The younger you start the better, I'd say. :p Anyways here's a video tutorial on modeling a lowpoly character in Blender: http://www.vimeo.com/1048354?pg=embed&sec=1048354 I hope it will give you some insights that you seek.
Would it be possible to implement a more neutral lighting? The harsh shadows look a bit weird on lowpoly stuff. http://keenleveldesign.com/modelviewer/showmodel.php?id=4cfe773286400 Great work none the less! This seems like an awesome way to pimp stuff in a portfolio!
Last update, im basically finished (thought its still pretty unpolished). Few pictures and a flythrough video of the final result: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZniCV4mDXo"]LowPoly Environment - YouTube[/ame] Thanks for viewing my thread!
ahoy ahoy here is a small update of my stone wall :) i used polypaint and spotlight in zbrush to add the stone texture. now i will use moss and stuff to let it look weathered. after that i will bake the texture on the lowpoly model.
So here's my try at the second knife. I was going to get the textures done but dDo refuses to work properly. So here's the lowpoly wireframe with the ambient occlusion as diffuse. By the way this is my first actual post/reply here on Polycount.
Not really. Normal maps baked from highpoly models have curves that are defined by gradients which are relative to the lowpoly topology. Can't get that from painting. You'll get seams. "Sculpting" with nDo2 is more useful for details in tiling textures IMHO.
There is no special need to do things on your highpoly, if it looks good/looks like it's supposed to then it's good. no need to set smoothing groups on that. on the lowpoly SG question, generally no, read this (wich is at the top of this forum) http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=107196
Thx! Well that's the trick. Like I mentioned it above, what you see here IS the highpoly straight from Zbrush :) I guess you can call it real time, because it's rendered in Marmoset, but I didn't build a lowpoly for this one.
Mesh is missing uvs or the uvs are only partially there(ie uvs for some faces but not others). Make sure if you have multiple uv sets to delete any extra ones on your lowpoly before exporting. Highpoly does not need uvs.
Hey guys! I finished the retopo phase, the lowpoly version is around 16k tri. I know it could be optimized a bit more but I grew tired of it and I am eager to start the texturing so I think it stays this way.