Please Answer My Question

[Limeade]

I've been modeling for a little while now, and I've come to realise that next generation workflows are very different from how i work.

Am I right in assuming that when people make a character for a next gen game now they:
Sculpt it Zbrush then retopologise it afterwards, instead of actually modeling it perfectly first?

I'm getting the impression that all those games like the new prototype, mortal kombat, resi evil 5 etc made their characters this way and that modeling things to the exact spec then 'adding sculpt details' afterwards is just an almost redundant way of doing things now?

thanks in advance (im new here)

[cookepuss]

Am I right in assuming that when people make a character for a next gen game now they:
Sculpt it Zbrush then retopologise it afterwards, instead of actually modeling it perfectly first?
It can go either way. Some people like to hand create a solid base mesh from which to work, sculpt that in ZB, and retopologize it. Some people like to start with some primitives or a ZSphere rig, sculpt it, and retopologize it. There's no one "right way"; only what's right for you.

You still have to retopo. You still have to detail. You still have to UV. You still have to bake your maps. And so on and so forth.

It's like starting a sculpture from a wire armature or a solid mass of clay. Either way, you get to the same exact place. The starting point is the only thing that differs.

There's no way to tell if a model that you see in a game was done with either workflow since the end results are the same.

As far as retopology itself goes, that tends to be a big part of the process nowadays anyway, regardless of what your base is. Sculpting can and often does create a situation where retopology is the best way to get the most of your poly budget. Even if you think that you have the perfect base mesh, sculpting could throw your initial plan out of the window, at least partially.

[darkfox]

in short there is no right wrong answer, its people preferences on how they like to approach there work as long as it turns out well at the end

[Gephoria]

lately i've been trying different workflows, i seem to flow better from modeling in max then uvw the model before throwing it into zbrush

some noobs at my school never saved the original morph target... haha

[MRico]

I don't save the morph targets...you calling me a noob, PUNK? lol...I really don't though, but then again, I never throw something at zbrush with laid-out uv's.

[Nizza_waaarg]

next gen (lulz, current actually :P) should be all about the high poly. However you get that highpoly doesn't matter as long as it looks awsome. You then try and create a low poly to match that high poly and focus mainly on the sillhouette (making sure it isn't too jaggy and everything bakes on alright/no smoothing or shading probs).

Personally i like to start with somthing really basic and sculpt away, occassionally throwing uv's on just to test textures but normally leave it till the low poly. Could go with a super detailed base mesh but your low poly is most likley going to be different to the base. Depends what you'r comfortable with.


and whats all this morph target nonsense you speakin 'bout gephoria?! :p

edit: oh and the low poly has to deform and animate right as well (don't be hatin on the animators :inocent: )