High to Low Poly Workflow in 3D Modeling

After watching this tutorial you will have an understanding of optimization workflows and concepts to keep in mind when you need to bake high poly detail down to your low poly models. This video is part of a series on how to prepare real-time game ready assets in a real production pipeline.

Software used in Tutorial: Maya 2020

#uvmap #lowpoly #gameart #3dmodeling #retopo #autodeskmaya

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Table of Contents

0:00 Introduction
0:37 High-to-Low Overview
1:16 The Importance of Silhouette
2:43 Have a Target Triangle Count
5:16 Leverage the Original Base Mesh Where Possible
8:15 Use Triangles!
11:08 Keep Round Corners Round/Avoid Right Angle Corners
14:30 Use Shrink to Wrap Base Mesh on High-Poly Model
18:30 Rebuild Low Poly Mesh with Retopology/Quad Draw
19:50 Study Great Examples!
24:50 Timelapse of Concepts in Practice
31:40 Conclusion

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[ericavoss]

You sir need a medal, this video is the best!! At school I was always taught ‘tris are bad’ and so it stuck with me. I finished my bachelors degree last year, and now I have to rewrite my brain into being able to use them.

You have explained the concept very well, super grateful!

[txlec]

3d polygonal modeling is not a joke. i've been learning 3d modeling in maya for 6 months now and man i gotta ya that thing aint a joke. its serious and it drives you nuts all the way from the depth of the sea to the highest mount of the earth. if you're just modeling basic stuff like box and circles thats ok and that's very enjoyable lol, but wait, wait until ya start thinking bout creating iron man or just about any si-fic hard surface robots, things, or whatever in that in those line, your gonna instantly notice your not match for it and immediately feels like your LOST in the abyss of outer space.

[Elnaz_Heydari_]

One of the best tutorials! I found the answers for some of my big issues with high to low poly workflow! I really appreciate it!

[ManOfTrades]

I always do a lot of searching on youtube to find quality as good as this. I haven't seen your videos before, but lately they have been getting recommended and wow I wish I had seen them sooner! Such insanely good content, keep making more!

[jakubstacho]

gooood, just what I was looking for. It would be great if you keep posting videos about high to low poly modeling along with baking and making game-ready assets

[bresk]

That is some quality content right there, keep up the good work !

[Aldebaran]

wow, shrink wrap erased me a lot of headaches... thax, i didn't know that tool.

[JustGraphic]

I was searching for some maya tutorials, and I am so glad that I found your channel, this tutorial is so helpful, thank you so much, I will keep on watching your other tutorials too, I am sure I can learn so many things with the help of your wonderful tutorials

[lobkevangheluwe]

Thank you so much for this tutorial, definitely the best I’ve found yet on this topic!

[EnterMyDreams]

so so so useful!! thank you so much! love your explanation process

[HOWDOT]

Man thank you for this amazing explanation. Now I fell confident!
Love all of your vids.

[DarkAutumnD]

That's what I always concentrate on as well. It's especially important for LODs. A good rule of thumb is to treat it like a cylindrical object. The more edges you remove or alter, the more it loses its shape - the more obvious it is. As long as you keep the silhouette for as long as possible then you can kinda chip away at the other parts. Always give yourself a triangle count budget - that's what I learned in games design. 24k tris is still a hell of a lot for a games engine lol. Good job though!

[danielmfaD]

Hello. Thank you for your tutirials. But i have a question. "14:30 Use Shrink to Wrap Base Mesh on High-Poly Model" How can i use this same technique in 3ds Max? Thank you

[WhisperPass]

Great tutorial video as always. your all tutorial's
is fully useful to maya users. Thanks for sharing

[maxiperez]

Wow, this video is absolutly awesome. Thanks for making such a great and usefull content !! I was really struggling with how to do the high to low properly.

[jahandarwerewolf]

Thats what i needed!! Thank you very much Sir!!!!

[ИванДемыгин-шу]

An awesome turorial, thanks! Keep up the good work

[lowkey]

Now I need the 24k to 5k res optimization video :)))

[geraltfromrivia]

So, adding bevels to the corners with a significant divergence from the high-poly version is necessary even if we're creating an asset that won't be in the foreground, as it will lead to artifacts otherwise?

[michaellaviola]

I'm a professional rigging artist/animator, just learning more about modelling due to personal interest. The one thing I strongly disagree with is triangles. They may be okay in a model like the grande, but anything that needs to deform and animate needs to be clean quads. Too often, I've had to give back models to the modellers to fix the topology on knees or knuckles. The main problem with triangles for a mesh that needs to be rigged is that they prevent me from making clear and deliberate selections, it's not that you can't do it, but it's a nightmare to deal with. For something like this granqde, I'm sure it's fine, but overall, if I can have a mesh that's entirely made of quads, I'll take that any day