Doing Hardsurface Modelling in for the first time. Need help with pipeline

Isiktor

Hello

I am making some amour for a creature in zbrush. From all the video I have watched so far, it is that I retopo in zbrush, make creases then dynamesh. 

My question is that it would be to high poly for anything so then do I retopo again in like 3d max or maya? 

Any help would be appreciated?

Thank you
PS. Here is a picture just to help  

musashidan

Arrggh!! Your ZB UI is destroying my eyes....

No, you don't have to retopo again. The workflow you're talking about is perfect for game assets as the retop stage(before creasing) only requires a very basic topology. The key to creating your in-game mesh topology is capturing the silhouette of the high-res that you will bake from. And because you are building your low directly onto your high, by way of retop, this will work out nicely.

Have a look at this project and breakdown thread I posted here last year. It might interest you as it has some info/vid tuts of this very workflow;
http://polycount.com/discussion/168591/wxs-07-depopulator/p1

Sunray

I've got to agree with @musashidan that.s one ugly ui haha.

But why would you retopo in zbrush? I like to dynamesh the shit out of my mesh once I get the shapes right I duplicate the mesh. After that I zremesh one and project the dynameshed one on the zremeshed one. Than I sdiv my mesh and add details. After that I take my mesh to maya for retopo.


But when I'm creating armor I have a way I really like to do it. 

1 Make a mask on your creature of the shape of your armor.
2 Extract the mask with 0 thickness.
3 Zremesh the extracted mesh to a nice low polycount.
4 Move the mesh around how you would like the armor to be with move brush and polish deformations and transpose tool.
5 When u are happy with your shape make sure to zremesher it again to have a nice clean topology and a low polycount.
6 Use panel loops to add your thickness/bevel to your armor. (make sure you have edge holders you do this by changing the loops amount of the panel loops)
7 This one is optional change edge flow in maya if you need some specific edge loops
8 Sdiv and add your details.
9 Export first or second sdiv to maya as your lp base delete unnecessary edges or add them and your done.

I know it sounds like a lot but I Iove to do it like this and I think you will as well hope it helps. Feel free to ask if you need help.

musashidan

Sunray said:

I've got to agree with @musashidan that.s one ugly ui haha.

But why would you retopo in zbrush?

It's a workflow that's been around for many years. concept sculpt>zsphere topo very basic topology>crease>subdivide. Low/high models finished. It also gives perfectly crisp edges and manually designed(very low) topo which Zremesh doesn't.

The low meshes on the left are pretty much game ready(extra edge segments could be added to curve areas silhouette)




Don't get me wrong, I use Mask>split point>delete hidden>slice curve>Zremesh all the time. It depends on the mesh.

From my WXS-07 breakdown:


Of course there are many, many ways to get the job done in ZB, and everyone has(and needs to find) their own workflow. That's what I love about ZB, it's so non-linear. I'm a big advocate of knowing as many ways as I can to model.

Sunray

musashidan said:

Sunray said:

I've got to agree with @musashidan that.s one ugly ui haha.

But why would you retopo in zbrush?

It's a workflow that's been around for many years. concept sculpt>zsphere topo very basic topology>crease>subdivide. Low/high models finished. It also gives perfectly crisp edges and manually designed(very low) topo which Zremesh doesn't.

The low meshes on the left are pretty much game ready(extra edge segments could be added to curve areas silhouette)




Don't get me wrong, I use Mask>split point>delete hidden>slice curve>Zremesh all the time. It depends on the mesh.

From my WXS-07 breakdown:


Of course there are many, many ways to get the job done in ZB, and everyone has(and needs to find) their own workflow. That's what I love about ZB, it's so non-linear. I'm a big advocate of knowing as many ways as I can to model.

Yeah true I used this wokflow quite a bit but.

Isiktor

This is all a great help, Thanks. I will be trying that out plus hopefully my prof will show that today

BUT want is wrong with my UI lol. I know that I do need to move + add some items around