Weld or not weld

explodingseashells

hey guys, I've got a new object im making, its a big steel basket thing. Anyway I want to put welding marks and seams into the normal map. So it's like a cylinder meets a big cube, question is, do I have to weld the cylinder to the cube? because that will add a fair bit of geometry, particularly cause it happens alot..

Ben Apuna

Are you talking about the high poly? or low poly model?

Pictures would probably help explain better.

Also here's some weld techniques. Someone also posted a video that shows how to sculpt welds in zbrush, but I can't seem to find the post...

EDIT:

Found the post, but the links appear to be broken

Eric Chadwick

More, and video is linked in here too
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=62214

explodingseashells

Hey guys, thanks for the responses, and heres a pic of what im trying to make. I would really like to make a join seam where the bars meet the base, ideally something in zbrush like steel or iron welding seams and such.

explodingseashells

oh and i can do the welding and stuff from an artistic standpoint, its just the technical stuff im confused about.

Ben Apuna

I don't see any real need to merge the two sections for the high poly model. The weld itself could possibly be a separate piece as well, which could help you avoid excessive subdivision on the rest of the model in zbrush.

If you look at the last post in the thread Eric linked to, there's a nice solution for the low poly model as well.