I need help with making props pipeline

julieperron

Hello, i am not new to 3D but i do have difficulty with how to make props. I have not really used mudbox nor zbrush but i do know how to use them as a beginner. What is the main pipeline for props. Making a low rez before a high rez, using or not using turbosmooth, using a sculpting program or not. I really want to make nice assets and have been looking at the hard surface challenges and noob chalenges also but never know how to do them or where to start. Can anyone help me please. I was always told to keep my props really low rez but that does not seem to be very usefull or nice in a portfolio. What is the current way in the industry. By the way i am not a good painter so hand painted props with light and shadows is not necessarely the way i want to go when making stuff.

if this can help www.julieperron.wix.com/portfolio this is my web site so you can get a good idea where i am currently in my skill level.

Thank you to anyone who is willing to help me

Jeza87

Before you start gather alot of images of the thing you want to make so you're not just stabbing in the dark, and observe how the object is made and what materials it's made out of.
Most people like to start with a High poly prop then the next step varies who you talk to but some prefer to remove edges, loops from the HP to create the low poly or to just start from scratch and match the shape of the High as close as possible while keeping a low "polycount" (no pun intended) then to UV and unwrap your low poly. After that you bake normal maps etc and start to texture.
Of course there's more to it than that and you'll most likely came across many things that go wrong when modelling, baking etc but if you browse here for a while you'll pick it up and manage ok.
Try and look at as many other peoples props as you can, look at Wires and texture flats to get an understanding of how they are made.

julieperron

In that case why use zbrush or mudbox for props, is it for details you dont want to model in 3ds maxor is it to make textures. And it its for textures, cant you just do that in photoshop, here is where i am confused with the high poly and the best and effectie way to make a prop look fantastic

Jeza87

Well i use Zbrush for adding detail like damage etc to my props. It's also very good for environment stuff like bricks, tiles, walls. Also for organic things like characters and creatures. You can also make tiling 2D textures using the 2.5 canvas out of 3D sculplts, bricks for example. So you could model your large shapes in a 3D modelling program and them import into zbrush to add damage like dents scratches and whatnot.

genwu

julieperron wrote: »

In that case why use zbrush or mudbox for props, is it for details you dont want to model in 3ds maxor is it to make textures. And it its for textures, cant you just do that in photoshop, here is where i am confused with the high poly and the best and effectie way to make a prop look fantastic

If you really think about it, if you look at a brick in real life. How would you make that in 3dsmax? It's not really realistic to model every little microdetail that a brick has with a mouse in a standard modeling application. Nor will it get you very far to click 1 button for a cube and apply some photo source texture on it.

Zbrush and Mudbox allow you to create almost infinite amounts of microdetail and originality to any model whether it be hardsurface or organic. That's going to be your best route for getting solid highpoly models (assuming they need that level of detail.) It's really on a per-asset basis on your approach. There is never going to be a 'one perfect' method to achieve what your trying to achieve. My two cents is to start learning Zbrush and Mudbox now and learn to work in conjunction with your standard modeling applications like Max or Maya, and photoshop. Goodluck!

julieperron

Thank you very much for your input. i do understand a bit more the process needed with making props