I’m working on jewelery and wanted to know is there a way to know how much poly count is adequate/you need? Is there a good number to start with? Like would some tools not work well if you have too little geometry? I don’t want to create too high a poly count while starting out as my computer cannot handle too much. I don’t need details like pores on a skin either ^^
you decide how much you need based on need.
If I need pore level detail, I need more geo, if I need a smooth surface and 50k faces will do it…then use 50k.
I don’t understand what you’re asking as it appears that you’ve answered your own question.
I mean is there a way to tell when X number of poly count isn’t enough or is too much? like would you have trouble sculpting? certain brushes not work etc?
I mean one could use 20 million for pore level detail or settle for 10 million too i’m guessing. What is adequate? Is there a way to determine what is adequate? Its pointless to use way too many polys when you don’t need it.
that’s going to take personal experience based on personal style.
on my machine i can subD to about 15, maybe 20 million polys but i can hardly do any operations. that’s about the upper bounds, i don’t think zbrush itself goes much above that, but it’s not really possible for me to work.
3 to 6 million per subtool is about the most i can work on comfortably, that has always proved to be more than needed.
with that in mind and getting to understand Zbrush better, you start to figure out your work flow and tricks. when to do the lips, when to leave them for later, when to duplicate, project, hide and remesh, split to subtool, etc. there’s many ways to get to where you need to be. think of zbrush as a friend who can do lot of things but can’t quite speak your language, you have to help it communicate with you.