Advice to improve face topology

d3dGuy

How can I improve the topology especially around the nose. It's getting a bit messy and more complicated to manage the geometry. There are some poles created which is a bad sign and the smoothing doesn't look good either at a certain point. The level of polygon density around the nose is about satisfactory for what I want the final model to have because I don't want to use subdivision. I'll add more loops around the eyes later too!

Any advice would be appreciated!

Neox

The issues you are seeing are rather from internal triangulation than anything else.
I mean you have a few different mesh resolutions clashing here, there is only so much you can do.  The position where the loops join make sense but its too many 5 star poles in the same spot. Would have to play with it on a computer to solve it properly 

Btw is this like a basemesh or your low poly? If its the low don't be scared of triangles

okidoki

Maybe something like this (espcially this on vertex) ??

Eric Chadwick

Some ideas we’ve collected here
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/FaceTopology

d3dGuy

@Neox It's not a basemesh. I'll try introducing some triangle, but sparingly!

@okidoki That actually worked well! The shading artifact is now much reduced and there's one less pole so the topology looks much cleaner. Thank you

@Eric Chadwick I'll check it out. Thanks

okidoki

You are welcome.

Eric Chadwick

“I'll check it out. Thanks” otherwise known as “I’ll never get to this, but bless you for posting something“ lol

Glad you solved it though! :P

d3dGuy

@Eric Chadwick I did check it out! Some examples are too low poly for me, others are hard to integrate with the current state of my topology and it's also difficult to choose and commit to one! Although, looking at my topology now, I'll have to re-adjust the loops around the mouth!

This area is going to be tricky, but I'll see how it goes!

Eric Chadwick

I think you could be working on features in isolation, rather than holistically. And this makes things much more difficult. Similar to trying to sculpt in high-res without refining low, and increasing gradually. I would suggest starting with a low mesh, and complete all the loops, before adding complexity.

Neox

I feel like you have a few too many islands here and there that you are combining now

Personally i start with eyes, mouth and the nose, and then grow outwards from there, the jaw/cheek is an area that sorta grows naturally out of these circular shapes

kanga

Not too many poles on this one.

d3dGuy

Thanks everyone for the advice and suggestions. Next time I'll simplify the approach more!

@Neox I started with those features, but persisted to add more geometry because the features didn't seem defined like the nostril loops which take smaller polygons to construct! They temptation overcame me!


It seems now that the loop are more natural and generally match up with a lot of face topology references I've seen