What method do you suggest to extract new subtools such as armor? Draw a mask on a high subd base mesh and extract? Or try using the topology tools to extract subtools. I’ll need to animate this character so I need to keep the poly count fairly low. Thanks!
It depends on how the armor’s going to follow the model’s edge flow. If its edges will correspond well with the edges of the exiting model, then you can use Extract. This is because Extract exactly copies the current topology, except where it has to cut diagonally across polygons due to the mask that you painted. If what you want to create isn’t going to follow the existing topology very closely, or if you want it to have a totally unique topology, then you’ll be better off with retopology.