Sculpting and Texturing pipeline for VFX and cinematic assets?
polycounter lvl 6
Hello,
I have created Zbrush model. (No poly paint used, used dynamesh)
Resolution of that model is bit over 5 million polys.
I Decimated the model and imported it in to Topogun 2 where i did retopo to that model.
I am confused now how to proceed.
Wanted to get very high details for this model as planed to do camera close up shots and later also build vfx effect on top of the model
Model that i got from topogun 2 (retopoed model) is now verry low poly count: 14,148 polys
But no details.
I took that low retopoed model to Unfold 3D where i cut the model and created multy tile uv-s
But i am confused.
1. Is this correct way to do UV-s or should i do UV-s for Dynamesh model that i have not used re-topo?
2. Should i import that low poly model that has UV-s on in to Mari? Or i should do textures on top of high poly model that has details?
3. If i should use high poly model instead that means i have to do UV-s on high poly model as Mari does not take in OBJ-s that do not have UV-s.
I did look at gnomon workshop but they are skipping some parts and do not fully explain it.
Note plan is to create textures atleast 4k to the model and have high level details and also later if needed to create separate textures for VFX
Main goal is cinematic trailer quality character on to what i can build VFX effect.
I have created Zbrush model. (No poly paint used, used dynamesh)
Resolution of that model is bit over 5 million polys.
I Decimated the model and imported it in to Topogun 2 where i did retopo to that model.
I am confused now how to proceed.
Wanted to get very high details for this model as planed to do camera close up shots and later also build vfx effect on top of the model
Model that i got from topogun 2 (retopoed model) is now verry low poly count: 14,148 polys
But no details.
I took that low retopoed model to Unfold 3D where i cut the model and created multy tile uv-s
But i am confused.
1. Is this correct way to do UV-s or should i do UV-s for Dynamesh model that i have not used re-topo?
2. Should i import that low poly model that has UV-s on in to Mari? Or i should do textures on top of high poly model that has details?
3. If i should use high poly model instead that means i have to do UV-s on high poly model as Mari does not take in OBJ-s that do not have UV-s.
I did look at gnomon workshop but they are skipping some parts and do not fully explain it.
Note plan is to create textures atleast 4k to the model and have high level details and also later if needed to create separate textures for VFX
Main goal is cinematic trailer quality character on to what i can build VFX effect.
Replies
1 - Yes, unwrap the retop. Unwrapping a Dynamesh is a big, resounding NO.
Note: a VFX character's topology will be quite a dense mesh due to the complex rigging/dynamics systems involved.
2 - The detailing aspect of a character is usually done in Mari. A final topo, animation-friendly mesh is handed to the texture artist who will paint/build the many, many maps that are often involved . Skin detailing is painted using high-res displacement textures. Multiple masks are also authored to drive complex shaders. Sometimes as many(or more) as 100X8K udims(multi-tile) are used.
Note: scanning is now the norm in VFX character creation so this will also factor in to the above.
3 - Mari has Ptex support, which means no UVs are required. But your target renderer must(and should) support Ptex.
Having read the end of your post again, it looks like you might be talking about game cinematics rather than VFX/Film.
This would fall somewhere between the 2.
Here's some I saved from my bookmarks but the site has plenty more that go even more specific:
https://www.3dtotal.com/interview/182-10-top-3d-texturing-tips-by-poz-watson-hints
https://www.3dtotal.com/interview/182-10-top-3d-texturing-tips-by-poz-watson-hints?page=2
https://www.3dtotal.com/tutorial/2188-bringing-martha-to-life-photoshop-maya-zbrush-misc-by-ricardo-manso-caricature-making-of
https://isuther.artstation.com/projects/DWdB0
The quality fo render that i am after is something like this:
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/lakRG
or as you see in this Blizzard cinematic
Note! Ofcourse i used decimation master before i imported dynameshed sculpt to topogun 2
I do not beleive in zremesher as it is more like poor man retopo.
Note! I am new in this as i started with zbrush last year end of September and with Houdni last year end of june.
I am investing all my free time in to this to understand and get better at this.
Due to the financial options and lack of 3D schools in Estonia my only option is to do day job and study and try to get better every day after work and all weekends.
Done this from last year June.
minimum 45 hours after work.
Invested my one month holiday also in to this to learn and study. (managed to pull out 424 hours in 4 weeks).
Trying to study and understand better how this works and i refuse to give up.
http://www.maxloegler.com/Spogh