The visual realism and believability of characters is an essential element to creating the immersive stories and experiences games seek to deliver to players. When looking at a person - whether in real life or in a game - one of the defining features is the appearance of their hair. Realistic simulation and modeling of human hair has long been one of the most technically challenging barriers to overcome.

For the past few years, the Frostbite engine team at EA has been working on a next-generation “strand hair” system to help game developers deliver more realistic experiences to players. We recently showcased some of our advancements in physics and rendering technology at the Digital Dragons 2020 virtual conference that have made EA’s “strand hair” simulations possible. This technology vastly improves simulation and visual quality, and allows better workflows for artists compared to previous methods.

Learn more about how this technology was developed from idea to shipping release by watching Frostbite’s Digital Dragon’s presentation.