Character Modeling / Shoulder

JMC3D

I'm not even sure what's confusing me with this part of arm, but if anybody has any advice on how to tackle this area, and make it technically sound for rigging, please let me know. I've tried putting this guy in a traditional t-pose, but it completely jacks up the relationship between the deltoids and trapezius muscles. I feel like i'm over analyzing this... Obviously the t-pose is the only pose that will allow me to get under there and sculpt/retopologize comfortably. So, I guess its give an take, I'll attempt to arrange the muscles in a way that looks semi-natural under any condition. If you guys have an arrangement that seems to work and look natural when animated, please share . Any advice, tips or tricks would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Neox

i'd say lift the arm just high enough to get in, as you have it right now will also kick you in the balls when baking normals, i mean you could also just have a pose for sculpting and one for baking and another one for rigging, if you want to do that.
At least with max its pretty simple to bind (skinwrap) a lowpoly onto a highpoly to stay in synch posewise

JMC3D

Neox wrote: »

i'd say lift the arm just high enough to get in, as you have it right now will also kick you in the balls when baking normals, i mean you could also just have a pose for sculpting and one for baking and another one for rigging, if you want to do that.
At least with max its pretty simple to bind (skinwrap) a lowpoly onto a highpoly to stay in synch posewise

Thanks Neox, I've never actually taken a character through the complete process of retopology, mapping, and rigging, so the idea of having multiple poses for different processes is new to me. However, I do understand the steps involved in taking a model and turning it into a game asset. I figured that leaving the arms in the current position wouldn't work. Finding the balance, and maintaining natural shapes is probably the hardest thing for me. I hope to take this guy through the whole process and finish him soon.

Dylan Brady

you could also detach the arm and retopo/bake them separately.
thats probably what I would do.
when you have a character with bulky muscles its harder to handle that area forsure though.

JMC3D

Dylan Brady wrote: »

you could also detach the arm and retopo/bake them separately.
thats probably what I would do.
when you have a character with bulky muscles its harder to handle that area forsure though.

Thanks Dylan, that sounds like a pretty solid approach.