Hardsurface and general workflow problems

Kisato

I am sorry if this post/troubleshooting/request abomination goes into the wrong section of the forum !

Alright , first I wanna say hello to all Polygons here
--
My grammar in english is pretty rusty althoug I can speak it rly well, sorry for that. 
Also I rarely create forum posts in general, so prolly my format is very unfriendly to read through (again sorry)
--
Im fairly new into 3D sculpting and everything else that comes along with it but its definitely my "thing".
I was always a 2D artist for concept/illustration (selftought) like for over 10 years.
https://www.artstation.com/artist/kisato

My workflow for now is to create somehow a highpoly sculpt and then creating a low poly version by hand to make it more game/render friendly. 
Now Im trying to create some game models because I want to join the game industry at some point. While doing that
Im reading trough various forums and watching tutorials across youtube and other platforms but still facing some problems with 0 solution so far. 

I work with zbrush, blender, quixel. (Blender mostly for unwrapping)

Now to my problem, it could take long to solve it but I hope some will find some time to give me a helping hand.


On the picture you can see, Ive created a sculpt with a massive amount of polygons. Im not rly efficient now by creating highpoly sculpts (started 3 weeks ago or smth). 

Now the next step for me is to create a low poly version by hand and I already did that with much simplier sculpts that means Im not new to that. My problem is now. From the tutorial videos about quixel   all of them have like seperated polygroups (?) like this



That comes really handy when I want to create an IDmap for each part. But I cant figure out how to.
(I can unwrap a solid sculpt  but it will have a ugly seam)
All I want is a solid one piece of mesh but unwraped like this:

Also the legs of my model ( not the the 2 on the front) are separated from the model. And I dont know if it should stay like that or should I dynamesh it all together...
If I do that I get some nasty ass disgusting results and I played around with every slider and button. I thing Im just to blind to find the right way. (Hardsurface is difficult af)


These are the parts that gives me a headache. Btw the Mechlooking parts are not created by me, I cheated there and used some custom brushes.

Alright, thats a hit ton of text with information. Im really really thankfull for any forumlinks and tutorials across the board and internet or even individual help on this project. 

I know it can take some time so Im patient.

sprunghunt

Reading through your description it seems like you're trying to do all your unwrapping and topology in zbrush. However many of the pictures you're referring to are from Maya. Such as the picture of the unwrap. It's much easier to unwrap in maya and many things will be practically impossible to do using zbrush alone. 

Kisato

Sorry if it was unclear and thx for the reply !
I always unwrap in blender. All I do in zbrush creating the high poly and the retopologized low poly mesh.
I just dont know how to retopo the legs. Do I have to retopo all the little joints, screws, bolts etc or can I just retopo over them?
And it gets really problematic at the part of the leg which is inside the hole in the case because its getting super tight there spacewise and its almost impossible to retopo. 

musashidan

sprunghunt said:

many things will be practically impossible to do using zbrush alone. 

Unwrapping hard-surface in ZB is actually pretty easy using Zmodeler to split polygroups at seams(flat surface changes) and unwrapping by polygroup. I'm not advocating that it's better than this or that, merely that it's not as bad as some may think. All that's required is a little fluency in polygrouping at a decent speed.

 

musashidan

Kisato said:

I just dont know how to retopo the legs. Do I have to retopo all the little joints, screws, bolts etc or can I just retopo over them?
And it gets really problematic at the part of the leg which is inside the hole in the case because its getting super tight there spacewise and its almost impossible to retopo. 

You've just discovered when the joy of kit-bashing swings around and kicks you in the balls! It's a very powerful method for concepting but for production modeling it's often quicker in the end to do a blockout as kit-bashing parts are usually complex geo that when mashed together can be a nightmare to retopo. Depending on the bashed parts' topology you may be able to optimise the existing geo and repurpose for the production asset.

when retoping, a general rule is to model in silhouette and let the normal map pick up other details. Nurnie parts may not even need to be retoped if they have enough circumference segments that they can be smooth shaded and not need a NM bake.

If the mesh is going to be animated and is mech then retop parts separately so that they can be rigged/animated. This rule will often apply to an asset in general. There are times when you may want a contiguous mesh but hard-surface parts are often built from components as they are in real life. This is not a hard rule and a lot of the things I've raised become decisions you will make intrinsically as you become more experienced at going through the complete workflow/pipeline.

Kisato

Wow thx!
Thats some real nice info there
Damn my balls! 

Guess have to check out zmodeler in detail and polygroups. May I ask for tutorial links that you personally found pretty useful?
Love 3D and I cant belive that I started with it 3 weeks ago... 
I dont know if its wrong but the workflow for Highpoly is most likely to sculpt a high poly  then retopo it and for Hardsurface it seems like from watching some videos on youtube its much more handy to work with low poly from the beginning o:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8LU7xD9thk
Could the technique in the video work for my concept as well?


If so I would appreciate more tutorials or speed modeling for the same or almost equivalent technique. Again thx very much for your time.

musashidan

Great to see such enthusiasm! Here's a project I recently completed: modeled/unwrapped/retopoed 100% in Zbrush.
There are a lot of different workflows/techniques/methods and most everyone does it a bit different. It's really something that you have to fully explore and experiment with yourself until you find ways that suit your way of working. Great to see your excitement but this often takes artists a few years to build up. But if you have the passion and the willingness to keep practicing as much as you can you can get there a lot quicker. My advice is to just keep on modeling using as many different ways as you can. The more tools/methods/techniques you acquire, the stronger the modeler you will become.

Here's a link to the thread here on PC with my workflow breakdown if you're interested: http://polycount.com/discussion/comment/2436321#Comment_2436321

And if you check my signature here I have over 120 vid tuts with shitloads of them Zbrush-centric, that you might find useful.

Kisato

Thats insane!
Im actually kinda rly in love with zbrush like you and want to master it so the only time where I have to use a different programm is just the rendering case.
Combining 2D knowlege and skills with 3D improved me in any point. Dang it opened a whole new universe. Ofc that I need to learn alot.
Alright then Ill check out everything what you have but just in case I cant find an answer, can I PM you?

Stay healthy and awesome !

musashidan

Yes, ZB is an amazing application and really frees you up to create. I realise you're just starting out and getting in and learning Zbrush is exciting but, in the future, if you intend to get into serious creation of production assets (in-game characters/weapons/vehicles/props/etc) as a career, then learning the complete workflow/pipeline is important. Whilst it is technically possible to create a game-ready production asset entirely in ZB(and ZB is a cornerstone of pretty much every niche of the CG industry) learning one of the main, industry standard 3D DCC(digital content creation) packages - 3dsMax/Maya/Modo/etc -  is a must at some stage. Think of your DCC as your 'hub' or 'base of operations'.

And of course you can PM me. I'm always happy to help if I can.

Best of luck on your 3D journey.