Good Workflow with Zbrush for Games
polycounter lvl 6
What's the workflow for a video game? Is it:
sculpt high poly,
retopo in zbrush by making low-poly version (drawing out the topology over the high-poly model)
take the high-poly model into Xnormal and get normal map from that and apply that to the low-poly version
Or is it:
sculpt high-poly,
get normal map from it in Xnormal
use deformation to get poly count low and then take the previously made normal map and apply it
Or is it something else?
I also have a trial of Maya, if there's more to be done there, like animating of course, but I'm wondering about what's good form for modeling and texturing since I like the way Zbrush does textures. What should I be doing, especially since I want to use everything in a video game?
sculpt high poly,
retopo in zbrush by making low-poly version (drawing out the topology over the high-poly model)
take the high-poly model into Xnormal and get normal map from that and apply that to the low-poly version
Or is it:
sculpt high-poly,
get normal map from it in Xnormal
use deformation to get poly count low and then take the previously made normal map and apply it
Or is it something else?
I also have a trial of Maya, if there's more to be done there, like animating of course, but I'm wondering about what's good form for modeling and texturing since I like the way Zbrush does textures. What should I be doing, especially since I want to use everything in a video game?
Replies
- Generate low-poly basemesh (if necessary, sometimes we'll just use dynamesh/zspheres)
- Sculpt high-poly mesh in zBrush
- Retopology (I use 3D-Coat personally. The retopo tools are really powerful.)
- Unwrapping (UV Layout is fantastic for this. Saves a lot of time.)
- Normal/AO/Disp. bakes in xNormal
- Texturing within either Photoshop or zBrush.
- General tweaks/matching/etc.
- Sexy images from Marmoset Toolbag or OctaneRender!
Now the above uses a lot of programs, but you can do most of that within one or two programs. Don't sweat the specifics. You can easily get by with Maya, zBrush, and PS. Hell, Blender and Gimp if you need to!
You mention using deformation to get a low polycount. I used to do this. But deformation really only works for rigid objects. If you're planning to animate anything organic, do not decimate it. Hell, a majority people who unwrap probably hate decimation. Though zBrush has an automatic tool for that.
There's a guy I saw on here who made a really cool dungeon scene with almost 100% decimated objects, so it's really not entirely difficult to create with.. It's just that if you want to go back and tweak the mesh, or tweak the maps, you're going to have a really difficult time
Looking at some of the other software you mentioned, do you have the professional or hobbyist license for UV Layout, because the hobbyist one doesn't have all of the functionality. And I'm wondering if I texture in Zbrush, do I even need to sort UV's? I'm trying to make a model of an organic creature that I'll take into Maya to animate, but it's all weird and asymmetrical so UV's would be a bit*h! (but they always are)
And Marmoset Toolbag/OctaneRender are used for showing off the work, right? I see Marmoset has a bunch of cool materials. Can you put them on the model and then export them somehow to be used as textures in other software (like a game engine), or is it not worth it just for that (if it even does that)?
3D Coat looks like a whole other beast to learn so I'll stick to Zbrush/Maya for now, but thanks so much for all this info. You've opened my eyes to a whole new rendered world.
You don't need maps for zBrush initially, but if you want to bake down your Polypaint, you will.
Marmoset is for previews, yeah. I initially bought Octane for a little movie I was working on, but it makes for some cool beauty shots.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F07qgIKyHmw
Wow I had no idea you could get into so much detail with the pores and everything. Thanks for the video. I'm having some unexpected trouble just sculpting a basic face though:
I'm using reference photos in the background but all I can find are 3/4 view so I keep trying to model it but the symmetry becomes inaccurate. I tried using the move tool to manipulate a basic sphere so that when I put my pen (using a tablet) over an eye, the other side appears where the other eye should be, but even then, after some more manipulation, the symmetry becomes inaccurate. Are 3/4 views in perspective mode just not viable for starting to model a face?
EDIT: I found that that person whose tutorial you posted has a whole series on creating a head and while I don't think he's trying to directly model from a photo, I'll watch those because I'm sure they'll help. Thanks again.