Struggling with weapon creation for games
Hello, I'm having problems with my high and low poly models for my take on the Ratchet and Clank Temporal Repulsor. Specifically my high poly mesh has non-manifold geometry in a lot of places and I wasn't sure if there might be a better way to fix it other than resculpting the problem areas completely? I have tried using Bifrost in Maya to rebuild the mesh using voxalization (this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6EuH5o_CuQ&list=LL&index=5&t=281s ) but I get strange artifacts jutting out from the mesh that are not present in the exported high poly as well as the created mesh being exceptionally dense in order to maintain the objects sharp forms (10 Million faces or more). Here is a screenshot of the problem vertices:
For my low poly object I used quad draw and tried to create simple forms but I still think my face count is too high. Is my mesh too dense or too low poly? (Low poly object is around 10k quads) I want to eventually put this in a game engine and use it for real time so I have something in my portfolio I know we are supposed to have even quad topology but when is it appropriate not to have have even quads? I'm just a bit overwhelmed and sad right now because I've put lots of hours and effort into the highpoly while I was learning Zbrush from Michael Pavlovich at CGMA and I thought the low poly along with UVs and baking would be the easy part but I can't seem to get anything right. Can anyone help me to understand what I can do to clean my objects and get ready for UVing and baking? I want to move onto other projects and show everyone what I can do but I don't want to give up on this either. I'm happy to share my files with anyone that can help me. Here are screenshots of the lowpoly mesh and the Zbrush Sculpt:
Replies
Specifically my high poly mesh has non-manifold geometry in a lot of places and I wasn't sure if there might be a better way to fix it other than resculpting the problem areas completely?
Who cares? Does it look visually fine and shades well? It'll work then.
I get strange artifacts jutting out from the mesh that are not present in the exported high poly as well as the created mesh being exceptionally dense in order to maintain the objects sharp forms (10 Million faces or more). Here is a screenshot of the problem vertices:
If it looks fine in zBrush but not in Maya, somethings going on when you export. Don't fear decimating, especially 10million, it'll retain everything, and only gets noticeably crunchy and artifacty if you go too far with decimation.
For my low poly object I used quad draw and tried to create simple forms but I still think my face count is too high.
Don't worry about tri-count so much. Focus on fidelity while being optimal, sensible and reasonable with where you place geo. Focus on your silhouettes and forms to avoid faceting/blocky geo is really all there is to it.
Is my mesh too dense or too low poly? (Low poly object is around 10k quads)
It's a lot of quads for such a low resolution looking silhouette, in other words, extremely unoptimized. Geometry is spent where it doesn't matter, and not where it does matter.
I know we are supposed to have even quad topology but when is it appropriate not to have have even quads?
No, we aren't "supposed" to have even quad topology. Ngons and triangles are fine if you aware of their behaviour. Only for things that get skinned and deform should have quads, but even then, there's still some leeway. Seeing as this thing is fully static, go nuts. You'll save a ton of geometry and head ache - as you are heavily restricting yourself this way.
I thought the low poly along with UVs and baking would be the easy part but I can't seem to get anything right.
It's just as technically demanding and tricky, but just as anything else, lessons can easily be learned and applied to future assets.
Thank you for your response Kanni this is extremely helpful, I will give it another pass later today and continue iterating. You gave me excellent clarity for what problems I need to focus on to get the desired results.
Kanni, I finished my project and posted the rendered images on artstation, there is a ton more I still want to tweak and fix but I want to move onto other projects and return to this down the road. I wanted to thank you for responding to my post on here and I would love to hear some feedback to my final images if you have time, https://www.artstation.com/artwork/NGPLJg
Good work, buddy - I see some improvements that you've taken heed of. It's always a good idea to wrap up a project rather than endlessly tweak and adjust and run in circles.
For the next project/asset, pay much more attention to silhouette, shapes, and definition (this will greatly help reduce the "blocky" appearance to your asset). Material definition and roughness values are also king in displaying details (play around with how colors and roughness values contrast to make details stand out from eachother rather than have everything dully blended in). In future posts, if you'd like more in depth feedback, feel free to post how you've done your UVs, since that can also skyrocket your fidelity/quality by changing a few fundamentals.