3d model need critique *newb*

soulstice

Hi guys... this is my second model. I'm fairly new to the 3d game so I was wondering if you kind folks here would be willing to spare some critiques? I didn't use reference while building and tried to keep the polycount low for practice, so I know the anatomy isn't exactly right. I'm really looking for critiques on the wireframe itself as I realize this is a big part of creating models, especially since I feel that I'm still flying blind when modeling.

I plan on exporting this into Zbrush for detailing, do I need to do UV's first before exporting for normal mapping purposes?

Thanks in advance guys!

low odor

zbrush doesnt like triangles very much..There seems to be a bunch of edgeloops that are doing nothing. If you want a good example of a base sculpting mesh look up "baseman" on the forums here

It's not a bad start. Remember to use lots of reference( reference other peoples topology, photos of the human form, strut in front of the mirror naked)

fogmann

Well, this model will not behave very good in a sculpting app, because you have so many elongated faces which will result in elongated smaller faces when subdivided, and those will not respond to your brush strokes the way you will want them to. The model could serve as final low poly with some tweaks, but most likely you will want to have a different, or differently structured mesh for sculpting. Main thing to bear in mind when creating a base mesh is to keep polygons as close to square as you can get, and to keep them in quads. So if you want to sculpt this guy, don't bother with defining muscles with edge loops that are close together, but instead just make a basic human form with correct proportions and define form in sculpting package. Later, you can rebuild the low poly from the high one (but don't use highest subdivision for that, as it will give your 3d package a hard time). Here's the baseman that low odor referred to - you can see how it's made up of evenly sized square polygons, and therefore it is ideal for sculpting.

And to answer your question - no, you don't need UVs laid out on your high poly model in order to bake normal maps, you need them only on your final low poly model and you can lay them out just before you do the baking.

soulstice

Low Odor, thanks for the tips! Baseman is awesome, that will serve as a good starting point for me.

Fogmann thanks alot man! You answered alot of questions I had in mind, very grateful that you took the time to answered them! I will take another crack at making a better base mesh for sculpting purposes.