How to retopo this? [Game character retopo]

[system]

I will be grateful for some hints: How to retopo thing like belts and other accessories? Please take a look:

When i use Zremesher, all the hard edges melts. Decimation Master does really good job keeping hard edges, but ofc topology is bad - and this piece will deform a bit with animation, so i guess it’s not a good solution
Zremesher would be amazing if it could PRESERVE HARD EDGES. For now it’s good only for organic stuff, or maybe i don’t know some hard surface Zremesher techniques?
I make characters for my game, so poly count must be game-ready.

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[Spyndel]

Zremesher will not magically create hard edge low poly geometry with perfectly creased edges, unfortunately. If that’s what you want, you still have to create that manually. Zremesher creates low poly geometry. Fine high res detail like crisp edges still needs to be projected from the original mesh.

This is a Zremeshed object in Zr6 with projected detail:

In the specific situation of the belt, your options are to model it traditionally at low poly and subdivide (the buckle should be a separate object, not sculpted), project high res detail, or manually retopo it.

http://docs.pixologic.com/user-guide/3d-modeling/topology/zremesher/transferring-detail/

[system]

Thanks! So it looks like i need to go back to my previous workflow for hard-edged elements: First create LP (for example, using Strips tool from 3dsMax for the belt), subdivide, sculpt and bake (… but just masking and extracting in ZB was so easy! )
Well, at least GoZ is really helpful in this aspect. Box modeling, we meet again!

[Spyndel]

Perhaps I was unclear. MOST of that high res detail on that figure, hard edge or otherwise will be lost upon Zremshing unless you project the detail. Zremesher creates new low poly base geometry. Low Poly Geometry cannot hold high res detail (like crisp edges), unless it is subdivided and projected. Follow the steps in that link I provided in the previous post, and see how much detail comes through on the projected mesh, belt buckles and all.

As far as modeling a belt buckle–whatever you’re comfortable with. But it’s a simple job for Zbrush Transpose extrusion as well:

http://docs.pixologic.com/user-guide/3d-modeling/modeling-basics/transpose/

[system]

Ah I know that, maybe my bad english causes some misunderstanding here, sorry
I meant retopologizing to final low poly, game ready mesh (so whole character is like < 10k polys) - from there i will ofc bake all the details from HP to Normal map, AO, etc.
BTW. I’ve followed these steps, it will be useful.

[Spyndel]

My point was, it shouldn’t be necessary to recreate the belt in another program. A Zbrush subtool extract is fine for that. The belt will be fine once you consolidate the figure for animation, remesh, project detail, then generate normal or displacement maps based on the high res data. Outputs requiring especially precise or highly optimized geometry (like game animation) are always going to require some degree of manual retopologizing, however-- either in Zbrush or another program.

[Cryrid]

The topology brush, or oldschool zsphere retopology, would be great for things like the belts.