Getting Started with FollicleFX

What is FollicleFX?

FollicleFX is a production hair grooming system for Blender 4.5+. It provides a complete pipeline for creating realistic or stylized hair, fur, and braids with GPU-accelerated performance on 100,000+ strands in real time.

A standalone Qt window provides a responsive, professional interface that doesn't block Blender's viewport.

System Requirements

ComponentMinimumRecommended
Blender4.55.0+
OSWindows 10 (64-bit) or Linux x86_64Windows 11
GPUAny (CPU fallback)NVIDIA RTX 3060+
RAM8 GB16 GB+
CPUMulti-core8+ cores

An NVIDIA GPU enables CUDA acceleration. Without one the engine falls back to CPU automatically β€” everything still works, but strand generation and simulation are significantly slower.

macOS is not supported yet.

Editions

FollicleFX comes in two editions. Both install exactly the same way.

Community (free)Pro
Strand limit50,000Unlimited
Modifiers per stack5Unlimited
Clumping, Frizz, Coil, Cut, Flow, Surface OffsetYesYes
Simulate, Braid, Cornrow, Locβ€”Yes
FollicleScript expressionsβ€”Yes
Alembic & USD exportβ€”Yes

Installation

FollicleFX ships as a Blender addon ZIP β€” Community and Pro, Windows and Linux. Pro on Windows also offers an .exe installer that finds Blender and deploys the addon for you; the ZIP is the simpler route and works everywhere, so use it if you're unsure.

Installing the ZIP (all editions, all platforms)

Don't unzip it β€” Blender installs the archive directly.

  1. Download the ZIP for your edition and platform.
  2. Open Blender 4.5 or newer.
  3. Go to Edit β†’ Preferences β†’ Add-ons.
  4. Click the dropdown in the top-right and choose Install from Disk…
  5. Select the ZIP you downloaded.
  6. Make sure the FollicleFX entry is enabled (ticked).

Installing with the Pro .exe (Windows)

Run the installer and follow the prompts β€” it detects your Blender installation and deploys the addon. Then open Blender and check that FollicleFX is enabled under Edit β†’ Preferences β†’ Add-ons.

Linux

Linux x86_64 builds are available for both editions and install through the same Install from Disk… flow. Two extra dependencies are needed:

  • PySide6 in Blender's own Python (not your system Python).
  • The Qt xcb platform libraries.

README_LINUX.txt inside the archive walks through both.

Upgrading

Install the new ZIP over the old one the same way β€” Blender replaces the previous version. If the FollicleFX window fails to appear after an upgrade, restart Blender.

Opening FollicleFX

FollicleFX lives in the Properties editor, not the 3D viewport sidebar.

  1. Select a mesh object. The panel only appears when a mesh is selected (or a Curves object that FollicleFX already owns).
  2. In the Properties editor, go to the Object Data Properties tab β€” the green triangle icon.
  3. Expand the FollicleFX panel. It's collapsed by default.
  4. Click Launch FollicleFX.

The Qt window opens alongside Blender. Everything else happens there β€” the panel in Properties is only the launch button.

Activating Pro

Pro asks for a license key on first launch β€” click Activate License in the FollicleFX window and paste the key from your account page. Community needs no key.

The FollicleFX Interface

Header

  • FollicleFX logo and version
  • Hair system selector (manage multiple systems per scene)

Tabs

  • Guides β€” Create guide curves that define hair flow
  • Primitive β€” Generate dense strands from guides
  • Modifiers β€” Style hair (clumping, frizz, coils, braids, etc.)
  • Surface β€” Mesh binding, groom transfer, animation following
  • Display β€” Viewport visualization and colors
  • Cards β€” Generate hair cards for game engines

Status Bar

  • Current operation status and helpful messages

Core Concepts

Hair System

A hair system is a complete hair setup on a mesh. You can have multiple systems on different meshes (head, eyebrows, beard, body fur).

A hair system consists of:

  • Guides β€” Sparse curves (50–500) defining flow direction
  • Strands β€” Dense curves (10k–100k+) interpolated from guides
  • Modifier Stack β€” Effects applied to style the hair

Guides

Guides are the foundation. They're sparse curves that define where hair grows, which direction it flows, and how long it is. Think of them as the skeleton of your hairstyle.

Strands

Strands are the actual hair β€” dense curves generated from guides via interpolation. They follow nearby guides, creating realistic coverage.

The Two Stacks

FollicleFX processes hair in two stages:

Guide Stack β€” Operates on guide curves:

  • Guide Generate, Guide Sculpt, Guide Add
  • Guide Flow (pin-based direction/shape)
  • Guide Mirror, Resample, Interpolate

Modifier Stack β€” Operates on interpolated strands:

  • Clumping, Frizz, Coil, Cut, Loc
  • Surface Offset, Simulate

Both stacks cache results in memory. When you change a parameter, only the affected parts re-compute β€” so adjustments feel instant.

FollicleScript Expressions

Many parameters support FollicleScript β€” a simple expression language for procedural control. Look for the Ζ’x button next to parameters.

rand3(0.7, 0.9, index)    # Random value per strand
lerp(0.5, 1.0, v)         # UV-based gradient

The FollicleFX Workflow

1. GUIDES β†’ 2. PRIMITIVE β†’ 3. MODIFIERS β†’ 4. DISPLAY/RENDER

1. Guides

Create guide curves on your mesh. Generate them automatically or sculpt by hand.

2. Primitive

Generate dense strands from guides. Control density, length, width, taper.

3. Modifiers

Style your hair with the modifier stack. Typical order: Clumping β†’ Coil β†’ Frizz β†’ Cut.

4. Display / Render

Preview in the viewport, then render with Cycles or Eevee.

Quick Start Example

  1. Select a mesh (e.g., a character head)
  2. Guides tab β†’ Set Count: 200, Length: 0.2, Distribution: Poisson Disk β†’ Generate Guides
  3. Primitive tab β†’ Set Density: 20000 β†’ Generate Strands
  4. Modifiers tab β†’ Add Clumping (Tightness: 0.7) β†’ Add Frizz (Magnitude: 1.0)
  5. Display tab β†’ Pick a color preset β†’ Done!

Tips for Beginners

  • Start simple. Get guides right before adding modifiers.
  • Modifier order matters. Structure first (clumping), details last (frizz).
  • Use expressions for natural variation instead of uniform values.
  • Lower Display % while styling for faster viewport. Increase for final preview.
  • Save presets once you find settings you like.
  • Undo works. Ctrl+Z in Blender undoes FollicleFX operations.

Next Steps