I keep reading things that contradict one another, and I know there are many different ways to do things but I could do with a few points being cleared up.

I've always produced and unwrapped the low poly first, then duplicated and subdivided the duplicate to produce the high - but I've been reading that this is more the case with organic models, and that for hard-surface models generally its best to produce your high poly first then with a duplicate simplify the mesh - Does this hold some truth?

Also, wouldn't unwrapping a high poly model be more difficult (obviously not impossible - just not as easy as a low poly) than simply unwrapping the low?

Just trying to get a really solid insight into how it's done and why - I still consider myself a novice at this kind of work, so any help is greatly appreciated

You seem a bit confused here, first off for organic modeling(characters etc) the standard workflow isnt model lowpoly then high, its:

A. Model clean evenly spaced quad based cage mesh for sculpting
B. Sculpt/Model high
C. Retopo for low
D. UV low and bake

For hard surface/props a similar workflow is usually used:
A. Quickly model "blockout mesh" this isn't an optimized lowpoly and it certainly isn't uved. You block out your proportions with basic modeling tools first so you're not making major changes with your dense highpoly mesh.
B. Model highpoly mesh, usually with sub-d
C. Retopo to create low, either by removing loops from the high sub-d cage, and/or remodeling complex bits with simple geometry. You can use retopo tools here but generally more traditional modeling is used for accuracy.
D. UV and bake

One of the biggest reasons to model high first is that often the shape of your high will change a bit, you don't want to be "locked in" to the shape of your lowpoly, what if certain areas look bad once you get more detail there? Then you have to change the high and low, its a mess. You want to form your low around the high to avoid rework. Not to mention the fact that sub-dividing parts of your low to make the high alters(shrinks) the shape of the model. Its really important to match the size of the high and lowpoly models as accurately as possible, to get a good bake.

Also for good technical reasons the low should be the last thing you do and sort of a fluid process. You want to tweak your low as you're doing test bakes to ensure a quality bake. A more specific low workflow should look like this:

A. Model base lowpoly
B. Do temp uvs
C. Do test bakes
D. Alter base lowpoly
E. Repeat B-D until your testbake looks awesome
F. Do final uvs
G. Do final bakes


You don't need to UV your high unless you have a really specific reason to do so. Sometimes character artists will uv the simple "cage" mesh they use for sculpting, so they can paint color/spec/etc textures on it at the pixel level as well, but nobody really uvs the highpoly model

Thank you! Most of my "information" comes from many difference sources, a lot of the time they seem to contradict one another and as you put, I get a little confused. This is the reason I thought I'd ask the people here - I've found I get a more useful response than trawling through other peoples forum posts and tutorials.

I'm trying to focus more on props than characters.

So to just sum up what you've said (mainly because I'm still fairly new to this, and still learning the lingo):

So the Quick blockout mesh is more of a silhouette to get the shape for the final model, but certainly isn't the final high poly, or low.
Would you then use this blockout to build upon for your high? And once complete, duplicate again to simplify the topolgy to form your low?

I've already made a few of my own game props but they were fairly simple in design and I tackled this by just producing a low poly, then duplicating and producing the high. They looked ok, but sometimes I neglected my original UV's and ended up with some stretching.

I apologise for the bombardment of text, but very much appreciate your help.

Originally Posted by Cdawilliams

So the Quick blockout mesh is more of a silhouette to get the shape for the final model, but certainly isn't the final high poly, or low.
Would you then use this blockout to build upon for your high? And once complete, duplicate again to simplify the topolgy to form your low?

Right, just to block in the proportions and silhouette. Depending on how clean you model your blockout, you might start adding your control loops etc directly on the blockout, or you might start modeling the shapes from scratch with the blockout in a background layer. Sort of depends on how clean your edgeflow on the blockout is and how complex the shape is, some really complex shapes will benefit from remodeling with more geometry instead of trying to "retrofit" the blockout.

When the high is done yeah generally, I will copy a small chunk at a time from it and simplify(remove edge loops etc) to build low, or if the shape is really complex/detailed model the low around the high in the background layer. Rinse and repeat until your model is done.

One important thing to remember when removing loops from the highpoly cage is that using the cage mesh straight up like that as the low isn't always a good idea. You want the low to match the final result of the high as much as possible, a common mistake people make is matching the shape of the high cage, not the sub-divided end result, which can be bad with curves and things that "shrink" when sub-divided.

You can also sometimes go back to your blockout to start your lowpoly, depending on how much your high has changed with the highpoly, or how clean the blockout was to start with. I usually do really quick messy blockouts, so its often more effective to reduce the high or remodel from scratch around the high. Often times I do a little bit of both(reduce and remodel). Objects that have a lot of high frequency detail are often easier to model from scratch around the high, whereas objects that have low frequency details are often easier to reduce from the high.

I've already made a few of my own game props but they were fairly simple in design and I tackled this by just producing a low poly, then duplicating and producing the high. They looked ok, but sometimes I neglected my original UV's and ended up with some stretching.

Yeah with really simply objects you may not need to do a blockout. It can be really helpful though, even with simple objects to create a blockout and then throw it in game with a gray texture and crappy uvs. This allows you to check your proportions from the player's perspective.

Sorry, just realised I've been incredibly rude and overloaded with work but thank you. I appreciate the help. You've been really insightful and very helpful.