Are you scultping it, or is it all done in a 3D app?
At the moment I find it a bit strange that his legs are skinnier than his arms. If it`s meant to be stylized or cartoony like that, I think you can push it a bit more, to make that read. The feet are too short, I think, and the hands are too small, and shapeless. Also, check the curve from his brow along his nose. In profile, it looks like he dosn`t really have a brow/forehead.
I created the base mesh in Maya, then created the clothes in zbrush.
I wanted to use the retopolgy method to keep it low poly, but instead I used the Decimation Master, which is the reason why the wireframe is triangulated.
To what Veneficus said I´d just add that if you´re going for an in-game character you shouldn´t use turbosmooth/meshsmooth (it multiplies the number of polys/tris x4 with each iteration, so the real tris number differs from what the modeling application says), which I believe you used (? - ignore if not correct, it´s just that there are areas that seem way too smooth to me, even for 14k tris).
EDIT: Decimation master - there goes the smoothness for 14k tris... If you´re planning to animate it you should retopologize the model and reproject the diffuse texture and bake normals (XNormal can get the job done pretty nicely)
The smoothness is just coming from the smooth preview, will it still be possible to animate as it is now?
Or is retopology the only way forward for animation?
Is this your first foray into 3D? Like you're not an animator getting into modeling? If you're not the latter I suggest focusing on improving your modeling skills before branching out. It's actually not horrible for a first run at a character, so you should definitely focus on taking what you've learnt from this model and continue to create. Shelve this one and move on, I know how tempting it is to "complete" the character and have it moving and such, but if this is a learning venture you should concentrate in one area at a time. In fact scrap this mesh here and learn about re-topology and the benefits of said process.
Now to your question, yes it is possible to rig and animate this as is, but it's definitely not recommended due to the world of hurt you'll be in for , Retopo as stated.
Decimation master is a great tool for getting your highpoly model exported to a more manageable mesh so it doesn't kill your comp outside of Zbrush.
As an animator, I think you could try to animate it but its going to be a bitch to create skin weights on something that chaotic. You should NOT use poly crunching methods to create your low poly unless it's a static object that doesn't deform, even then the results might be worse than retopo by hand.
Replies
Are you scultping it, or is it all done in a 3D app?
At the moment I find it a bit strange that his legs are skinnier than his arms. If it`s meant to be stylized or cartoony like that, I think you can push it a bit more, to make that read. The feet are too short, I think, and the hands are too small, and shapeless. Also, check the curve from his brow along his nose. In profile, it looks like he dosn`t really have a brow/forehead.
Hope that helps:)
I wanted to use the retopolgy method to keep it low poly, but instead I used the Decimation Master, which is the reason why the wireframe is triangulated.
What a mess:
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
EDIT: Decimation master - there goes the smoothness for 14k tris... If you´re planning to animate it you should retopologize the model and reproject the diffuse texture and bake normals (XNormal can get the job done pretty nicely)
Or is retopology the only way forward for animation?
Is this your first foray into 3D? Like you're not an animator getting into modeling? If you're not the latter I suggest focusing on improving your modeling skills before branching out. It's actually not horrible for a first run at a character, so you should definitely focus on taking what you've learnt from this model and continue to create. Shelve this one and move on, I know how tempting it is to "complete" the character and have it moving and such, but if this is a learning venture you should concentrate in one area at a time. In fact scrap this mesh here and learn about re-topology and the benefits of said process.
Now to your question, yes it is possible to rig and animate this as is, but it's definitely not recommended due to the world of hurt you'll be in for
Decimation master is a great tool for getting your highpoly model exported to a more manageable mesh so it doesn't kill your comp outside of Zbrush.
Hope this is of some help, good luck!
~t