Chapter 4: Headgear Integration & Collision Awareness

Created by Sarah Choi (prompt writer using ChatGPT)

Headgear Integration & Collision Awareness — Hair, Fur & Groom

Why headgear + hair is a production problem (and a design opportunity)

Helmets, hoods, crowns, masks, headphones, visors, tiaras, turbans, veils, and collars all compete for the same real estate as hair, fur, and beards. If you treat headgear as an afterthought, you’ll inherit clipping, collapsed volume, and unreadable silhouettes. If you design the integration from the start—massing, flow, materials, and alt states—you get stronger characters, cleaner silhouettes, and fewer downstream fixes. This article gives you a system for collision-aware design that ships.

Start with the head stack: skull → hair mass → headgear shell → collars

Think in layers. Block the skull first, then the hair/fur helmet (inflation off the scalp), then the headgear shell, then neck/shoulder gear (collars, gorgets, backpack straps, pauldrons). Choose a dominant layer—either hair defines the silhouette and headgear wraps it, or headgear defines the silhouette and hair routes and compresses around it. Declare this choice early in your sheet.

Massing rules: reserve volume and route exits

Sketch the hair/fur helmet mass with explicit exit paths: where does hair leave the hood (temple vents, nape slit), how do braids route past a gorget, where do locs clear the pauldron? For full helmets and tight hoods, choose a hair state that makes sense (bound bun, braid, undercut) and design the reserve volume inside the shell so the groom keeps believable loft without clipping. For open headgear (crowns, circlets, tiaras), design hair to frame and not kiss edges—carve gutters around metalwork.

Flow field meets constraint field

Hair flows (growth + gravity + style) meet headgear constraint fields—hard shells, pads, straps, ear cups. Diagram both on your sheet. Where constraints press, hair compresses and redirects; where they release, hair springs and fans. Use arrows for flow and hatched zones for constraints. These maps become guide curves and pinning maps for grooms and sim.

Material interactions: slide, snag, compress

Different materials change collision behavior. Leather and cloth grab and wrinkle hair, flattening volume; polished metal and plastic let hair slide and preserve sheen at contact; foam liners leave soft imprints and damp motion; mesh imprints patterns and traps flyaways. In fur, hard rims create a break line (fur length abruptly shortens), while soft linings create blend zones (gradual compression). Note material pairings in callouts and show edge language (hard cut vs. feathered transition) at contact.

Integration strategies by headgear type

Full helmets (closed shells): Choose an internal hair containment (braid loop, bun, skull cap). Provide reservoir volume at crown and nape; keep temples clear for liners and electronics. Add vent exits (small slits) if strands must escape for character identity. Beard collision? Shorten with ties or clasps; route under chin bar with a beard scoop cutout.

Open helmets (crests, visors, half-helm): Hair can participate in silhouette: mohawks, crests, ponytails through ports. Shape feed-through ports with chamfers to prevent alpha cards from flickering. Offset visor tracks so bangs don’t constantly clip.

Hoods and cowls: Decide weight (stiff/leather vs. soft/cloth). Stiff hoods form a vault—hair presses into a dome; soft hoods drape and flatten. Design nape pleats and temple darts to create internal clearance. Provide tuck states (tucked behind ear, over ear, out of hood) as alt variants.

Hats, caps, berets: Brims demand hair routing: show windward compression and leeward lift. For caps that sit low, reduce front fringe volume and increase sideburn/temple compression. For berets, design a bias drape that pushes hair to one side—guard against tangents with cheek and ear.

Crowns, circlets, tiaras: Treat as floating frames; route hair under, through, and around without kissing metal edges. Use micro-braids or undercuts to anchor. Reserve rim gaps so highlights don’t fuse hair and metal into one shape.

Headphones, comms, VR/AR visors: Pads compress hair at the temporal bone; headbands carve a trench across the crown. Show pad squish and hair rebound when removed. Tie cord routing to prevent snags; leave thumb parks for don/doff animations.

Veils and scarves: Sheer fabrics overlay hair; value grouping is critical—simplify hair beneath and let the veil carry texture. Define lift points (earring, hairpin) to keep veil off lips and prevent tangents with jawline.

Beards, mustaches, and neck gear

Gorgets, scarves, and respirators crash into beards. Decide beard length state per loadout: free, tied (ring, slider), braided, or netted. Sculpt chin notch or beard shelf in rigid gear to avoid constant clipping. Mustaches must clear respirator seals—trim or wax into shape; note this as a functional style.

Collision-aware silhouettes and tangent control

Headgear and hair should cooperate to make a readable silhouette. Avoid tangents where hair rims trace helmet edges; either create breathing gaps or overlap decisively. Use layer offsets (hair panel over/under brim) and value separation (rim lights on hair vs. matte on gear) to keep forms distinct. At distance, prioritize hero clumps/panels that survive LOD.

Camera and LOD planning

Design for three distances:

  • Close (portrait): Show pad imprints, flyaways at exits, and micro-speculars on hair near gear edges.
  • Mid (gameplay): Keep panel/clump rhythms readable; reduce interior hair detail under hoods.
  • Far (silhouette): Let headgear own the shape; keep hair to 3–5 bold clumps or a simple halo. Author per‑LOD silhouettes: which clumps persist when cards disappear.

Animation and sim notes that prevent clipping

  • Don/Doff states: Provide alt meshes/poses for putting gear on/off. Include gate frames (when brim passes bangs, when chin bar meets beard).
  • Pinning & stiffness: Hard‑pin roots under straps, increase bend stiffness at crest to retain loft under motion, raise damping under soft hoods to kill chatter.
  • Collision volumes: Supply simplified proxies for helmets, brims, and collars; consider inflated proxies for real-time to avoid penetration during fast moves.
  • Break states: Wet, wind, product—each changes collision. Provide notes for each.

Real-time implementation: cards and shells that cooperate with gear

  • Reserve space inside helmets/hoods by using an inner scalp shell to push cards out.
  • Route cards along exits; avoid cross‑brim intersections (alpha soup). Use hero silhouette cards at feed-throughs (ponytail ports, mohawk slots).
  • Shader cues: Align anisotropy to routing; add rim bias to hair cards near gear edges so highlights separate the forms.
  • Dynamic toggles: Provide toggles for alt states (hair up/down, hood on/off) and author blend shapes to compress hair under gear.

Concept deliverables that de‑risk production

  • Layer stack orthos (front/side/back): skull, hair mass, headgear, collar—each on its own plate with overlaps indicated.
  • Flow/constraint maps: arrows for hair flow, hatched zones for contact/compression, pins for anchor points.
  • Exit path sheet: close-ups of temple, nape, crown ports, with clearance dimensions.
  • Material board: headgear (hard/soft/mesh) vs. hair state (dry/wet/product) with expected spec/roughness.
  • Alt state board: hood up/down, helmet off/on, beard tied/loose, ponytail through/blocked.
  • LOD silhouettes: close/mid/far with notes on which clumps/panels survive.
  • Animation gates: frames and poses where collisions are most likely; recommended pins/IK locks.

Common failure patterns and fast fixes

  • Helmet head/flat hair: no internal allowance. → Inflate reserve volume; add inner shell; pin roots; add crest stiffness.
  • Alpha flicker at brims: crossed cards. → Route exits cleanly; reduce overlaps; add brim chamfer; prioritize silhouette cards.
  • Perma‑clipping at collars: hair not routed. → Add nape slit/tie; shorten back length; provide tied-up alt state.
  • Beard vs. respirator: seal broken. → Trim/shape mustache; add beard scoop in gear; provide tie-down.
  • Tangent soup: hair rims trace gear edges. → Offset angles; carve gutters; add rim/spec contrast.

Practice loops

  1. Exit-path drill: Take three headgear types (helmet, hood, tiara) and design clean hair routes for each with collision notes.
  2. Layer stack sprint: Draw skull → hair mass → gear in three passes; ensure silhouette reads at thumbnail.
  3. Compression paint‑over: Start with loose hair and paint how it compresses under a hood (pads, fold imprints, rim fuzz).
  4. Beard/gear integration: Design a beard for a respirator user with two alt states (free, tied). Document seal logic.

Closing thought

Headgear integration is collaboration between form and function. When you reserve volume, route exits, and design materials to interact, you create characters that look intentional and animate cleanly. The audience sees personality; production sees solvable physics. Design the collision story, and your grooms will keep their shape from concept board to shipped build.