Workflow: Lowpoly to Highpoly? Or Highpoly to Low?

Joebewon

Hey there Polycount,

I was wondering what your workflow was when it comes to creating models. Mine has always been to start with a low poly base mesh unwrap it and build up from there. But, I've heard from different artists it's better to start from a high poly sculpt, and then work your way down.

I was wondering about your experiences with this, and if you feel one work flow is better than the other. Or if there are pros and cons to both. If you guys could shed some light on the subject it would be appreciated! Thanks in advance! Looking forward to hearing from all the different artists on here!

pior

It really depends on the target specs but also on how tight the provided concept is. There are about a dozens of way of going at it

Regardless - while jumping straight to the sculpt can be tempting, I personally find it to be a waste of time and energy. My personal take for a standard, current-gen character would be as follows :

- Blockout model to get the proportions just right. This can involve regular modeling as well as rough sculpting. I personally consider this to be the most important step.
- High res modeling, involving sculpting as well as subdivision modeling.
- And from there, whatever is needed to get to the game model

I think this kind of discussion would be at its most productive if we talked about specific examples ! Is there anything in particular you have in mind ?

Baj Singh

I find rough sculpting (even for diffuse only characters) to be the best place to start. Its a great way to ascertain proportions, silhouette and gesture whilst also allowing you to make any changes to design/feedback changes quickly too.

lotet

Baj Singh wrote: »

I find rough sculpting (even for diffuse only characters) to be the best place to start. Its a great way to ascertain proportions, silhouette and gesture and also allows you to make feedback changes quicker too.

this.

I almost always start with a sculpt now days.

Popol

When making a new character I usually work from Highpoly to lowpoly.

So I start with a rough sculpt to set the proportions. Then make the highpoly sculpt with all the details and finally I build the lowpoly on top of the decimated sculpt in 3dsmax or 3D-Coat.

However, when I am asked to add some small props to a character at the last minute I usually don't bother to create a highpoly. I just create directly the lowpoly in 3dsmax, unwrap it, texture it in Photoshop and create the normal with a handmade heightmap. That's not super clean but super fast, hehe.

So in conclusion, it really depends on the situation.

Joebewon

Thanks for the feedback guys!

So it seems like for most cases if someone is starting a character they’ll build the model in a highpoly sculpt and subtract down. What would you say about current-gen props and environment set pieces? Would you say that they would get the same treatment?

ZacD

Block out -> high poly -> low poly

JonathanLambert

In 3dsMax, I start with a block out.
Then I model the high poly.
For the low poly, I start by copying and pasting the high poly, removing the turbosmooth modifier, and applying a push modifier to shrink it back down to size of the smoothed high poly. I remove all of the control loops using the ctrl+backspace shortcut and tweak the mesh to get it as close to the shape of the high poly as I can within budget.
Finally, UV and bake.

Fomori

Even if you're not going to use a high poly model, you can still "sculpt" the low poly after a quick block out. And by that I mean subtle brushes and the move brush a lot. Even if you don't subdivide it, you can get the proportions and silhouette really fast.

With GoZ it's pretty easy to jump back and fourth between sculpting and poly modelling.

Joebewon

So it seems it's a pretty standard thing in most cases to start with zbrush to build your mesh and then export out.

Is it a bad workflow to start in 3ds max and then import into zbrush to add on details and export out maps?

CandyStripes05

for most models I go high to low
for cars I do low, then subD to high then back to low so its nice and smooth
for characters (not my thing) some start with zspheres in zbrush and some use a base from maya/max and bring it into zbrush

try different things and go with what you like best

ahtiandr

Joebewon wrote: »

Hey there Polycount,

I was wondering what your workflow was when it comes to creating models. Mine has always been to start with a low poly base mesh unwrap it and build up from there. But, I've heard from different artists it's better to start from a high poly sculpt, and then work your way down.

I was wondering about your experiences with this, and if you feel one work flow is better than the other. Or if there are pros and cons to both. If you guys could shed some light on the subject it would be appreciated! Thanks in advance! Looking forward to hearing from all the different artists on here!

you can see the whole modeling workflow from start to finish here :

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLxBoZWDwrw[/ame]

Joebewon

This has all been super helpful. Appreciate everyone explaining their workflow!
I know a lot of college is what you make of it, but the longer I start to really dig hard into game art I realize there's a lot I missed out on.

Good ole' for profit schools! But, thanks again everyone!

Joebewon

ahtiandr wrote: »

you can see the whole modeling workflow from start to finish here :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLxBoZWDwrw

Pretty pumped to check this out! Thanks for the share!

AlecMoody

pior wrote: »

It really depends on the target specs but also on how tight the provided concept is. There are about a dozens of way of going at it

Regardless - while jumping straight to the sculpt can be tempting, I personally find it to be a waste of time and energy. My personal take for a standard, current-gen character would be as follows :

- Blockout model to get the proportions just right. This can involve regular modeling as well as rough sculpting. I personally consider this to be the most important step.
- High res modeling, involving sculpting as well as subdivision modeling.
- And from there, whatever is needed to get to the game model

I think this kind of discussion would be at its most productive if we talked about specific examples ! Is there anything in particular you have in mind ?

This is the best approach. If the client or your AD knows exactly what they want and gives you a fully rendered concept drawing I often skip the blockout and just start in on the highpoly working from large forms down to small forms.