Component Editing

Brushes are the quickest way to shape a lot of strands, but sometimes you need to place individual strands exactly, for example a few hero strands or a tricky area around the eyes. For this, you can edit a groom's strands point by point, like the points of a curve, with Maya's own tools.

To start, select the groom and switch to component mode (press F8), then select points on the strands and move, rotate or scale them with Maya's usual tools. Soft selection works too.

By default, only the end points of each strand are shown, which is usually all you need to reshape a strand. To show every point along the strands, right-click the groom and choose Edit all points, or set Display Style to All in the Component Editing section of the Groom node's Attribute Editor. Choose Edit end points to go back.

Maintain Length, in the same section, keeps each strand's length as you edit it. Turn it off to stretch and pull strands freely.

Adjusting Length

While component editing, hold Shift to switch to length editing. As you move the mouse, the selected strands get longer or shorter depending on the direction you move it.