Retopologizing multiple Meshes
Hey Guys,
So I'm new to the forum and I've got probably a silly/dumb question that I'm hoping can be answered. I have blocked out a small Air Conditioner in Maya with multiple meshes and not as a contiguous mesh and intend to bring all the meshes into Zbrush and add tons of detail to it.
Obviously they will come in as separate subtools but my question is, can I possibly merge all the subtools after I'm done detailing them in Zbrush then bring them into Maya and retopo it as one low poly contiguous mesh to bake the high res onto it after the low poly is UVed? I haven't really seen any tutorial online talk about multiple meshes being retopoed into 1 continuous mesh, I just wish to know if it's possible and there's any tutorials out there or anyone can kind of summarize how one would do it properly. Thanks guys! I've provided an image of my model so far in Maya that I intend to bring into Zbrush!
So I'm new to the forum and I've got probably a silly/dumb question that I'm hoping can be answered. I have blocked out a small Air Conditioner in Maya with multiple meshes and not as a contiguous mesh and intend to bring all the meshes into Zbrush and add tons of detail to it.
Obviously they will come in as separate subtools but my question is, can I possibly merge all the subtools after I'm done detailing them in Zbrush then bring them into Maya and retopo it as one low poly contiguous mesh to bake the high res onto it after the low poly is UVed? I haven't really seen any tutorial online talk about multiple meshes being retopoed into 1 continuous mesh, I just wish to know if it's possible and there's any tutorials out there or anyone can kind of summarize how one would do it properly. Thanks guys! I've provided an image of my model so far in Maya that I intend to bring into Zbrush!
Replies
He had multiple meshes for his high poly and his low poly is pretty simple but still gets out all that detail, unfortunately he did not explain his process.
Sometimes if I know the shape won't change at all from sculping (in cases where I'm only adding superficial details like scrapes, dents, surface texture, etc.) I will retopo before I go into ZBrush.
You can always cut those details out in your LODs also, if you need to make them.
Still, depends of what you want to achieve. Also i'm not sure a more detailed model is better for a portfolio. Models are still pretty higly optimized in games, so you might want to show that you can also do it.
Usually for retopologising I'll ignore the smaller meshes in the hipoly and I'll only use the hipoly mesh as a basis when it's a complicated shape that's hard to match exactly.
This thread - http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=105551
Has a lot of great examples of how powerful baked normals on alpha cards can be used. Cheap and really helps take the box silhouette into something more interesting.
If you want nitpicks, A lot of your loops on your low poly can be tri'd off instead of having them go around the entire object. Best rule of thumb is if it's not adding to the silhouette, it can usually be deleted/welded to a corner.
Also if you're new to high/low bake downs, there's a lot of really good stuff on the PC wiki. Hard/Soft edge workflow, xnormal cage stuff, support loops to avoid normal map skewing, etc..
Lot to learn, best thing to do is when you see a problem, look it up on the wiki because i guarantee someone else has already done the obstacle course of trial and error for you and found the best solution.
Also from what i guess, this extrude on the front is way to big. You should match the hp surface as close as possible. It can intersect the high.