automatic retopo tools: whats the best choice?

noktek

Hi everyone
ive been neglecting the scene for a while, and now im in need of a tool to retopologize some highpoly props for a proto

what would be my best choice as of now?

Mark Dygert

3dsmax, WrapIt.
TopoGun.
Sculpting apps like 3D coat and Zbrush.
Good old fashioned poly modeling.

Thinking ahead and planning is key so you're off to a good start

Neox

automatic? i think i only know autofunctions for wrapit and 3dcoat

oglu

automatic wont work for "real" stuff only for background objects...

aajohnny

Zbrush - Decimation Master
3ds max -Polycruncher
Other- 3d Coat, Topogun.

Mark Dygert

Yea I don't think anything will ever replace good old fashioned poly modeling and proper knowledge of joint deformation. But there are things that help that along. Even with WrapIt and 3DCoat you still need to know what you're doing to make a usable in-game model.

If it's not deforming then things get a whole lot easier.
Max ProOptimizer/Polycrucher are great.

noktek

yeah im sorry i was a bit hasty.. i do work with topogun usually but this time ive gotta retopo a huge number of highpoly stuff into gameready static props.. ill try that polycruncher thing probably, even tho im a fan of tiny standalone apps... anyone?

noktek

as said its for a prototype.. so its all about getting them into the engine quickly

Mark Dygert

polycruncher was included in 3dsmax2010 (or was it 2011) as a "ProOptimize" modifier. If you're using max I would try that, mostly because it offers great control over the UV's.

In 2012 which should be out next month I think? They upgraded the algorithm that calculates how the triangles are crunched and improved the preserve UV seams features.

Shadownami92

I believe there is also meshlab, don't know how well it preserves used but it does a decent job at decimating meshes.

http://meshlab.sourceforge.net/

Haven't used it in a while but I remember it being decent. Eat3d has a free video too about a guy using polycruncher and meshlab on the same mesh and shows the results.

Neox

there is also antageo balancer
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=66268
it does a very nice job crunching down polies, it handles uvs very well and you can use several options to mask detail, also it can transfer the highres normals down to the lowpoly to have the surface normale resemble the highres data more, which means you would not need to bake different normalmaps for different LODs, the switching between levels is therefore less obvious

talking about deformation, Mark, on Uncharted 2 they pretty much used the sculpting basemesh for the sequence models and crunched down the LODs for ingame use, works pretty well if you ask me