We explore a new paid hair plugin for Maya available at FlippedNormals
If you work on character art in Maya, here’s a plugin you’ll definitely want to try. Ahoge makes it easier to build stylized and complex hairstyles, the kind you usually see in anime, manga, and games. Instead of wrestling with traditional hair systems, it lets you focus on shaping the look you want in just a few clicks.
Why artists might like it
Ahoge feels much more intuitive than guide-based workflows. You can sculpt your hairstyle however you prefer, bring it into Maya, and instantly populate it with hair geometry. It’s great for building volume-heavy anime looks, detailed braids, or even experimental stylized cuts.
The plugin also comes with handy tools such as Nurbopus to speed up geometry creation. The team is already working on new features like a procedural braid generator and a way to convert Ahoge hair into game-ready haircards.
What’s new in version 0.9.1:
- A proper installer for easier setup
- New Convert Hairs to Mesh tool
- Better curve grouping when converting to curves
- Animation export now works at any frame rate
- Bug fixes for surface rig handling
Ahoge supports Maya 2023 to 2026 on Windows. V-Ray support is also planned for future updates.
✨ Try it yourself: Ahoge Hair 0.9.1 is available now on
FlippedNormals.
📘 If you're an artist, check out
Concept Art for Stylized Games, our upcoming book on concept art fundamentals and production-ready industry workflows.