Thank you @planetstardragon, this is very helpful. 

it's actually very simple,  what may be confusing is that the workflow is different than standard software

you just need to pay attention to the top section of textures -  not the bottom shader box - leave that as is.

1 - color map -  the simple color of the hair texture
2 - the opacity map -  is a way to make parts of the mesh invisible the white makes it visible,  the black is invisible.  that is the magic factor in this particular hairstyle.
one way to emulate this style -  is simply with a photoeditor manually -  you have iclone send a copy of the mesh map uv to photoeditor,  and you paint over that as a guide,  in this case you can use a speckled type brush to paint random white dots on a black background to give it that grainy weaved look
3 - bump normal map -  is what gives the hair a virtual textures with normal maps -  mainly through shadows and how it causes the system to reflect shadows on the mesh.
4 - ao -  is for adding more shadow detail with ambient occlusion -  it pronounces the shadows a little more ( 3D is all about the shadows )
5 - metallic -  adds more chrome like shine -  black is no shine,  white is full metal ( also makes texture look darker )
6 - roughness -  is basically like a specular setting -  with black being full gloss shiny,  gray a dull shine,  white is no shine
7 - displacement -  is basically mesh deformation through graphics / heightmap -  i don't use this often on hair because it breaks meshes.
8 - glow -  glow map
9 - blend -  basically you can overlay an additional image over your first -  good for things like adding a dirt map

mastering this basic section will give you great control over the look you want,   the 2ndary part is just additional small details  -  it works like most other texture systems,  but it's broken down to a fundamental workflow -  so it looks alien,  but it's really simple once you understand the basics.

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..76% of original size (was 665x19) - Click to enlarge

Hello. I'm using CC4 .  I purchased an asset from the Content Store that is African-American hair ( locks ) and it has the type of look that I need to create from scratch in different variations in Blender.   I've followed some "making hair" tutorials in Blender that deal with different types of hair, but none of them come even close to using this effect, because this effect was created not with particle systems ( it seems ) but just meshes. 

The crux of what's confusing me is how in the world the maps work with this to create the effect that is seen here. There are a number of texture maps ( Opacity, Blend, AO, etc. ) being used in conjunction with the "Digital Human Hair" asset, and I guess my issue is that I don't understand this whole hair system with shaders and maps enough in CC to even know where I should start to figure this out.  The effect this artist created is amazing  and I have not seen anything comparable in relation specifically to African / African-American hair as I see with this asset. 

I am willing to hire someone to help me as I screen share, or someone in general who could help me figure this effect out. Free help is welcome too, but I feel like this may be a bit intricate ?  I don't know. I'm open to any kind of help but more than willing to pay someone for their time to help walk me through this. Thanks . 


76% of original size (was 665x19) - Click to enlarge
76% of original size (was 665x19) - Click to enlarge76% of original size (was 665x19) - Click to enlarge

76% of original size (was 665x19) - Click to enlarge