Is it smart to retopo before polypainting?

ahendowski

I'm making a revolver, and am finished for the moment in the sculpt phase of the details. I'm planning on using xnormal to build a cage for most parts, but I was wondering...

After sculpting, would it be smart to just retopologize, UV unwrap, get that technical part out of the way, then just polypaint the high detail?

I'd love to just get the technical process out of the way so I can get back to the artsy side of things. Is there something wrong with this process that I'll be kicking myself later for?

Butthair

Polypainting is vertex painting. The amount and distribution of the vertices will determine the resolution of the painting. More polys/verts means more detail.

Retopologizing is meant for the final product mesh. Retopo geometry can help spread the vertex distribution around an area better. For instance at an edge where you can have a crisper lines for highlights.

The order of retopo and painting can go either way. Because you need both in this case. Some companies and people retopo before painting because the geometry is better to work with, they can figure out where seams will go, how the geometry flows and so on, making it easier to paint and address those areas afterwards.

On the other hand, painting first can imply the same thing, figuring out where seams should go and influence the edge flow of geometry.

You can always get your painted data from a bad geo model and bake it onto the good one. So there is no harm in trying out either order. It's really what helps you work better and realize the model.

ahendowski

Sweet. I understand what polypainting entails, with vertex painting. To me, it made total sense being able to retopologize it, then uv unwrap it, then go back to the bad geo / high res sculpt and just polypaint, so when I'm all set to transfer the vertex paint, I already have it retopologized and ready to go.

Great! Thanks man!