How should I optimize this? :S
Hiya counters! 
I am really troubled with this robot I modeled few months back.It's low size(without any mesh smooth) is around 2,00,000.I did it to revise my 3ds max modeling skills as I did one job in b.w. in which I had to work on a diffrnt 3d soft which I didn't like much.
Now I would like to optimize this mesh,bring it down,make a low poly of it,make the high res on it and then texture it in mudbox.I have been optimizing my meshes manually so far but I know how long will it take me to optimize this one.Any tools you guys suggest?specially for optimizing in organic models like these.I really wan't to start it's texturing.
But the face size is killing me! :poly122:
Here is what I am talking abt .
Oh and the concept credit goes to Michael See.
I am really troubled with this robot I modeled few months back.It's low size(without any mesh smooth) is around 2,00,000.I did it to revise my 3ds max modeling skills as I did one job in b.w. in which I had to work on a diffrnt 3d soft which I didn't like much.
Now I would like to optimize this mesh,bring it down,make a low poly of it,make the high res on it and then texture it in mudbox.I have been optimizing my meshes manually so far but I know how long will it take me to optimize this one.Any tools you guys suggest?specially for optimizing in organic models like these.I really wan't to start it's texturing.
But the face size is killing me! :poly122:Here is what I am talking abt .
Oh and the concept credit goes to Michael See.
Replies
/beaten by cupsster
I would do stuff like select edges on the cap of a cylinder, turn it into a shape/spline, convert that to geometry and extrude and cap it.
WrapIt & Max ReTopo are two of my favorites, in that order. I've only used wrapIt's automatic quad mesh on organic stuff, but it would be interesting to see what it does with something mechanical. Probably more trouble then its worth.
If you choose to optimize some pieces that are pretty dense instead of building the low from scratch, the dot loop, dot ring functions in Graphite Modeling Tools are pretty handy. They let you select every other ring/loop, then you can just ctrl-remove them and half of your edges disappear.
But yea unless someone else has another way I think you're stuck... optimizing and building.
Personally I try to block in the simple shapes as much as possible as if it was the low poly cage, then when I start to detail I add modifiers (edit poly/unwrap) on top and don't collapse. That way I can go back to the base shape pretty quickly and build a low poly.
I even take it a step further and arrange and preserve the pivots of those base shapes as much as possible so I can work in local space and quickly align things when rigging.
I just want to confirm this but I wanted to know that is it really possible to - import a low poly in mudbox,apply it's high res mesh as nornal map on it,get real time results and texture it then and there only. - If this is for real am really gonna enjoy texturing.
Any idea of - " I just want to confirm this but I wanted to know that is it really possible to - import a low poly in mudbox,apply it's high res mesh as nornal map on it,get real time results and texture it then and there only. - If this is for real am really gonna enjoy texturing. " ?
You should also render out a Ambient Occlusion Map, which can be a great base to start texturing.
i would duplicate the model and go through the slow and tedious process of simplifying the shapes step by step. that said i think organization will help here.
first off realize that your model is symmetrical so you only have to do half the work
second, try to break up the model into 5 pieces, torso, legs, arms. now you have some manageable objects to deal with.
hide all the objects except say one of the arms, get to simplifying it as much as possible. merging as many obects as you can do comfortably.
take your time since you will probably re-visit the thing in your head and realize you could merge this object or that object without much noticeable difference in the model.
i think for a model like this you would want to go this route since you have already taken the time to do it so precisely any of the 'faster' methods would invariably create errors in the precision of the low poly to match up to the high.
lastly your model is really fantastic, i love the design and also pity you at the same time
@planaria - the current poly count is 2,00,000
yup that's true that I will have to half of the work but trust me that is tedious too. :P I will start optimizing this manually as suggested by many others too.
Thanks for the idea of breaking the model into pieces.
haha .thanks man.
Any idea about my mudbox query?
hmm, if your not going to animate..
why not go and grab 3d-coat import into 3d-coat as a voxel object, then re-convert the voxel object into a polyobject and use the quadrangulation to autocreate your low poly? it might work, it might not work but it would take at most an hour of your time.
And you will most probably get a cleaner uv map when you are doing the rebuild step yourself.
And the voxel2polyobject way doesn´t work that good on hard-edged surfaces like this robot(this is more my opinion then really knowing)
You should really take the route neox suggested.It´s monkey work i know, but it´s not that slow and you will more likely get predicable results that way.
PS:
Compared to Mudbox´s Texturing Tools,Zbrush feels like shit(at least the last time i used it).Polypainting just works good if there are enough poly´s to begin with.(Again my opinion though)
Seriously its super clean, you could strip it out fast, and whats a pain in the --- vigs methods (btw awesome) should make it relatively fast.
I hear you what you say about Mudbox texturing tool.
@Grimm_Wrecking - Yup read that and following everything whatever is written here now!
Will post the texturing updates whenever I get to them.NEED BIG HELP WITH THAT.Never attempted such a huge model to texture with game prerequisites.
And thanks EVERYONE for their inputs! you guys rock!