Retopology method for rigging detail: Shrinkwrap or Bake?

[mklinsky (Michael)]

Hi there, I’m new to character sculpting, retopology and rigging. In my workflow I’m hitting a snag just based on limited knowledge of the process.

I’ve sculpted a character and am retoplogizing the head for rigging and animation but am unsure how artists accomplish high detail deformation. What is the best method? Do I add/apply a shrink wrap modifier to my basic retopoed mesh and call it good? Will that work for rigging, or do I need to bake it and use the normal map so the details will follow the rig? What’s the standard practice? Any breakdown of the process would be most welcome. Thanks so much!

[Standhy_Sdhy]

@mklinsky

basic retopoed mesh and call it good? Will that work for rigging,

You can try retopology addons that re-topologize it for you (I haven’t used those tho).

Or what I do: I learned/still learning face and muscle topology aka good edge-flow. Good topology is important if you want to rig it:

Learning and Understanding Topology - Tutorial Collection

Hi everyone, Topology has always been a major focus of mine and I’ve produced a fair number of tutorials and resources on the topic over the years. Until now these resources have always been scattered all over the place. I’m now starting to collect all these tutorials, lectures, etc into a single place in my newLearning Mesh Topology Collection Currently this collection includes: Topology in Theory and Practice - Blender Conference 2010 Lecture Topology Overview of the Human Head Topology Ov…

Start with the 6th video in the playlist.
(Even just studying the pics and where each colour flows into might be enough).

It took me quite a lot of practice to get semi-confident with this.

You can also look at your own face in the mirror in a well-lit area while making exaggerated face expressions, seeing how the muscles on your face look.

EDIT: You’ll probably have to learn weight-painting if your mesh deforms weirdly after being rigged to an armature.

Good luck!