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Why model a character if you can sculpt one?

polycounter lvl 5
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YF_Sticks polycounter lvl 5
Hey everyone

I'm new to 3D character art. So I just wonder what's the pros and cons of modeling a character instead of sculpting one?
Modeling a character seems more "dry" than sculpting one.

Cheers!

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  • musashidan
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    musashidan high dynamic range
    If the goal is a production asset, i.e- an animated character- then whether an initial basemesh with organised topology or a retopologised sculpt with organised topo, it will have to be modeled. Otherwise, sculpt away.....
  • YF_Sticks
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    YF_Sticks polycounter lvl 5
    If the goal is a production asset, i.e- an animated character- then whether an initial basemesh with organised topology or a retopologised sculpt with organised topo, it will have to be modeled. Otherwise, sculpt away.....

    Ah I understand. Thank you! :)
  • YF_Sticks
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    YF_Sticks polycounter lvl 5
    perna said:
    No one uses pure modeling for detailed organic characters anymore. That ended a long time ago.

    That said, a "character" can be anything. A lot of it will be plain hard surface - mechs, power armors, utility belts, etc. Things it makes sense to model out. Other parts would be organic or cloth, the latter of which is often simulated, the former often getting away with no modeling. There are exceptions. TAD may want you to use a standardized base model for the head and hands so they don't have to re-rig from scratch every time, and the lowpoly may be directly and automatically derived from the base in another effort to save time. Or you'll be using libraries or existing bases for heads/hands and base body proportions anyway, just to cut down on time (why remake the base shape of a human head when you already have lots of those?)

    So unless you're making fantasy monsters, "character art" may not have much to do with characters at all.


    Makes sense, thanks for your answer!
  • RN
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    RN sublime tool
    As I understand it, sculpting is used to separate the "character mesh making process" in two distinct steps:
    - In the first step you only worry about form and following the concept art, giving the model the shape you want using a high resolution mesh that's unsuitable for real-time.
    - In the second step you worry about topology, making the final lower res mesh and borrowing the form from your sculpt.

    Even if you are box-modeling a character you can still use sculpting tools on it to speed up the process, you use them like soft-selection tools.
    In that "Stop Staring" book the author says that's how he works on most facial blendshapes, he blocks them out (in the final lower res mesh) using sculpting tools and then goes into vertex mode if he needs finer control.
  • kanga
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    kanga quad damage
    Well its all modeling, even if you sculpt. If its a scify character there will probably be more hard surface, so you would use what ever is quick or convenience for you. If its a medieval character it would be quicker for me to sculpt it. But what about low poly hand painted characters? You could sculpt or model them. The sculpting apps these days offer combined workflows, so you can choose how much of any technique you use in a single app.
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