Grooms — Tutorials
Process note: Grooms for MetaHuman — Considerations
Collected 19–20 September 2026 for UE 5.8 / MetaHuman 5.8.
Official (Epic)
Community
19th-century hair reference
| Source | Link | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Nantucket Historical Association, Cased Photographs Collection (c. 1845–1875) | https://nha.org/research/the-collections/finding-aid/guide-to-the-cased-photographs-collection-circa-1845-1875/ | Primary: islanders' hair and beards by decade |
| NHA on Digital Commonwealth | https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/institutions/commonwealth:gm80j226v | Browsable images |
| Library of Congress Daguerreotypes collection | https://www.loc.gov/collections/daguerreotypes/ | Public-domain reference |
| Mark Campbell, Self-Instructor in the Art of Hair Work (1867) | https://www.gutenberg.org/files/38658/38658-h/38658-h.htm | Period hairdressing and hairpieces |
| FIT Fashion History Timeline (by decade) | https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1840-1849/ | Hairstyles in context |
| Victorian Web, women's hairstyles 1850–1900 | https://victorianweb.org/art/costume/nunn10.html | |
| Shenandoah / chin-curtain beard (whaling-era captains) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenandoah_(beard) | Secondary; confirm with photographs |
| WVU Libraries, men's facial hair of the late 1800s | https://news.lib.wvu.edu/2015/06/01/fashion-forward-mens-facial-hair-of-the-late-1800s/ |
Remember the plates' colour bias: blond and red hair photograph dark. Hair colour comes from written descriptions (ZBrush — Likeness and Age Research).
Local tutorials (Augmented Traveler)
| Tutorial | Covers | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Tutorial — Period Hairstyles from Evidence | Reading photographs for hair; decade guide 1830s–1880s; Quaker plainness; evidence sheet; labelling interpreted colour | Groom artist, historian, costume designer |
| Tutorial — XGen Period Hair for MetaHuman | Groom Starter Kit (XGen Description), guides and modifiers, Groom Exporter, binding, Wardrobe Item; Mitchell's 1840s style | Groom artist |
| Tutorial — Period Facial Hair Grooms | Chin curtain, mutton chops, full beard, moustache for captains; Creator's beard/moustache slots; binding to the face | Groom artist |
| Tutorial — Hair Under Caps and Bonnets | Cap-compressed groom variants, hiding hair, collision limits, per-surface approach | Groom artist, cloth artist |
| Tutorial — Hair Cards and Groom LODs for Headsets | Strands vs cards per platform; Hair Card Generator; LOD set-up; budgets; profiling | Groom artist, XR engineer |
Every groom tutorial the project needs
Status: ✅ written · 🔗 an external tutorial is enough · ✏️ local tutorial to write.
| Need | Status | Where / plan |
|---|---|---|
| Groom basics: import Alembic, Groom Asset, binding to a MetaHuman | 🔗 | Groom Starter Kit + Hair Rendering hub |
| Period hairstyle from evidence (reading photographs, parting, cap and bonnet fit, age) | ✅ | Tutorial — Period Hairstyles from Evidence |
| XGen period women's styles (centre parts, smooth bands over the ears, back buns, 1840s–1860s) in the Groom Starter Kit | ✅ | Tutorial — XGen Period Hair for MetaHuman (uses the Starter Kit's XGen Description; Interactive Groom export unconfirmed) |
| Facial hair (chin curtain, mutton chops, full beard; whaling captains) | ✅ | Tutorial — Period Facial Hair Grooms (no Epic facial-hair doc; built from Starter Kit + Wardrobe Items) |
| Hair under caps and bonnets (collision, flattening, hiding hair under a Quaker cap) | ✅ | Tutorial — Hair Under Caps and Bonnets |
| Cards for headsets and phones (Hair Card Generator, groom LODs, texture budgets) | ✅ | Tutorial — Hair Cards and Groom LODs for Headsets |
| Groom physics (Chaos Hair) for gestures and head turns | 🔗 | Hair Rendering hub + 5.8 release notes; write up tuning once tested |
| Packaging a groom as a Wardrobe Item for Creator | 🔗 | Tailoring Your Own Wardrobe Items |
| Houdini groom route | 🔗 | Only if we hire a Houdini groom artist |
| Eyebrows and lashes matched to the likeness | ✏️ | Short local tutorial after the first figure |
| Performance: strands on kiosk, cards on headsets | 🔗 | Tutorial — Performance Profiling section 5 |