High poly to low workflow using Maya
polycounter lvl 18
This has probably been discussed a number of times in the past, but the terms are a bit too general to actually find anything with the search (over 1000 results).
Anyway, I've started work on the low poly version of my Dominance War character and am having a great deal of difficulty building a low poly mesh around it. I've dumped a medium level version of the body part into Maya but actually working the low poly geometry around it is proving problematic.
How do people people usually handle this. I know max has a plugin that can snap an entire mesh around another. Does Maya have something similar available?
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Anyway, I've started work on the low poly version of my Dominance War character and am having a great deal of difficulty building a low poly mesh around it. I've dumped a medium level version of the body part into Maya but actually working the low poly geometry around it is proving problematic.
How do people people usually handle this. I know max has a plugin that can snap an entire mesh around another. Does Maya have something similar available?
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Replies
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Check out the Quad Draw video specifically:
http://draster.com/videos/downloadable/NEX-Alpha-QuadDraw.mov
I don't even really like maya as a modeler but combined with NEX, it's pretty sweet for retopology work. I prefer it over other solutions like Silo, Modo, or Topogun, since Quad Draw is just one tool that does multiple things. There's a demo there too so try it and see for yourself.
It is the plain Magnet icon next to the rest of your snaps on the top right.
I import two instances of the "medium poly" (a lower subdivision level of the high-poly version) and put them on the same layer, I make one semi-transparent with a Lambert material, and make the other a Live surface (select it and hit the Make Live icon), and make the layer Renderable (so I can't select it).
I shape a surface onto this, cutting in proper geometry and everything, extruding, etc. You can start from a normal box or cylinder, or use the lowest-subdivison level of your highres mesh as a start, if suitable (or you can use a generic model you have already), however you do it is fine, you can't really mess up.
There is also a script called "fitVertices" you can get on highend3d that really helps once you have the geometry defined, you can "shrinkwrap" (in fact one of the scripts that does similar is called shrinkWrapXY) the low poly mesh to the high poly... very useful on many occasions.
Its a pity I don't have an up to date version of Maya. That NEX business looks pretty schmick.
Darn you, Gwot. Darn you! (Also thank you for bringing it to my attention, it -is- an excellent plugin..)
http://boards.polycount.net/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=191022&an=0&page=0#Post191022
Jump into their forums too if you have any ideas or requests for features/improvements. They are pretty keen on making it a better toolset for all.
Is awesome.
Fritz: I'm not sure how tight the workflow is in polyboost but I just love it in nex(quad draw). A couple of the key workflow advantages for me are the way you paint polygons onto those dots, because it also functions as a bridge tool between polygons that are already there so you can layout separate strips or work on island chunks all you want and stitch them together when you are ready just by painting over the gaps/holes. You can also target weld verts and edges and delete polygons on the fly too, and cut edge loops into existing polygons all without switching tools. It's just your mouse and a couple modifier keys.
@rollin: as gwot said, polyboost for max has right now a way broader featureset
Is 'Flow' the same tool that Henry has been developing in this thread?...
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=7&t=342302&page=1&pp=20
If so, it doesn't sound like it's very close to having topology building tools. That's what I'm using NEX for right now.
Not having access to his tools the way I did with NEX while it was in beta, it's kindof hard to even compare them at this point.
If there are people unhappy with the NEX plugin I'm not seeing them posting about it in the NEX forums or thread on CGTalk. Since the developers are so open to feedback and user input, I find this difficult to believe, since any problems that do get reported seem to be dealt with rather quickly.
I did happen to notice in the NEX thread here:
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=7&t=387363&page=14&pp=20
Henry was implying that the NEX developers were ripping him off. To me that seems a bit on on the unlikely side considering that ideas like this have been floating around online for years and even exist in other applications in bits and pieces already. Other than that bit of colorful posting the NEX thread seems highly energetic with good ideas exchanged from users and positive 2 - way communication with the developers. That and the fact that NEX is available right now and has been openly available for some time makes me wonder at the credibility of some of the statements Henry made in that thread. I still have yet to see a working plugin come from him.
It's also a bit unprofessional to go and dirty up someone else's thread with such claims and other attempts to put a negative light on their toolset or capabilities, which he does also. You need some cold hard facts to back those claims up and I dont' see any of that coming from him. That's my own observation though after reading through both threads.
Others can draw their own conclusions by reading them if they are interested. Personally I go with tools that are available NOW, and work well, and whose developers maintain a strong relationship with their community of users. The flip side of that is hearsay, vague promises and no actual tool in my hands to use. Guess where my money goes?
I wish him the best though and hopefully he can bring further innovation to modeling in maya, as there's plenty of room for that still. I will certainly check out his plugin when it is released.
I love the silo tweak functionality, coupled with solid soft selection. splitting loops, target welding, bridge etc all a button press and mouse click away.
A question ( and I had a look on the forums but couldn't find an answer)
Is there a way to get the quad draw points to snap to the grid as you lay them out? Say you weren't using the tool for retopology purposes, but for building something non organic from scratch for instance. I really can't find a way.
By the way, the fact that simply saving a texture in PShop and Alt-Tab-ing back into Maya updates all the textures without having to touch anything is worth its weight in gold alone.
Really sometimes you Maya converts are so silly. =P
Er, you've totally lost me there Vig! Unless you were talking to someone else?