Beginner topology question -- Will this be a problem for animation?

Alex_J

This is to be used in a third person shooter. Will the 5 point pole on the inner thigh be troublesome for the animator?


And will a kite polygon cause problems being in such a high deformation area?


Thanks a lot. I'm really having trouble trying to find ways around these, even using reference. I don't know why this is so hard for me. Feel like a moron.

olivernothing

Yes, this will cause problems. There will be a lot of deformation happening in this area so you really need some loops in there to allow for the mesh to be weighted in the right places when it comes to skinning the character. 

Take a look at this site, it shows an example of how the topology should look for animation:
http://www.cgmascot.com/design/modeling-animation-test/

Stay patient with yourself, take regular breaks and keep trying - you'll get there. Hope this helps.

Alex_J

Thanks. Good or bad, I was really hoping for a clear cut answer (which you've given.)

Yeah, I'm committed to getting this right, no matter how long it takes. I figure anybody can make a cool looking model, but I want to be able to hand something off to an animator and them to not have any issues with it whatsoever.

pior

You are overcomplicating a simple issue because your are tackling it "from the outside in" instead of "from the inside out". Think in terms of structure :



Good luck !

Alex_J

pior said:

You are overcomplicating a simple issue because your are tackling it "from the outside in" instead of "from the inside out". Think in terms of structure :



Good luck !

This seems to make sense. Build the simple form first -- it already has the appropriate edge loops, and then bring it over my hi-res mesh, tweak it into place, and then I can selectively take out unneeded loops and add extrusion offsets at key places like the knees....

I'll give this a shot and I do a bit of reading on the subject as well.

Thanks guys.

pior

Yeah - basically the earlier confusion you had probably comes from the fact that most character creation "tutorials" show the steps like a factory assembly line (sculpt > retopo > UV > bake > texture). This is true to some extent, at the surface level ;  but in actual practice, being able to build good game meshes absolutely does *not* come from practicing bruteforce retopology. It actually comes from a good understanding of how lowpoly models should be structured in the first place.

In other words : if you want to learn how to do a good game-friendly retopo pass, do *not* practice bruteforce retopology. Instead, study finished models from professionally made games, and practice building simple models from scratch.

Alex_J

Thanks a lot for the advice. I will keep that in mind.