These are product claims.

HiPhyEngine also has parameter mapping and animation for many sim properties, such as using Blender attributes and geometry nodes for parameter maps, plus integration with the SeExpr2 expression language via SeExpr to build attributes and force fields.

Pricing on Superhive is split by seat count. The Individual License is listed at $119 for an individual commercial license, the Small Studio License is listed at $599 for a 6 seat license, and the Studio License is listed at $999 for a 15 seat studio license.

https://hiphyengine.github.io/


https://superhivemarket.com/products/hiphyengine

The post HiPhyEngine wants clean sims in Blender first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Ephere has released Ornatrix V9 for 3ds Max. The grooming plugin expands its toolset for hair, fur, and feather creation with direct painting, interactive braiding, clump control, and viewport acceleration. The developer describes this version as “more advanced, yet also more friendly than ever.”

Painting Directly on Hair

The new Brush Textures system allows textures to be painted directly onto strands. This eliminates dependency on external maps for colour or attributes and is particularly useful for stylised or localised looks.

Guide editing also benefits from UI refinements: tool icons have been updated, channels are easier to select, and a new Show Channels Map function improves feedback when sculpting guides.

Braiding and Clump Control

V9 introduces interactive braiding—artists can now create plaits directly in the viewport rather than constructing them manually.

Clump tools gain refinements: clumps are coloured for identification, manipulator accuracy has improved, and hit-testing now considers strand width. A new UI slider for manipulators gives more direct control over strand grouping.

Modifier Enhancements

Several modifiers see targeted upgrades:

• Generate Guide Data now visualises group data and output channels.
• Mesh from Strands supports procedural textures on strand-based meshes, adds “Cap faces” for closed tubes, and improves strand group meshing.
• Merge now includes overlap-resolving blend modes when combining grooms.
• Surface Comb offers curved sinks, expanded transform control (move, rotate, scale), and orientation based on the middle sink.
• Length gains curved extensions.
• Frizz includes a “Scale Randomness” option.
• Warp Roots now allows procedural density changes.
• Adopt External Guides supports dependency assignment, critical for Unreal Engine workflows.
• Ground Strands separates distribution meshes from character meshes.
• Hair from Guides consolidates root-count settings into one map.

New presets—Feather and Hair Ball—join the groom library. Existing presets have improved icons, better node naming, and corrected strand directions.

Alembic and Interoperability

Alembic support has been reworked. The export dialog now uses Qt instead of Win32 and can write strand rotations. Export of the groom_color attribute enables compatibility with Unreal Engine’s Alembic importer.

Viewport and UI

The viewport now runs hair calculations on the GPU, significantly improving interactivity with complex grooms. Volumetric strand shadows are enabled by default with adjustable parameters.

The user interface has also been modernised: Qt dialogs replace older windows, a “reset to defaults” button has been added to settings, and modify-panel icons have been refreshed.

Pricing and Upgrades

• Users who bought Ornatrix V8 within the last six months receive V9 free of charge.
• A 50 % early-bird discount on perpetual licences applies until 1 October 2025. After that date, the discount drops to 25 %.
• Monthly and yearly rentals are available, with rental licence holders upgraded automatically.
• A perpetual license costs 649 USD per User, 5 or more will set you back 628 USD per license, and a site license (21 or more) is 12495 USD.

For Production Use

Ornatrix V9 introduces genuinely new grooming workflows, but artists should verify compatibility and stability in production contexts. The addition of GPU hair, Alembic extensions, and procedural modifiers may require pipeline adjustments. Testing in-house is recommended before deployment.

The post Ornatrix V9 for 3ds Max: Paint, Plait, Perform first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Renown for the Tiny Eye tool, 3D artist tinynocky has unveiled the Tiny Hair Shader, a procedural add-on for Blender designed to simplify the creation of stylized hair. This is particularly adept at achieving the distinctive shine characteristic of Arcane-style characters.

Tiny Hair Shader offers users the ability to fine-tune various hair attributes, including color, gradient, specular values, roughness, sheen, and strand properties. These adjustments can be made effortlessly, enhancing both usability and efficiency.

The shader is compatible with Blender versions 3.4 and above, functioning seamlessly with both EEVEE and Cycles rendering engines. The Node Groups are optimized for Blender 4.2 and later versions. A limited version of Tiny Hair Shader is available for free, while the full license, which includes all functions and presets, can be purchased.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1881376208140874187

Additional Resources

For those interested in a deeper dive into the shader’s node structure and functionalities, tinynocky has provided a detailed video breakdown, which includes a free file download.

Conclusion

Tiny Hair Shader stands out as a valuable tool for Blender artists aiming to create stylized hair with ease and precision. Its user-friendly interface and comprehensive feature set make it a noteworthy addition to the Blender community. As with any new tool, it’s advisable to thoroughly test its capabilities before integrating it into active projects.

The post Tiny Hair Shader: Making Blender Hair Shine first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.