Realistic Houdini Vellum Hair Simulation

I’m producing an animation film that features several human characters captured in close-up, and I need their hair to move and react with convincing realism. The project is already modeled and groomed; what’s missing is a polished Houdini Vellum setup that can carry the weight of cinematic shots—slow-motion turns, fast head snaps, wind gusts, and subtle secondary motion for quieter moments.

Here’s what I’d like from you:

• Build or refine a Vellum Hair network that keeps strand shape integrity while allowing believable stretch, bend, and collision.
• Provide clear parameters I can tweak for scene-specific variations (stiffness, damping, drag, wind influence, etc.).
• Deliver a clean .hip file (or HDA if you prefer) plus any geometry caches so I can drop the setup onto additional characters without rewiring.
• Include a brief note or screen-capture walkthrough explaining your solver settings and any custom wrangles or constraints you add.

The look needs to stay firmly on the realistic side rather than stylized or cartoonish, so attention to scale-accurate thickness, clumping, and subtle frizz is important. If you like working with Houdini 19.5 or the latest daily build, even better—just let me know which version you’ll use so I can match it.

Once I see a shot-level playblast that matches the references I’ll provide, we’ll lock the simulation and I’ll integrate it into the lighting and rendering pipeline.