Hi! Need some retopology tips for my character.

Psychwagon

Hello!This is my first retopology experience. How do i retopologize such complex shapes as wings on this character for further texturing?Should i make one big shape or try to preserve details.I use blender add-on retopoflow. Thank you in advance!

Fabi_G

Hi! Could create the wings from cards for a more realistic/detailed look. Skin such geometry by transferring weights from a proxy mesh.

When choosing retopoing the wings as a whole, I would make sure the highpoly shape is somewhat compact/well defined. Would make for a more simple look, ok when it has some distance to the camera.

Which approach to take depends on the targeted style and specs. Could look for references regarding execution (artstation,  sketchfab,  ...)

Good luck!

Psychwagon

Fabi_G said:

Hi! Could create the wings from cards for a more realistic/detailed look. Skin such geometry by transferring weights from a proxy mesh.

When choosing retopoing the wings as a whole, I would make sure the highpoly shape is somewhat compact/well defined. Would make for a more simple look, ok when it has some distance to the camera.

Which approach to take depends on the targeted style and specs. Could look for references regarding execution (artstation,  sketchfab,  ...)

Good luck!

Took me a time to figure out terminology. So the skinning means i need to use some blender rig tool if i understand correctly.And cards you mentioned is just flat polygon loop for feathers. Hope i understand it right.Thanks a lot for a hint!

Fabi_G

I think you understood right. By skinning I meant weighting a polygon mesh to a skeleton for the purposes of posing/animation. By using cards for feathers, I meant using the same technique as for polygon hair.

kanga

It depends on why you are retopologizing. Are you trying to raise detail on your sculpt or are you trying to create a lowpoly mesh for baking textures? Is the model for display or animation? If the model is for animation is it for film or do you want to use it in a game engine? Providing end use at the start of your post helps others to give you directed help.

If you want to bake textures then there are tutorials in the polycount wiki you can use. You can bake any shape. If you have access to Marmoset or Substance painter you can break the low poly into texture sets and bake them in one go. If you want to do that efficiently, arrange all your uvs in one sheet, then split the wings and body into 2 separate models and export them as one fbx. Do the same for the hipoly: separate into 2 parts and export them as one object. If you are using a program like Blender then do a web search : Baking textures in Blender youtube. Do the same for retopo cause you have some long polys and no loops for animation in the examples above.