i am a newbie in 3d modelling, but what the hell just happened, in two days time i modelled a black gorilla with 100% quad mesh using box modelling when in two weeks i couldnt do in zbrush without thinking of retopo?
I’m what I call an advanced beginner, and I’ll try to answer what I believe to be your question here. (Someone else please jump in here if I’m off base in any or all areas).
If you start out with a model which has ideal topology, meaning it has the correct density of polygons in all areas that will hold the detail and will conform properly for animation and deformation, then just modeling and subdividing up your mesh will be enough. No retopology will be needed because you’ve done the work at the beginning.
The advantage of Zbrush is that you don’t have to spend 2 days box modeling your initial mesh at the beginning. This has the added advantage that any changes you might make in the creation process doesn’t have to have already been in your original ideal mesh. It frees you up to be spontaneous and creative without being restrained by all that work in the beginning.
So make a quick zsketch or zsphere model, or create one from primitives, and use that as a “clay medium” to create your art. Subdivide this as much as you need to create details, and don’t worry if its heavy in polygons or stretched or not ideal topology, because after you are finished you can better evaluate your model and THEN create (retoplogize) your mesh to best reflect both the details and the animation/deformation expectations if applicable. And you project the sculpted details onto that retopolgized mesh.
Also you don’t need to wait until the very end to retopologize and sometimes its better to do it mid-way at the point you’ve pretty much committed to your project, but all the details aren’t finished. You can retopologize to get your final mesh and continue subdividing (if needed) and continue sculpting to finish it off.
i find this work flow pretty water tight:
block out armature with zspheres - ad zspheres in areas where you might need denser geometry
convert to unified mesh (no zsketching)
check the topolgy - it should be ok for most uses
sculpt away
if you find the topolgy is bad later on - retop it in 3d coat and reproject detail onto retopo’d mesh
hope this helps
thanks for the informative rep…
although current retopo tech seems as time consuming as box modeling anyway so why not just settle with the box.
i’ve seen the youtube tuts on retopo and the responses are very positive though what they dont seem to notice is that the video is sped up.
if you start with the box though the learning curve will allow you to master any other modelling method with ease,
oh and i also tried to reverse the process and created a low mesh base in zbrush and edited it in max using the graphite modelling feature. seem to be promising. skips the box method in some ways.
when you reverse the process as above, make sure the model has a center line or edge so you can delete the half and put a symmetry modifier.