EQ Anime Hair & Ribbon Dynamics

Purpose

Configures stylized secondary motion for anime hair, ribbons, belts, tails, and transform-chain accessories with a non-destructive runtime component plus generated profile, clip, manifest, and report outputs.

Menu path

• Tools/EQLabs/Creation/Modeling/Anime Hair & Ribbon Dynamics

Current Scope

• Runtime AnimeRodProfile assets for stiffness, damping, inertia, gravity scale, substeps, line-width preservation, cone clamp, bend limits, self-collision, segment constraints, and handle bias.
• Runtime AnimeRodComponent for transform-chain capture, simulation stepping, rest reset, optional LateUpdate playback, authored handles, collision primitive snapshots, self-collision, and cloth-coupling anchors.
• Chain validation for missing transforms, duplicate transforms, short chains, finite positions, and zero-length segments.
• Editor chain capture from multi-selection or first-child hierarchy traversal.
• Scene view chain overlay for captured transform chains, authored handles, editable multi-handle endpoints, collision primitives, and cloth-coupling anchors.
• One editor-authored handle-bias control that previews direction in the Scene view, can be adjusted by direct Scene handle drag, and syncs to the runtime component.
• Authored runtime handles with time/radius weighting.
• Handle presets for wind left, wind right, updraft, drag back, bounce, and snap settle impulses.
• Runtime profile asset creation under Assets/EQLabs/Generated/Create_AnimationModeling/AnimeHairRibbonDynamics/Profiles.
• Generated profile presets for hair strand, twin-tail, ribbon, sash, scarf, tail, and ahoge motion styles.
• Generated starter preset pack under Assets/EQLabs/Generated/Create_AnimationModeling/AnimeHairRibbonDynamics/PresetPack, including a pack asset, seven referenced runtime profiles, JSON manifest, and Markdown guide.
• Preview AnimationClip bake output under Assets/EQLabs/Generated/Create_AnimationModeling/AnimeHairRibbonDynamics/Clips.
• Optional source-animation-follow bake sampling from a source AnimationClip.
• Optional local-rotation bake curves derived from simulated segment direction, with twist controls.
• Optional bake smoothing, key reduction, and loop-pose closure.
• Sphere, capsule, and plane collision primitive authoring for generated preview/bake runs.
• Optional self-collision for non-adjacent chain points.
• Optional cloth-coupling anchors that pull chain points toward transform or root-local targets.
• VAT texture and deformation line-mesh export under Assets/EQLabs/Generated/Create_AnimationModeling/AnimeHairRibbonDynamics/VAT.
• JSON bake manifests and Markdown bake reports under Assets/EQLabs/Generated/Create_AnimationModeling/AnimeHairRibbonDynamics/Reports.
• Generated output root prepared under Assets/EQLabs/Generated/Create_AnimationModeling/AnimeHairRibbonDynamics.
• Hub registration under the Create Animation & Modeling Modeling category.

How To Use

1. Open Tools > EQLabs > Creation > Modeling > Anime Hair & Ribbon Dynamics.
2. Select two or more transforms in a hair, ribbon, belt, tail, or accessory chain.
3. Click Use Selection, then Capture Chain.
4. For a single selected root, set First-Child Chain Depth; Capture Chain follows the first child at each step.
5. Optionally click Create Profile Asset to create a runtime profile under the EQLabs generated folder.
6. Tune preview settings: physics gravity, local acceleration, LateUpdate playback, transform application, and preview delta time.
7. Enable Scene Preview to draw the captured chain in the Scene view.
8. Enable Editor Handle Bias to add a directional stylization force at the tip.
9. Use Add Handle or Add Preset Handle to author additional continuous or timed handle forces.
10. Enable Scene Handle Editing; choose one handle index or Edit All Handles, then drag Scene view endpoints to retarget authored handle bias.
11. Add optional sphere, capsule, or plane collision primitives from the window and tune root-local center/end/normal, radius, and weight.
12. Enable optional self-collision controls for non-adjacent chain points.
13. Add optional cloth-coupling anchors to pull a selected chain point toward a transform or root-local target.
14. Click Add/Refresh Component to configure an AnimeRodComponent on the captured root.
15. Click Validate Setup to check chain and bake hierarchy requirements.
16. Click Step Preview Once to test one simulation step with Undo support.
17. Click Reset To Rest to restore the component’s captured rest pose.
18. Set Bake Duration, Bake FPS, smoothing, key reduction, loop pose, manifest, report, source-follow, rotation-curve, and twist options.
19. Click Bake Preview Clip to write a generated AnimationClip plus optional manifest/report files.
20. Click Export VAT/Mesh to write a generated VAT texture asset, deformation mesh asset, and VAT manifest.
21. Use Create Preset Profile or Create All Presets to generate reusable default profiles.
22. Use Create Preset Pack to generate the starter pack with recipes for hair strand, twin-tail, ribbon, sash, scarf, tail, and ahoge setups.
23. Click Reveal Generated Folder to inspect the tool output root.

Non-Destructive Rules

• The source hierarchy is not duplicated or deleted by the current preview shell.
• The component writes only to scene transforms when Apply To Transforms is enabled.
• Runtime profile assets created by the tool go under the EQLabs generated folder.
• Starter preset pack assets, pack profiles, JSON manifest, and Markdown guide stay under Assets/EQLabs/Generated/Create_AnimationModeling/AnimeHairRibbonDynamics/PresetPack.
• Bake assets stay under Assets/EQLabs/Generated/Create_AnimationModeling/AnimeHairRibbonDynamics.
• VAT texture, deformation mesh, and VAT manifest assets stay under Assets/EQLabs/Generated/Create_AnimationModeling/AnimeHairRibbonDynamics/VAT.
• Preview bake clips are duplicate generated assets; authored animation clips are not modified.
• Bake manifests and reports are generated companion files; they do not mutate source clips, prefabs, meshes, or models.
• Source meshes, imported model files, and authored animation clips are not modified in place.

Current Limitations

• Clip baking records local-position curves and optional local-rotation curves; scale and material animation are deferred.
• Collision supports sphere, capsule, and plane primitives; mesh collision is deferred.
• Cloth coupling uses transform/root-local anchor targets; full Unity Cloth simulation binding is deferred.
• Scene view direct editing supports selected-handle or all-handle endpoints; full curve/ribbon shape gizmos are deferred.
• The current solver is a plain C# position-based rod seed, intended for Unity 2022.3 LTS and Unity 6+ compatibility before optional optimization work.