Hi ! I’m doing my first retopo from mudbox and I have some issue with the polycount and the topology, it’s going to be a character I want to animate. I’m not sure how to model the hand and the feet, and I even have one triangle on the groin.
But pictures are better than word :
Can someone help me ?
Hi,
Firstly, I would detach this area and remodel a cleaner version which will help reduce your poly count.
Secondly, do some research on topology. I am no master of it but the fundamentals are clean smooth flowing edges. In the picture below green is good and red is bad.
Try to evenly space out the distance between parallel edge loops. Does not have to be precise however it will be easier when it comes to rigging and UV mapping the character.
If you are animating this character some areas will need to have closer edge loops for example where the character will bend. The link below is a wire frame render, in it you can see that there are more edge loops around elbows, shoulders and waist.
http://i830.photobucket.com/albums/zz230/aeryis/genia_wip_wireframe02.jpg
Like I said, I am no master of topology so do some further research on it and it will make better sense how and why.
Hope this helps you in some way.
Thank you, I can say that my model topology seems completly wrong. On your model I can see it follow musclesof the character.
I’m going to delete the leg and redo it, but the problem is simple :
I got something like 10 loops to model the upper-part of the leg and that’s ok, because that’s a big part but when I’m near the foot, well everything is very close. Do you know some kind of trick, that will make it easier and not losing quality on the upper-part ?
But again, Thank you ! I’m now sure that something is really wrong
Hi,
That is why I suggest detaching the section in the first image. Your character can have several meshes that make the compete character, does not have to be one big mesh. If you delete the area I highlighted, you can remodel that area with 8 evenly spaced edges and then model your foot as another mesh so at the end you will have 5 meshes that create your character(1 for each foot, 1 for each leg section from the knee to the ankle and then one for the knees to the head.)
As for a trick to fix that bunched up area without doing the above you would have to weld vertices together however this will leave you with several triangles by the end and would be time consuming when re positioning all the welded vertices.
Hi !
I understand what you said, but by cutting the character in different meshes, wouldn’t I have a problem for animating it later ? The leg will ‘float’ since it would not be possible to connect vertices. I’m searching if there’s more info on that on the Internet, thank you for the suggestion 
Hi Christophe,
Your model is not bad at all. It suffers from a little bit of irregularity but overall it’s pretty clean.
Is it going to be a videogame character?
My first tip, since you’re planning on animating him, spread his arms a little bit. They should be near 45°.
Then, try to keep the valence (number of edges connected to a point) of every vertex =4 whenever it’s possible. I can see way too many of those non-standard valence points near his armpits and those could be avoided.
You can easely get rid of that triangle if it bothers you: just delete it’s top edge and the edge nearby the center on both sides and you will get a quite clean topology there.
The elbows need more loops in order to bend properly.
Splitting the geometry is basicly a matter of choice. I usually do it when I have more different things composing my model (skin, clothings, armours…). So in your case it makes sense. Then, it’s a matter of skinning the different parts correctly.
When you model the hands, remember that you need at least 3 loops near every joint in order to get a decent bending.
I think it’s enough for now. Hope this helps. 
Hi Jacopo,
Well my model is just for me. I want to see what I can do and will be used for animation. I wanted to do something from scratch. From the highpoly on mudbox to the final animation
For the valence, well I didn’t know it was such a problem because it was breaking the loop and it was then easier to split it. 
But yeah sure once everything will be modeled, I’m going to refine it with more loops since it’s for animation purpose.
Thank you for the tips