Character workflows?

DEElekgolo

After seeing a bunch of character workflows in zbrush and such, I really need to know. What Character workflow do you guys prefer to work with? Would you do low poly first then high poly or the other way around? And how would you go about modeling your base mesh(zspheres, box modeling, etc). I have an assignment to make 1 simple character and I am not exactly sure how to start.

Preferably max but maya would be nice as well.

Ged

basemesh then zbrush then hardsurface highpoly in max then final highpoly in zbrush

then on to lowpoly in 3dcoat for retopo and max for hardsurface lowpoly

then bake and texture

DEElekgolo

When basemeshing, do people extrude from a simple box and add edge loops like I think they do?

MoP

Yes.

wasker

I heard from someone say that there were no highpolys for the models in the Mass Effect series just alot of normalmap filters and crazybumped textures. its it true? someone better call mythbusters

eld

consider it mythbusted

Rhinokey

there are soo many waysss sooo many wayss!! theres literaly hundreds of ways to get these assets made, and yes wasker, i'm not sure about mass effect, but i would not be suprised if they only used filtered normals, its a valid technique and a lot of games do it.
my first advice is for you to search pimp an previews and see what others have done a lot of ppl post their work flow in their threads.
second advice make one thread and keep asking questions, you kinda have that going here. but rember when ppl offer you advice most of the time its their opinion and not a rule. it may be a amazingly good way to do it, but may not be the only way. or the way you would be most comfortable with.

and the most important advice, try a lot of different ones,, even on simple objects like a crate, or a barrel of mudfish keep your art and your technical learning seperate, keep to simple quick to produce things when learning your workflow pipeline. no need spending 2 days on a test piece just to have it not work like you want.

keep in mind tho how the work flow will work with more complicated pieces tho,

MoP

wasker wrote: »

I heard from someone say that there were no highpolys for the models in the Mass Effect series just alot of normalmap filters and crazybumped textures. its it true? someone better call mythbusters

I sit opposite spacemonkey who did a lot of the character work on Mass Effect and I can say for a fact that they did use highpolys

CJE

It all really depends, you have to find what works for you, but to give you an idea of the workflow I found works well:

1) Reference gathering <--- very important!

2) Basemesh in 3DS Max (General, not worried about animation/UV topology)

3) Import into Zbrush and create high poly

4) import high poly into 3ds max and retopo with Polyboost

5) UV with Max and UVlayout

6) Bake with Max and xNormals

DEElekgolo

CJE wrote: »

It all really depends, you have to find what works for you, but to give you an idea of the workflow I found works well:

1) Reference gathering <--- very important!

2) Basemesh in 3DS Max (General, not worried about animation/UV topology)

3) Import into Zbrush and create high poly

4) import high poly into 3ds max and retopo with Polyboost

5) UV with Max and UVlayout

6) Bake with Max and xNormals

What are some techniques I may use when creating the basemesh in max? Is it just extrude, add edge loops, relax or is their something more specific?

wasker

thanks for the replies Mop n Rhino, guess I have to bonk my mate on the noggin for lying to me

Deelekgolo, check out how pros are doing it. I thought that the next gen character workflow by gnomon was quite awesome on the matter.

here's a vid on making a good edge flow head. he's got more tutorials on other body parts aswell. Concerning workflow i ngeneal, yes you're preetty much
right. just build it. Read up on some tutorials and stuff, they're all over the net.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xls25e08sSg[/ame]