3D Toolkit - Retopology Process

Quad Draw

I was a little nervous when it came to starting the retopology as I wasn't sure of the best approach. I asked my teacher for the best approach. He advised that I combine certain meshes together. Here's a list as to what was combined together.

• Hair and Horns
• Body, Leggings, Gloves and Boots
• Top, Skirt, Belt 
• Mask
• Cloak

Here's a screenshot of the clothes combined together.

Before I started Quad Draw, Simon helped me set up layers so if I messed up, I would have still have the original combined meshes to go back to. He altered he properties of the original layer so it would no longer show up and I didn't accidentally change anything on it. To remind my future self, to add a layer, go to Windows > General Editors > Channel Box/ Layer Editor.

I started off by using quad draw on the face. This is because the face with have the most detail and will take longer to retopologize. 

I still wasn't entirely sure on the best method of retopology and if there was an ideal limit to how many squares I should use. On Artstation, an artist called Meesh Chen uploaded a course where they talked through their process of creating a 3D game - ready character model. In the retopologizing video, they like to focus on the areas that need the most edge loops next. This would be the elbows, knees basically anywhere that's going to bend or deform.

I realised that this method of retopologizing was a lot more time consuming that I originally anticipated. This made me realise that I likely wouldn't be able to use quad draw to Retop my entire model. I hadn't left myself enough time to do that. This led to have to unfortunately use automated methods of retopology just so I could save time.

ZRemesher and Maya Automatic Retopology

I underestimated how time consuming retopology was and I didn't think that I'd be able to complete my project on time if I continued using Quad Draw. This isn't the best method as the mesh still has way too many faces. Next time I sculpt, I'll make sure to give myself a lot more time to focus on retopologizing it. Another issue I faced, was that I made the top and leggings way too thin so some of the body mesh showed through the clothing mesh. I need to make sure the my clothing meshes are thick enough before I make this far into the project. To fix my issue, I loaded up my ZBrush file and used the move tool to puff the clothing out a bit more. Then I ZRemeshed it and went back into Maya to auto retopologize it again.

Here's the wireframe for my character.

References

Building an Original Character - Part 3 - 3D Game-Ready Model, n.d. [Artstation] Meesh Chen, n.d. Available at: https://www.artstation.com/learning/courses/9yq/3d-game-ready-model/chapters/a55a/retopologizing-and-uv [Accessed 12 May 2025].