Soldier Character planning HELP

manilamerc

I'm doing a US ranger and I really need to know the easiest and most effective ways of doing the accessories to get clean bakes and good UV spacing.

I know there are many different ways of tackling a US soldier but these are the main steps I want to cover.

1.Modeling

2.Retopo

3.UV spacing


So here is some of my character accessories. For every one of them I modeled the base mesh in 3ds max. I then exported it into Zbrush and started sculpting.




Here is what my initial plan is for retopoing the front pockets



Now here is what I always wondered and never really knew how character modelers go about doing it. Here is the buckle and strap.



So I need to get my mind through this and see how you guys go about doing it for best results. It always was in the back of my head on how character modelers do it. If you guys could teach me some tricks and share some tuts that would be great. My main issue is knowing what to retopo.

Here is the full body character of what I have so far. I'm aiming for 20,000 tri

And how would you guys go about doing UV's put all accessories on 1? Split it Head, Mid, Bottom?

CheeseOnToast

Regarding the straps/buckles, retopo the whole thing together. First though, close up some of the gaps. Try to model your high poly with the low poly in mind, so don't leave big negative spaces where it's going to be awkward to make lowpoly topology.

ZippZopp

you can go either way with your low poly on this. if you want to be more efficient you can resurface the whole pouch as one mesh. typically, i like to do the pouch as a mesh, then do the clasp as a separate mesh and finally a third mesh for the straps. it really all depends though on what you're comfortable with.

as for UV mapping, i'd break it up into multiple chunks. i'd do textures for the head, head gear, overall gear, hands, upper body, lower body and boots.