low poly without baked high poly details
polycounter lvl 10
Hello,
Usual workflow that I used for hard surfaces has always been
Create low poly mesh --> Create UV's ---> Bake AO maps --> Create bump map---> Create diffuse map---> Create normal map using Crazybump or now Knald which is very powerful and useful tool
For characters it goes something like this
Create low poly mesh in Max --> Create UV's --> export in Mudbox and create detailed high poly model --> export Normal map from Mudbox --> Create diffuse map
In fact all of my work is painted by hand in PS and I never baked anything except AO. I noticed that most of companies exclusively request high-poly to low-poly pipeline where you bake everything and practically you don't paint texture at all, you only put together all baked layers. What do you think? Is this workflow the best and most optimal that exists? Are other pipelines wrong thing to do?
I'm asking all these questions because I plan one private animation project that I want to look good, but at the same time also optimized. I started to do some sort of Mech/Robot using my standard workflow. Here are few screens on my blog. The idea is that it looks used a lot and little retro, but not too much, something from seventies or eighties. It has around 18k polygons.
http://artofozfuerst.blogspot.com/
thanks :poly121:
Usual workflow that I used for hard surfaces has always been
Create low poly mesh --> Create UV's ---> Bake AO maps --> Create bump map---> Create diffuse map---> Create normal map using Crazybump or now Knald which is very powerful and useful tool
For characters it goes something like this
Create low poly mesh in Max --> Create UV's --> export in Mudbox and create detailed high poly model --> export Normal map from Mudbox --> Create diffuse map
In fact all of my work is painted by hand in PS and I never baked anything except AO. I noticed that most of companies exclusively request high-poly to low-poly pipeline where you bake everything and practically you don't paint texture at all, you only put together all baked layers. What do you think? Is this workflow the best and most optimal that exists? Are other pipelines wrong thing to do?
I'm asking all these questions because I plan one private animation project that I want to look good, but at the same time also optimized. I started to do some sort of Mech/Robot using my standard workflow. Here are few screens on my blog. The idea is that it looks used a lot and little retro, but not too much, something from seventies or eighties. It has around 18k polygons.
http://artofozfuerst.blogspot.com/
thanks :poly121:
Replies
Low -> Handmade-Normals is a much quicker way, but can yield lackluster results on many objects but can work great on others.
The details you get from the high poly that aren't talked about are the edge highlights. Having edges that can catch light, and can have light bend around it, give the models 'teeth' they can get grounded in the scene. When you don't bake those details down you lose that and it is very recognizable if the entire scene is created using only generated normals.
With that said, you can make very nice environments with no high to low bakes, as many artists have and continue to do, but there are just some things that need a dedicated high -> low workflow to get to look the best.
For hard surface stuff like your mech on your site, baking down a high poly will create the highest quality version of your mech, at the cost of time.
But as said it does work for other things say low poly as in phone, web, top down based projects.
I was going to post in this thread earlier but wanted to hear what others had to say.
I'd say high to low is the norm and it is working i wouldn't try to shortcut it unless time is a factor, and only then and sometimes not even, you sacrifice something else say sleep... or a night out.
Also not speaking without trying this out myself in the past and it does work but not the best approach and if client doesn't care much more power to you.
mid poly> high poly> low poly > uv's > bakes> ao, normal map, light, curvature, cavity > diffuse texture
It's a way easier to paint or create any kind of diffuse texture when you have baked maps.
Details, lighting, and perfect matched position of every single part of the model, that's a huge plus.
In most cases you just have to "finish" the texture: add colors, define materials, add details.
2 examples, great base to start!:
http://artofozfuerst.blogspot.com/
I added some details and changed some things that I didn't liked, because of that I'll have to model and create mapping for low poly version again. Do I have to bake specially every object(except same ones) or I can somehow do it all together?