Retopo / retopology / retopologize cables wires etc
So I've been searching around for any good methods for retopo of wires cables and small objects that are non-typical in their shape, things that wrap around or twist.
I havent found anything yet to help minimize a retopology task like the above statement. one or two cables no problem, but having many like the back of a server or something mechanical with lots of tubing. small complex shapes of that nature really suck up a lot of time..
Do any of you know of a method either in zbrush or another application like topogun or 3dcoat that can handle quick generation of low poly for cables etc?
I didnt find any topics like this, I would love to hear your thoughts on retopo of this nature.
Thank you !
I havent found anything yet to help minimize a retopology task like the above statement. one or two cables no problem, but having many like the back of a server or something mechanical with lots of tubing. small complex shapes of that nature really suck up a lot of time..
Do any of you know of a method either in zbrush or another application like topogun or 3dcoat that can handle quick generation of low poly for cables etc?
I didnt find any topics like this, I would love to hear your thoughts on retopo of this nature.
Thank you !
Replies
I make all my wires/cables straight for the most part; for ones that twist and have weird bends in them I tend to use the path deform modifier.
I'll lay down splines of where the cables/wires go in max and use them as a guides to deform my actual wires/cables when I get to that point.
I'm working through Kurt Papstein's character course (which has been great)
But he uses insert mesh brushes to create these cables. It got me thinking on how to go about bringing something like this rats nest of cables into retopo for games or if thats reasonable to do in the first place. I'm hoping for a way to retopo something like this even by hand, but hopefully a technique that will be efficient.
Of course having something built in another app is one way, but that would only work in a situation where you knew the concept called for it and knew how long / big it needed to be or how it was going to be viewed ingame. super tiny wouldnt need a lot of polygons. very large would then need more polygons.
I guess I'm looking for a way to maintain freedom of concepting in zbrush and then be able to still work forward on the retopo after the concept is done. rather than having to go all the way back to square one and create a cable from scratch.
Alternatively, if you use 3DS Max (I'm sure you can do this in other apps as well), you could create a spline to follow the path of the wire, set the viewport rending options for sides/divisions and then convert it to an edible poly and use the built-it retopo tools to snap it to the tubing, or a script like Max Retopo.
Thats my two cents.
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Yup, this is going to be the easiest way to do it.
Drop the meshes down to one of the lower subdivision levels and export. You may need to merge verts depending on how the insert brushes work, but that's about all you need to do.
If that simply isn't an option, then I'd agree that zremesher is a good choice for this type of thing.
Thanks for posting that plugin, that looks like the ticket!
As far as using the geo from the imm, thatls not really a good solution unless your imm is already really low poly. for something like these spiraling cables they contain far too many polys to give a warm and fuzzy feeling about sticking that on a character for a game engine. it should end up being something close to a cylinder that follows the path of the cable and then bake a normal etc from that.
Zremesher probably would be a good solution for a detail object like that.
Thanks for all the tips everyone I'll do some tests at some point to see if I can get a bake that looks okay.