Hair and Fur problem

[avaCoffeeMug]

(problem for max 9) i've never really used hair and fur so i'm running into problems with it. i want to use it to make grass, the problem is it won't show up. The modifier is on, and there's nothing that i've changed. it's on a plane, and i'm rendering in perspective. From what I've noticed is that it WILL show up WITHOUT lights in the scene, but the second I add any sort of light, it disappears. Can anyone tell me what I'm missing? Thanks.

[gfx.KhronoS]

Is a little buggy i think... and never managed to make it work...
Try using ornatrix...

[Nukie]

I'm not sure if its a bug. I had this problem once when I used mental ray with hair and fur. We managed to solve the problem but I cant remember how :P

[Scia]

Alright, I'm going off Max 8 here, but hopefully it's the same problem.

On the top menu, go to Rendering -> Effects and select "Hair and Fur" on the list. Depending on what render system your using, you'll need to change the the "hairs" type (For example, you cannot use "Buffer" with Vray).

Buffer is the default setting, and is what scanline will work best with. However, it is rendered separate from the scene and as far as I can tell it won't cast shadows on geometry outside of it's self, giving it a pretty unrealistic look.

Geometry will work in any renderer, however it usually doesn't give the light falloff I want out of hair unless you give it a subsurface material, but then your render times go through the roof. Grass should be ok though.

MR Prim is probably my favorite. It's the most realistic (as it casts shadows and has a great light falloff in the hair) and also has the best render time (for me at least). However as far as I know, It's a Mental Ray exclusive, hence the name.

I would try rendering in geometry, see what happens. :)

You can also convert the hair strands (or grass, in your case) to editable geometry or splines under the Tools -> Convert section of the Hair and Fur modifier's settings, which will avoid any problems that you could encounter from the modifier it's self. Just keep in mind that each and very grass blade will be sitting in your view port after you do this.

[-SPM-Draget]

Is a little buggy i think... and never managed to make it work...
Try using ornatrix...

Don't you think that this little bug 'not working at all' would be noticed during the testing of Max by Discreet? xD

And eventho ornatrix might be a nice plugin, I think it does not work for 3DS Max 9, does it?

Greetings
Draget