Go for it. the efficiency of the highpoly model doesn't matter as long as your computer and you can handle it and you are fine with it. I was talking about using displacement on a lowpoly asset. Why couldn't you just model those straight lines out by the way?
i have finished the highpoly (exepct for the head ) check out some clay follow me here to make sure u will keep up with the updates https://www.artstation.com/pzielinski/blog/a324/viking-high-poly-update https://www.instagram.com/ziel3d/
You (generally) never unwrap the highpoly. You want to retopologise your model to create the lowpoly, which you then unwrap. I suggest watching some tutorials that cover the entire process so you can understand all the steps and how they relate.
Ah, but you misunderstand me :) , thanks for the links though. I know how to create the textures from scratch, more or less anyway. What i am looking for is a way to create a similar texture from a highpoly model with a similar looking surface.
After a bunch of cleaning up and minor adjustments I'm calling the sculpt done. After decimating I started retoplogizing in 3dsMax with the graphite tools. So far I'm happy with the head, it's a bit highpoly, but I'll adjust if it gets too high later on.
Here is an update of my shotgun. The HighPoly is done, i started baking and texturing. My art director checked it and siad that i needed more resulution on the wood handle. So i scaled up the UVs of that part and i could continue textureing
A little bit late but done ! HighPoly LowPoly The next piece is going to be fun yes haha. I think commador you should make a little bit smaller the edge at the top of the square, it seems to be a little bit more "round" (the center piece)
ive experimented with using particle simulations. just have a particle spawn and stay where the simulationparticles hit the mesh and then bake those down to a texture. can then be used to displace the highpoly and such. not the fastest or "least different apps used" approach, but it works fairly well.
I always go: placeholder/blockout highpoly lowpoly texture I've seen people do a texture first style workflow. However it doesn't always give the best result in my opinion since you can't get as precise normalmapping on the models.
When you've already baked down the highpoly (normal map), I think you can get away with increasing the size of the index finger. (Unless It's just the render angle making It look funny.) Otherwise I can't wait to see more.