I understand face topology by the muscular layout but…
why does it seem like some models(maybe its ZBrush)and there just that good at scultping seem to be more accurate of the persons face?
when I model or look on google to look at wireframes I wouldn’t know if that was the person or not until I put the texture on the 3d model. here is 2 images I found on google of what I mean.
one is clint Eastwood wireframe
the other is very good topology and I just needed a picture to show what I am having problems with… i wouldn’t know who that person was by looking at this wireframe.
even if I applied these edge loop methods to client estwoods blueprints, it wouldn’t look like that first picture I am talking about and i know its not just my contours.
it’s like using regular face topology on a Disney or manga character.
It’s not a matter of good or bad topology, but if you look at those picture, it’s all in the vertex density
On the picture that seems to be a sculpt on which some autoretopology like zremesher or similar has been done, you can see the vertex density is rather high.
It’s very necessary because it allows then to showcase the wrinkles and face details a lot, something low poly can’t do (out of texture/normal/etc maps added on top)
On the picture with the good topology, you can also see obviously the vertex density is low as it’s low poly, so it’s just simply not possible to showcase wrinkles, details etc. but because it’s low poly and has good topology it’s a very good base head for further work.
And that’s the difference
See by example , while i’m no best digital sculptor, i did a sculpt in dyntopo a long time ago in which i was trying to make DeForest Kelley (the actor that played the Dr McCoy of old Star Trek)
For fun and because dyntopo is all about not even trying to have nice topo, i tried to make a manual retopology of the face, and here was the result :
Similarly to what you posted this does not really look anything like DeForest Kelley , it’s too low poly to have modelled details - but - it is a good base retopo with very workable topology, and with some texture/normal/etc maps it would be enough.
Now to show how much details capturing is dependant to the vertex density, what if i increase the vertex density of that base retopo thanks to a subsurf :
Suddenly as you see it looks a bit more like the reference.
good work. I have a question though. if I can’t sculpt can I just do a lot of subdivision to a basic edge loop model? I would like to find a tutorial on this. modeling that is because I can’t sculpt. I (like this picture ) I found online and was done in zbrush. they most have done the retopology there becuase the mesh density is high but very clean quads.
I am trying to learn this but in blender and edge modeling if I can. this whole time I haven’t been happy with my work because I cant get this detail…
To get details, you really should start to train yourself in sculpting, Blender dyntopo tools by example are excellent for just sketching things that are in your head and make details without caring at first for the topology.
And once you’re done, you can retopologise using the Blender snap tools (and several interesting addons to make the process easier) over your sculpt to obtain a good, usable and solid base mesh for further modelling/additional work.
And as shown in my screenshot, subsurf +shrinkwrap modifiers if you want to have your retopo/base mesh “capturing” the details of your sculpt
It’s never too late to learn to do some sculpting and retopo in Blender, those are extremely usefull along modelling, there are lots of video about sculpt/retopo with Blender on websites like youtube and etc… to get you started.
