Low-poly modelling

Dev Diary #30

With my character concept and reference sketches finished, it was finally time for me to start my low-poly model!

Using the character reference sketches from before (see below) I set up a new scene and project files within Autodesk's Maya.

One I'd imported my sketches in different perspective modes, I used the box modelling technique to slowly build up the shape of a body using two cubes (one for the body and one for the head).

This stage is vital in getting the right proportions before I send it to ZBrush for sculpting. Essentially, this model serves as a base in which I later subdivide and sculpt details on in the sculpting stage, so making sure everything is the correct size and shape before I get there is very important.

While ensuring I have good topology isn't as important in this stage (since I'll be retopologising it later anyway), it's still important that I avoid creating ngons as these will dissapear completely and leave holes in my model once imported into ZBrush. Using this knowledge, I actually use it to my advantage to easily spot any ngons that I might've previously not seen on my model in Maya, so after I'm happy with how the model is looking, I'll send it to ZBrush, spot any missings polygons and then return to Maya to fix and re-export!

Once I was fully happy with the model and made sure there were no ngons, it was time to send in to Zbrush properly to begin the sculpting.

I started by simply subidiving my model a couple of times so that the surface would be much better and smoother to sculpt on.

One consequence of doing this however, is it turns details like the fingers on the hands into shorter, blob like sticks. Whilst there isn't much I can do about this, it does mean i'll need extra time to reshape the fingers into not only more detailed versions of themselves, but to their original proportions and positions.

Now that the project is set up, I can finally start what will likely be the longest stage of the process: the sculpting.

Stay tuned! :3