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--- documentation:modeling:arenvoorhees [2011/02/01 09:53] – chuptys
+++ documentation:modeling:arenvoorhees [2011/06/06 08:31] (current) – Deleted, moved to Assets namespace mhgamework
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-====== Correspondance with Aren Voorhees ======
-Aren Voorhees, aka Artistic Vendetta, is a professional 3d game character artist who's currently working as the Lead Character Artist at 'Day 1 Studios' on F.E.A.R. 3 for Xbox, PS3 and PC. Be sure to check out his [[http://www.artisticvendetta.com/|website]]!
-Below you'll see my questions and the answers he provided on character development.
-*
-*
-//Simon Chuptys wrote://
-----
-Greetings,
-We are students at the KULeuven (Belgium) and in our free time, we're working on our own game.
-We're reaching the stage where we are in need of a character (finally) :) but since it's the first time I have to model/scuplt one, i'm having some questions about the process:
-What workflow is used?
-From what i found around the internet, it looks something like this:
-  - low poly model with uv-layout
-  - sculpting and exctraction of displacement/diffuse/specular/... maps
-  - retopology and re-unwrap uv-coordinates
-  - add it all together and start rigging
-Now the question i had about this is, why is it necessary to do the retopology? Can't i use the basic mesh from the sculpting and add the maps there?
-And if retopology is necessary, how do i ensure the UV-coordinates remain the same?
-A big thanks in advance,
-Simon Chuptys
-----
-\\
-//Aren Voorhees wrote://
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-Hey Simon,
-The workflow below mostly sounds good.  One thing to note however, is that you don't really want to make any changes to your geometry after you have already created a normal map.  If you alter the geometry too much after the texture maps have been created, the maps won't look correct on the geometry anymore.
-As far as retopologizing, it is not always necessary.  It sort of depends on what sort of character you are working on.  In some cases your starting low poly model can end up being your final geometry as well if you can plan it all out well enough at the beginning.
-In other cases, the base geometry that you sculpt on might not be suitable for putting into a game, in which case you might model a whole new low poly geometry.  In that case, you would probably generate your normal map as one of the last steps, by importing your high poly (from zbrush/mudbox) into Maya and creating the maps there.
-Let me know if you have more questions!
-Aren
-----
-\\
-\\
-//Well, that comes in handy: it looks like i shouldn't do the map extraction in mudbox. That explains!//
-\\
-===== Some topics for a next mail: =====
-  * When to use normal maps, when displacment?
-  * How to work efficiently on a 'modular' character (like one that has an armor consisting of different parts, not sealed to the body)