Low poly Max to Mudbox, back to max
Hi guys,
I am abit of an amateur when it comes to this so apologies if this is basic!
Basically, I can't find any tuts about importing a low poly model (a character in my case) into mudbox, applying detailing in mudbox, then baking the detailing onto the low poly model.
I know how to import the low poly model into mudbox and begin sculpting, I just don't know how to bake the detailing onto my low poly model so it shows the detailing without affecting the polycount.
I have tried extracting various maps in my mudbox and applying them to my model in max but to no success.
Any help greatly appreciated.
Cheers :poly122:
I am abit of an amateur when it comes to this so apologies if this is basic!
Basically, I can't find any tuts about importing a low poly model (a character in my case) into mudbox, applying detailing in mudbox, then baking the detailing onto the low poly model.
I know how to import the low poly model into mudbox and begin sculpting, I just don't know how to bake the detailing onto my low poly model so it shows the detailing without affecting the polycount.
I have tried extracting various maps in my mudbox and applying them to my model in max but to no success.
Any help greatly appreciated.
Cheers :poly122:
Replies
do your baking in max or xnormal...
mudbox cant handle hard/soft edges...
Sorry if I'm being dumb here.
step by step
1. import your lowpoly
2. sculpt details
3. export both
4. bake your textures (ao, normalmap) in xnormla or max
5. apply your maps in max
mudbox istn the best tool for baking lowres stuff...
xnormal is a free tool for texture baking...
Sorry for basic questions but I appreciate your help!
#1 You create a "cage" mesh for sculpting. This isnt your "low" as lowpoly meshes for ingame use will be optimized and have very poor geometry for sculpting. For your "cage" you want nice evenly sized *square* quads, avoiding ngons and triangles if at all possible
#2 You import this "cage" mesh into mudbox, sculpt your details and all that stuff.
#3 Export your high res mesh back into max, you can use a program to reduce the detail, or export a lower-resolution(low sub-d level in mudbox) mesh. You'll load this into the "background" in max, and build your lowpoly around it. You'll likely start off with your base mesh(or export the level1 base mesh back out of mudbox and use that). The reason you want to create a new mesh is simple:
A. As you create your highpoly, the shape of your model with undoubtedly change.
B, Now you'll want to create that optimized ready-for-ingame mesh. Unlike the cage, you're going to want less detail in some areas, and more in others.
#4 Now you'll do the uvs, smoothing groups, etc etc anything else required before baking.
#5 Now you can either bake in max, or export your high and low into xnormal separately to bake your maps. Xnormal is nice in that it can generally load a much higher resolution highpoly mesh, so if you're having problems loading high res meshes into max, that can be a good option.
To sum it up, if you think you can just create a standard lowpoly mesh, throw it into mudbox, sculpt it, and bake it back, you're in for a rude awakening.
http://i55.tinypic.com/nvwot1.jpg
I realise the mesh is terrible, but I was under the impression I could just export that into mudbox and add my detailing, and bake it back onto that model in the picture. This sucks, spose to have this model ready for my lecture tomorrow, and I have done it completely wrong
Thankyou for the information, it's really helpful. Are there tutorial videos for this kind of thing because I can't seem to find any at all.
Cheers
"basemesh_arshlevon_toes.obj " is a very good one to study.
You're not thattttt far off here. The main problems is see are:
#1 Proportions(could be fixed in mudbox)
#2 Lots of long thin quads instead of the more sqaure shaped, this can be fixed by adding some cuts along those loops, and also removin some edge loops where you have excessive definition, keeping it simple is best for this sort of thing.
#3 Get rid of some of those tris
#4 Add some fingers!
That base mesh you linked earthquake is brilliant. Definitely try and learn mudbox with it.
It seems like alot of work to then remake another low poly model based around your new high poly model. I think I have found a decent tutorial here, shows re-topology and stuff!
I might have a quick go at just making a sphere, adding detail, and then trying to bake the detail on, just so I know how to do it.
Thanks for the help! Will keep you updated
So frustrating
But there is one thing I don't understand, and I'm sure this would be a workflow thing, so not always the same for people.
Just say I have done my sculpt and everything and it's showing up on my low poly just fine, now time for texturing. Say I painted some bumps on an arm and want those bumps to be different colours to my skin textures. How do I know (UV wise) where the bumps are if they are not showing up on my low poly unwrap.
I hope that makes sense. I would assume I could take either the normal map or AO map and lay it in the background layer and use it as a guide as to where the bumps would be on the skin.
Man I hope that made sense. Just something I've been meaning to ask.
Thanks for the info.
only your lowres will need uvs...
but if you like to have uvs also on your high...
just import the uvs in mudbox... file --> import UV...
Now, a couple of things. The 'bumps' don't seem as defined as they do in mudbox. Do you need to change the bump ammount somehow? Also I had some high sculpted bits coming out as hair, and they havn't worked. I am guessing this is because I need to remake the low poly around the high poly as you guys said?
Cheers!
http://www.neilblevins.com/cg_education/mudbox_2010_to_max/mudbox_2010_to_max.htm
I got this from looking at the different tuts on cgtuts+ site
Hope it helps you out
Yea I did the whole of that tutorial. All it does though is gets the high poly mudbox model into max.
I have been modelling most the day and I've actually made a really good base mesh (well it's good for me!). Will show you guys tomorrow so you can point out any dodgy bits. I also downloaded the topogun demo, and wow, what an awesome program! Makes the process of remaking a base mesh less daunting. However, what does the demo version not include? As it seemed like I could retopologise my model in it?
Thanks
so thanks for this thread it's cleared up alot of errors i'm making,
Vocari.
Glad the thread has helped others! Thanks for pointing me to the generic wall tut, going to have a play around! I have made a new base mesh:
It's still not perfect but I hope you agree it's alot better than my other one. Is the poly count too high for a base mesh? I am going to try sculpt it in mudbox (Im very new to mudbox so it should be interesting!) then use topogun to retopologise, and then use xnormal!
Fingers crossed! Any criticism welcome about my base mesh!
Cheers
EDIT: The actually poly count is 1988! I have no idea why it shows it as 3.5k there? I was using mirror so I deleted have and then used symmetry and welded the seams and it seems ok.
So heres where I am. I managed to sculpt and paint my model in mudbox. I then imported the high poly sculpt into 3d coat, and used the auto topology thing, as I have no idea how to retopologize. I then put the auto-retopo into xnormal with the high poly to bake the normals, but I get an error saying my low poly has no texture coords assigned. What am I doing wrong? Would really appreciate if someone could help.
Cheers
EDIT: Ah man, have I really messed up here. Was I supposed to unwrap the low poly from 3D coat, and paint on that instead of painting on my high poly? Im so confused, this is the most confusing process ever
start with just making some crates or barrels
learn to use the graphite tools, they are powerful and easy to use/learn. you need to UV your low poly, if your asking that question you don't understand the full process and it would be best for you to slow down and keep it simple until you fully understand just the basics using just 3ds max and photoshop because once you start bringing multiple programs into the mix there are multiple ways to get to the end result and it is debately which route is better depending on what you are producing and for what purpose and to what specification
I'll just have to try figure it out myself I guess.
HOWEVER, I have made progress! Where I went wrong is I UV unwrapped my base mesh and not my retopologised base mesh. I put it onto xnormal and it generated the normals, and although it doesn't look amazing it looks decent and I am pretty chuffed with myself! It's 6k polys too. Next time I am going to properly learn graphite tools to retopologise as I think it's a necessity.
Now I have hit another obstacle. I am texturing in mudbox, do I paint on my high poly sculpt or my lowpoly base mesh? Abit confused!
Cheers
In reference to normal maps, the basic rule is: Silhouette via geometry, surface details via maps.
this is what i was trying to explain to you about just mastering the simple, very basic workflow using 3ds max and photoshop before diving into to using multiple programs
I have done everything right it seems. I have painted on my high poly, and I now want to apply the texture to my low poly retopologised mesh, however simply extracting the texture in mudbox and applying it obviously does not work as the UV's are different. Now this is hopefully my final question!
Cheers
I currently have a Diffuse map (my texture) and a normal map (created with xNormal). Are there any other maps I should have on my model to make it look better?
Cheers