ok…so basically i have a few questions. I saw that most artists out there that create models for games have the fallowing workflow :
-sculpt in zbrush (with low detail basemesh from max or with zspheres)
-bring mid detail level into max (maya, xsi etc) and construct final game basemesh over it (using snap)
-unwrap basemesh
-bring the last level of detail from zbrush in max and bake normals from high to basemesh
i understand this process but i have a question about something that not many people detail when they speak about their workflow. How do you go about creating the difuse map (specular map etc). I for one find it much more intuitive to paint directly on the high poly model in zbrush just because i get to see all the little details of the high mesh and i get to paint directly on them as opposed to painting the texture on the low poly unwrapped model in photoshop.
i heard of two methods
- you create an ambient occlusion map in max along with the normal map so you get to see all the high poly details in photoshop
- you paint as you normaly would in zbrush and then in max you bake the difuse map of the high poly model on to the low poly mesh you constructed in max.
Wich of these two methods do you guys prefer. 2 sounds cool to me because i get to paint in zbrush, but i’m afraid i could loose colour detail during the bake process. Can i loose detail this way or if i do everything right the quality loss is minimal? Is there any other way to get the difuse map?
Thanks