What are the best methods for getting a high poly Zbrush created asset into a game ready asset?

GeorgeCrudo

Hey guys!

I created a character entirely in Zbrush. It has no UV's, needs retopology and I completely polypainted it. I was originally just doing it for fun however I decided I wanted to try to convert it into an asset that would work in a game engine to learn and explore that process.

What would you guys say is the best way to convert this asset and maintain the Polypaint work I did? Additionally, in the future, what workflow would you guys recommend? I'm guessing I should retopologize and UV before I Polypaint right?

Also I have other software besides Zbrush so any recommendation is appreciated  
Thanks in advance!

Bal

You can retopo and UV now, and then just bake your polypaint to the new mesh.

GeorgeCrudo

Okay cool! And to bake the Polypaint would I just Project from the high resolution mesh in Zbrush to the retopo/UV'd mesh? Or is there a different way to do that.

Bal

Any proper baker will do it, xNormal or Knald for instance.
And yes, just import your Zbrush sculpt + your new Lowpoly (with UVs) to one of those, and bake out the vertex-colors (=polypaint) to a map.

musashidan

Or you can project polypaint data directly in ZB.