Quadruped Topology
Hello, I'm a student creating a game for a project. Made a cat model based off of Mafubash's great cat.
My animator is not used to animating animals, and I'm trying to make sure my topology makes it as easy for him to rig / animate as possible.
Just curious if any of you could give me some tips on how to make this low-poly cat better topology wise.
My animator is not used to animating animals, and I'm trying to make sure my topology makes it as easy for him to rig / animate as possible.
Just curious if any of you could give me some tips on how to make this low-poly cat better topology wise.
Replies
But, I think I see a couple of things that could help. Take my advise with a grain of salt though.
So if I remember right, the best joints to animate have 3 or more edge loops. That's a pretty good amount for an animator to work with for deforming a knee or elbow. Your cat model is looking pretty low poly and has some extra edges in odd places. I think adding more geometry around the legs and face would help a lot. Definitely around the mouth and eyes if you want the cat to blink or 'meow' or something.
If you are working under a strict polygon budget, you could easily remove some detail from the collar, chain, and tag to make up for it. The tag could be triangle or diamond shaped for example. And lining up the edges in the collar with the edges in the cat's neck would help prevent the meshes from clipping through each other like they are now.
Here are some images I found online that are good examples of cat topology and anatomy that might help:
And some Videos about rigging, deformation, and topology that might help:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jByzklhVwH8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON3gsB5AxII
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im9XZf2C1s0