Low Poly Character

So today's task was to start modelling a Low poly character in a cartoon style that I could eventually rig and test out in Unity which is the engine were going to be using for our side scrolling game.

My Method was to start with a box for the body 2x2x2 segments and to use extrude to for the body and arms.  I then used extrude and bevel to creates the legs and shoes.

To model the head I again started with a box and put Turbosmooth on with 1 iteration.  This method is far better than using a sphere as spheres cause nasty triangles where as rounding out a box gives the head a much nicer set of quads.

Continued...

So I have completed the Model for now.  I may have to add some loops later for animation purposes but as we haven't yet decided on what were animating I have kept it as simple as I could and only detailed what would give the character a good silhouette and keeping in mind this is a side scrolling game some details would not be required.

I have managed to keep the character at 772 polys 1,544 Tris.

The hair is also apart of the model with like a Johnny Bravo style keeping it simple but I really liked the look during the design.

Next..

So next I am going to unwrap the model and texture it.  Hopefully I have learned from previous builds and get the UVW's right this time, fingers crossed.

Update..

So I have spent some time with the UV's trying to get them as best as I could using many different methods with the unwrap editor as I could to get them accurate.  This included Pelt Mapping with relax and peel mode mainly.

I did both a wire frame and solid version of the unwrap in a PNG format with alpha selected so I could easily overlay them in Photoshop.

I then started to add colour using Solid colour masks to help with any future alterations in which I can easily and quickly change the shade or colour of each part by changing the colour mask and not having to repaint the whole thing.

I have spotted a few errors in the characters hand which need to be fixed, again the problem is at UV level but after spending along time trying to sort the uv's on the hand previously I am ignoreing this for now.

Update..

So now I have painted some detail to the hair to make it less flat looking.

Next I have started adding some texture detail to the clothing

Next I have improved the shirt as the texture was going the wrong direction and added a logo.  Also added some front pockets to the jeans

Next I have decided to take a break from the diffuse for now and I have started building the HighPoly version.  This is so I can create a nice Normal map and complete map to add some extra detail to the Lowpoly.

Above shows how I started modelling the trousers and below I continue to add detail by completing the Shirt and some hair.

So now I am happy with my HighPoly I decide to revisit my UV's and fix all the issues/difficulties I found whilst making the diffuse earlier.  The new UVW unwrap below will enable me to get a much better diffuse once I bake the Highpoly onto the Lowpoly.

Happy with my Uv's I have now started putting a base colour on my high poly ready to start baking onto my Low poly using a projection modifier.  This will include Normal map and complete map.

Base Colour on Highpoly

Next I have started to bake a complete map and a normals map and the first set of results are pretty good.  Will need to clean up a few area but I think it will turn out good.

So yea he looks like a vampire and the shadows are a little harsh but that should be an easy fix.

Hi Poly To Low Poly Workflow

  During my research in making a character I came across a lot of people asking whether they should model low poly first the make high poly or vise versa.  

After completing my low poly first and then using that to create a high poly I did run into some problems as above, mainly the fact my high poly was a good size smaller.  This meant that when projecting my maps from the high poly to the low poly the cage had to be placed quite a distance away which meant the bake came with plenty of errors.

Taking my High poly boy I decided to work backwards and see what the results would look like.

The character is 100-200 higher in poly count than the original low poly but as you can see his silhouette is far closer to the high poly which means he should take the bake much better,

To show this I put the original low poly (left) high poly (Middle) and new low poly (Right) together