Auto vs Manual retopo comparison

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#1

Hi Folks,
Like many below I’ve tried to do both the quicker Auto retopo in the course, and then re-doing it (over the course of several weeks of mornings!) manually.

Things I’ve learnt:

  1. The technical aspects of manual retopo are pretty straight forward!.. just a bit time consuming.
  2. I should sculpt in a proper T Pose next time, as retopo-ing a clenched fist was a nightmare!
  3. It’s quite satisfying, and next time I do a retopo (under the assumption its for animation of game export) I’ll use a lot LESS detail in the retopo.

Thanks, and great course so far as allways Grant (and team):

retopo_compare
retopo_compare1832×819 362 KB

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#2

Good study!
9.5k is a good range.

And if in need (facial close-ups) you still have the Sculpt version.

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#3

Great job manually retopologizing the character. I’ve run into the same problem with my character. The remesh method is far too inaccurate for my model. I am currently testing various add-ons and stand alone programs. So far, quad remesher is working the best - gets me 90% of the way there. Then I manually add in details where I need it. But this software is $50. I’m using a trial version. There is also Instant Meshes which is a stand alone product and is open source. It works decently, but I haven’t had as much success as with the one-button solution of Quad Remesher. There are a number of built in Blender add-ons for manual retooology that are quite useful. Here’s a tutorial I found on YouTube https://youtu.be/X2GNyEUvpD4?si=mw75SyWhtsEJmvdI and I’m using this combined with Quad Remesher at the moment. I don’t know if I’ll splurge for Quad Remesher. As I improve my manual topology skills, I may not need to.

#4

I agree about the 9.5k range.

I’m REALLY liking the Sculpt version, though I can’t imagine me being able to convert 48.mill tris into a decent amount of quads. I shudder just thinking about it!!

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#5

I just extruded vertices and edges and faces manually one by one, using shrinkwrap and face snapping (individual elements) over the sculpt.
I used the meshtools (free addon in blender) to even out some of the verts once I had a good loop, but didn’t get too swept away with it looking even.
I used a couple of reference vids for getting the main body loops in (How to retopo a body…its in zbrush but makes no differnce and a reference topo in sketchfab of a face / head topo which was helpful (good topology head)

Once you get the flow of extrude vert with auto merge, and fill it goes by pretty quick…I know next time though I’ll be much quicker and with much fewer faces (especially in the head)

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#6

I agree about retoppo. It is easy I find. Yes more time consuming but so much more satisfying.

The other thing to consider is starting with the ‘re’ topology.
Build the model old style, properly. Then Use multi-res. This then lets you sculpt finer details but does not mess up the underlying good topology. You get to have a high and lower resolutions of the same model.
If you feel like experimenting, take a copy of your hand retoppo version and add a multires mod. Up the levels a few times and then sculpt on it. Do not use dyntopo should be no need of it. You will have more vert density naturally already where more details are in the head and hands.

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