Topo/Retopo Props

KODA

Hi everyone! 

I have a question or two about topology / retopo specifically for static props, game-ready assets.

I see and hear different versions about that. Some say retopo has to be done by hand, 

and others say that only using decimate master (for example) in Zbrush can do the trick and no really clear answers in all of that.

I atached a picture (artwork not from me) so you can see a clearer example of what I'm talking about, and I see that everywhere. 

This kind of wireframe I see it almost everywhere, so I prefer to ask the community to enlighten me, 

if this kind of wireframe is "industry standard / game-ready asset"? And how do you get that kind of wireframe?

Thanks to whoever takes the time to explain clearly and wish you all a happy new year!

Ghogiel

That's not decimation master if you were asking. 99% sure that it's poly modelled. The only question is when. Is the low poly topology basically the same as the base mesh the sculpt is derived from, or was it created after the fact of the high poly.

So in this specific instance, probably the artist either made a base mesh, which is probably very close to the wires you see and later also acts as a good portion of the low polys geometry, and then that is sculpted into the high poly. Or they sculpted the high poly and just manually retopod over that. (or a combination of both)

I don't really know what you mean about the wireframe, if you mean why is it triangulated? No real reason except that they might be getting the wireframe screenshot out of marmoset or substance, in which you basically have to triangulate when you export to them because things might and in many cases will get triangulated differently between packages and that would break baked TS normal maps.

pior

This is fully build by hand (either using a dedicated retopo app, or directly in one's main regular 3d app), and triangulated before baking and for final engine use - because it is required for an acurate bake with glitch-free shading. That's all there is to it

Note that in the case of very simple props like this, it is very possible to start with this geo first, building it in such a way that it also is a good base for sculpting. Which makes the whole process a ton faster as it allows to test things ingame on day one (as a lowpoly asset like this would take about a mere hour to build), as opposed to having to wait for a sculpt, retopo and bake.

FourtyNights

Retopology is mostly done on organic assets, while hardsurface assets are usually modeled with subdivision surface techniques, which can be optmized down to a low poly from the original mesh. With a partially non-destructive worflow, where there's at least a subdivision surface modifier. Retopology in general is made by hand indeed, because of the full control of the topology by an artist. The topology from decimation master or zremesher are automatically generated, so results from those aren't proprely optimized (too dense) or clean (too messy).

The asset above you've posted goes to the hardsurface category, and those smaller details are most likely sculpted after the initial cleanly modeled high poly, which can be used for making the low poly later on. But it all depends on different situations. There may be cases where you need to retopo something on a hard surface too. But not always.

Usually the low poly is made out of quads and triangles, for easier handling with UVs and possible revisions if something needs changing. When you're exporting the final low poly, it must be triangulated before baking normal maps, to get them to work right. That same triangulation is used in the final game engine as well. So, that wheelbarrow with a barrel is post-triangulated because of aforementioned reasons, so it's correct.

KODA

Thank you so much ya'll for all those informations! All is clear now. Have a great day or night, depending on where you are in the world:)