Create Eyelashes in 3D Max

The creation of eyelashes is one of the most complicated tasks of a human model, there are different ways to create them, but the one that I am going to explain is the method which I feel most comfortable with; in addition, to this the result can be very realistic.

Select the edges that will be used for the start point of the lower eyelashes.

Click the "Create shape from edges" button and set the "Shape type" to "Linear"

Make the shape renderable with a thickness of 0,5 with 3 sides. It is advised to use between 4 to 6 steps for distant shots and about 8 to 12 for close-ups.

Now Right-Click in the "Snap" button and check "Vertex" in the options dialog.

Use the "Refine" command to add extra vertex points to the shape. It is important to remember that the centre of the eyelash is more densely packed with hairs than the outer areas; add the vertexes accordingly.

Copy the shape 2 times and locate the copies as demonstrated in the image; The first should be place a little forward and lower than the original, the second a little farther forward and lower again.

With the"create line" tool connect the vertex in the three shapes, working always from the eye and moving outwards (this is important).  

Remove both shapes cloned previously and the useless segments in the first shape.

Now select the central vertexes of each line, Right-click and soften the shapes by selecting the "Smooth" option from the pop-up menu.

The last stage of modelling should be to move the vertexes at the ends to add a bit of randomness to the lashes. Also we can group some of the ends of the lashes to simulate clumping. This is best applied to the longer lashes, and bear in mind that we will be adding an opacity map later which will clip the ends of the lashes.

Convert the "splines" to "Editable Poly" and delete the "Caps"

Now simply assign a very dark brown standard material to the lashes and put a gradient map in the "opacity" slot.

Finally, repeat the whole process for the upper lashes and make a mirror of both shapes to locate them in the other eye. Again, you may wish to tweak the end vertexes to add randomness to the lashes.