Figuring out Character workflows

TunaSandwich

Hi Polycount peeps! I'm a character artist in a studio trying to figure out a way to straighten up my workflow- Usually I start out with a base mesh, work out the rough details and topology in maya with Uv's - transferring it to zbrush for sculpting/simple texturing - back again into maya and photoshop to touch up the final details (editting of the uv's) and rig.

Issue I have is that with this workflow, It's really hard for me to go back and edit it through zbrush (putting in more details) because some of the uv's are mirrored to save Uv space or the mesh topology has been edited through maya. It takes way too long and waste's alot of time just to put it back in zbrush - >:|

I think its a really old method I'm using (maybe), not to mention messy- I've looked through works and tutorials that have retopology tools but I'm limited to an older version of zbrush and maya- What do you guys think? Is there a faster and more flexible workflow working inbetween the two programs? Your feedback would be most awesomely appreciated!

MethodJ

If mirroring UVs is what is causing problems later in the pipe, then I'd suggest NOT mirroring them. Build your original base mesh to give you as much flexibility as possible.

If you need them mirrored later, you can always create a new low-res cage with the mirrored UVs, and then use Maya's Transfer Maps tool to project your completed normal map onto the new UV set.

TunaSandwich

hey thanks for the reply! sorry it took so long. I managed to make some changes. The uv's for the high res models usually don't have the mirrored effect, my problem was that the lower res model will have its silhouette changed with uv's moved or cut up and textures from who knows where inserted and they'd want the higher res model to look like the lower res (new look). I figured that it would be best to just work on the higher res model from now on if there are any changes instead of touching the lower res model or use Xnormal to transfer any last minute details. The transfer maps tool is really sticky for me to use, alot of times the texture lose details or a different texture eats into other uv's after transferring it to lower res model. Although it works well with a wide surface. Thanks for your feedback really appreciate it!