3D Base Mesh - Pole Problems?
Hello and thanks for reading this thread; up to now have never posted any 3D work on here as I feel I'm not yet up to the peg of most artists on here, however will continue to improve to show off my skills one day 
My second attempt at a character, first was a few months back for a Uni project, now I've started practicing to improve... My problem is that although it looks nice at the moment, I feel i have too many poles on my characters base which may ruin it later in the sculpting process!
This character will be animated (eventually) so I've tried to place them where it wouldn't necessarily effect deformation, they aren't creating any raised bumps or anything visually wrong but thought i'd get some advice before I continue to the head!
Hands are higher detail then the mesh as I usually suck at them, managed to get an overall nice visual and its for a 1st person adventure so its the focus point.
Cheers
Come on Critique!!!
My second attempt at a character, first was a few months back for a Uni project, now I've started practicing to improve... My problem is that although it looks nice at the moment, I feel i have too many poles on my characters base which may ruin it later in the sculpting process!
This character will be animated (eventually) so I've tried to place them where it wouldn't necessarily effect deformation, they aren't creating any raised bumps or anything visually wrong but thought i'd get some advice before I continue to the head!
Hands are higher detail then the mesh as I usually suck at them, managed to get an overall nice visual and its for a 1st person adventure so its the focus point.
Cheers
Come on Critique!!!
Replies
Base meshes for sculpting are often different from final in game meshes which are different from high poly modeling meshes.
Base meshes for sculpting don't worry about deformation and focus on evenly space quads with as few poles as possible, but a few poles never really killed any sculpt, especially now with quite a few ways to massage and tweak those area into submission. Still keeping them out of the way can be pretty smart and save you some time so no need to be sloppy, but no need to go crazy worrying about them either.
Final in-game mesh, can have as many tri's as you need to make an optimized mesh that deforms well. It helps whoever is skinning the mesh to work with loops and rings so it can be helpful to be kind to that person and not have loops routing in weird ways. But that comes in second to the demands of the game.
If this was a final in game deforming mesh you should give the elbows the same treatment that the knees received. Also the butt could use some refinement.
High poly modeling meshes, focus on proper edge flow and sub-division modeling, so sharp edges and corners are reinforced so when they smooth/subdivide they will hold their shape. You also try to focus on an evenly quad'ed mesh but it isn't as critical as a sculpting base mesh.
http://www.hippydrome.com/ is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to edge flow, deformation and skinning info. But then that is to be expected from one of Pixar's Character Technical Directors.
Thank you very much for the crits!
Will definitely improve the elbow - I totally forgot the area deforms similar to that of the knee.
At the moment, I'm having no problems with the smoothing of the poles; theres no irregular "pinches" so hopefully it shouldn't cause too much problems when it comes to my sculpt.
Thank you for your enlightment!
1 thing to clarify -
If I'm to finish this base mesh and continue box modelling the head until its complete, once i've completed your suggestions too; would this base be ideal for sculpting in terms of muscle mass etc; as i'd prefer to practice my anatomy skills here before then going to making clothes etc to placehold ontop? Despite the poles, as I understand you said quads are more "ideal" for sculpts but not to worry too much!
Cheers.
Any more criticism would be beneficial!
http://wiki.polycount.com/BaseMesh
I tend to prefer grid topology with a few edgeloops when needed...poles are almost unavoidable, but can prove useful when they can be placed in landmark areas of the skeleton poking through skin for example.