Poly Modeling vs Sculpting - Which is Better?

In this video tutorial, we're talking about the differences between traditional polymodeling and sculpting.

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[Bosspruductions]

5:08 : Thanks for watching episode 1 of my minecraft lets play
5:12 : As you can see, I did some mining of camera

[krowwithakay]

I think the combination of both is the best, polymodeling to get the rough shape, and sculpting on the model to add fine details and texture

[ReneAlex]

Full disclosure; I'm a Poly modelling hammer.


Now that been said; in your example you are shooting yourself in the foot doing all that from the start, basically starting backwards, extruding and trying to get a form with so many polys from the beginning, for example that lip with 36 edges is a HUGE mistake. In my experience with polys (been modelling since 1997) you start with a base mesh with basic (VERY BASIC) topology, and after you got the structure and the proportions set you add detail and refine adding loops and going up in poly count. Is the same method as sculpting, you start up with a base mesh with foundations and structure THEN you add detail on top. My point is that you guys are presenting the poly modelling scenario like a silly infomercial before situation. It is like trying to sculpt a face and subdivide the sphere 6 times right at the beginning.


In the other hand YES sculpting is the way to go for almost any organic (or funky hard surface) model out there. You are going to deal with more steps and more post work like retopo and exporting mesh from here to there, but in the hand of a talented sculptor it's a vastly superior technique.

[titanlax]

I use polymodelling for the base mesh and later on sculpt on it....and bake the normal maps

[Absovec]

3D model head with poly modeling? Yeah, I like challenges... but i'm not masochist

[СтепанЮрченко-нш]

2:45 - but in poly modelling you have many tools to speed up your workflow.
Soft selection for example. So poly modeling is not about just moving vertices.

You may need to straight create topology rather then sculpt, and for that poly modelling is your friend.
Also it may be even simplier then sculpting for those, who don't have art skills at all, but want to start working in 3d.

[alexanderelsen]

I tried sculpting and found making a head impossible, I finally tried poly modelling after days of attempting sculpting and made a really nice looking head in like 10 minutes (really surprising myself how easy it was.). It really depends on the person imo. I've always been more maths oriented and my artistic skills are negligible.

[BlkWmnAnimator]

The polygon modeling at the beginning, particularly the lip part looked like those infomercials where people are incapable of sitting down with a bowl of popcorn or can't drink out of a cup. Lol. Like, I know you're trying to prove a point, but it's funny how you were proving it.

[zaarvalathin]

I love a bit of clickbait. You guys never cease to amaze me. The 'sculpt' in the thumbnail is clearly photogrammetry

[lunatunny]

To be fair that wasn't a very good poly modeling workflow. It's far more optimal to work directly from a reference.

[KageToHikari_CG]

It`s even better using low-poly, then sculpt it to the shape you want and then retopo it again X)

[YGODueltainer]

As I learn, modeling tends to give me more freedom and easier to pull off even with good topology at ease compared to scuplting.

[PsychoticWolfe]

I watched a handful of blender videos yesterday. You taught me things in ten minutes that ten videos didn’t cover. Thank you! I like this podcast style video.

[michaelfox]

I can remember when I used to model everything, before I realized digital sculpting was a thing, honestly it's a lifesaver- so much time was wasted worrying about topology when I should've been practicing sculpting and improving my design skills.

[marshmallow]

You need them both: Poly Modeling to create the basic shapes, and Sculpting to add details to the shape.

[notusingmyname]

neither is better... it rests in the hands of the artist.

[robfrydryck]

The poly modeling here is done very clumsy like the modeler was trying to make poly modeling look bad, blender to look bad, or he didn't know how to do it. The proper way to poly model is with two reference images. You can do it without them like here but it requires more skill. Many fine human models were done with poly. You also neglected the fact that you can get a quick start in poly and move to sculpting.

[slickricky]

I started Poly modeling and my teacher in college was a little outdated so she never really taught us sculpting, until I found this channel... This explains why all all my characters look like the stock head

[Holobrine]

I think poly modeling is better for establishing a general shape and form, but sculpting is better for small intricate detail.

[TheLumberjack]

I'm 99, 99% sure that the "sculpting" head, which you used in your thumbnail, is scanned and not sculpted.