Baked orc

[Guihom]

Here is the before/after baking of my orc:

And the baked maps (I separated the orc vs cloting & armor in 2 separate textures):

It has been quite tedious to get ok maps: after having cleary understood how baking worked (actually reading blender documentation but I struggled quite a long time before even thinking about having a look at it) and ended using a cage object for each baked object.

To do so, for each object, I duplicated the low poly object, then in sculpt mode, using the mesh filter tool, I inflated it until it mainly or fully enclosed the high poly mesh.
However, for a few tricky objects, I’ve had to split them into pieces, or even use a second baked map (with a different cage) and merge it in image editor paint mode with the clone tool, or even had to manually correct a few bits (still in paint mode in image editor)…

But I am quite satisfied with the result now… but I may refine the topology of a few objects: though I struggled retopologizing to get as few faces as possible (ended up with 36k), I find the boots quite edgy and even a normal map cannot smooth the blocky aspect of their contour 🫤

[VVruba]

Just a heads up, to make cage objects easily you can use “Alt+S” in edit mode. It’s an alternative scaling method that “inflates/deflates” your mesh. It may still require some cleanup since you can end up with crossing over geometry but depending on the case it can be quicker and more precise than using the sculpting tools.

[Guihom]

Oh yes, nice tip, thank you @VVruba !
Indeed, it would have been easier, and more precise for many of the objects !

[NP5]

Great job.
Cages are very good but tend to be avoided in tutorial as it is a fair bit more work I suppose.