modeling is the merger of 2 characteristics – art and geometry. Art has to do with the shape, size, details, basically how the model looks . Geometry has to do wih how the model is made , quad faces, even face area, consistent edge flow. In the process of modelling it is often easiest to separate the two – i.e. start sculpting or box modeling, and ignore all rules for good geometry, just get the model to have the shape you want it to have. then, go back over it and retopologize it, this time the shape is taken care of, so all you have to worry about is good geometry.
If you’re goal is to create a single still image, retopo may be unnecessary, but if your goal is animation, clean topology is critically important.
So I experimented this by altering a Gorilla 3d model artistically, and now comes the matter of retopologize it. Upon researching the methods available, I came across Metin Seven’s profile here where he compared Zbrush Zremesher, 3d Coat Autotopo and Blender’s tools.
I’m looking into finding the most suitable method of cleaning the topology of my low poly model. I have Zbrush 15 but I came to realize that its zremesher doesn’t work on models with moderate to low poly count.
I’m actually new to retopology as a art itself and all this time, initially hoping to get it done automatically or through other software. Can someone recommend what is the best methodology to cleaning my models topology into quads for purpose of animation and deformation?
There currently no replacment for doing topology by hand quality wise.
zRemesher with polygroups can sometimes give okaish results, but it usually still need a decent amount of manual clean up to be useful.
With a model with as low polycount as this it wouldn’t take much time at all to clean it up by hand. If your doing very low poly stuff it shoudn’t be also too hard to keep decent topology while modeling. Retopo after is more useful with high poly stuff like sculpting.
See, the problem is that I don’t have any tutorial experience or workflow of achieving an even and leveled distribution of quads on a low poly mesh that’s a haphazard mix of triangles and quads. I cooked the mesh up like that, because following the advice of the person in aforementioned thread, I needed to achieve the shape artistically before correcting the topology.
Unfortunately, all the tutorials online are focused on high poly to low poly conversion. Nothing about cleaning topology and workflow/tips and techniques of doing it.
I would get rid of those hopes for an automated way to retopologize your meshes. The tech isnt quite there yet, but it’s close. So with that being said you are going to need to do some digging and research on how to create your own topology.
One great pool of information is the polycount forums. I would suggest starting there and browse the endless forum threads on characters and topology work flows.
Of course i’ve heard of those tools, all I said was they are not something you should rely on 100%. By looking at your wireframe there’s still areas that need to be cleaned by hand since the auto retopology couldnt figure out what to do with the flow of topology.
But if that works for you - great. In a production environment, that won’t pass.
