The rework continues.
I finished sculpting (it was the digits that took the longest again, all 10 of them because I was working in mirror mode so the other 10 on the other side were getting done simultaneously) and baked the normal map.
The first time it was yellow apparently because I didn't use a cage. I don't know why one was needed but apparently it was a thing that was needed so I checked that box but got it to extrapolate 1mm or 1cm (can't remember which) rather than making a cage mesh like I did with Red. That one came out blue/purple/pinkish like it was supposed to.
Now I'm painting out the seams
and feeling a strong sense of deja moo.
And then I worked out that some idiot had not bothered to check the initial shrinkwrap of the original mesh around the sculpt mesh until painting out the seams and realising the bake looked wrong. Because the geometry over the sculpt was wrong.
Ergh.
This is what happens when you take shortcuts/don't check the results the easy options give you.
So back in I went with the snap tool.
Know what's a pain in the system? Having to work in this mode is a pain in the system.
But that's what I need to do at the moment so I can find the vertices that are partly inside the sculpt mesh (green with a bazillion tiny triangles if you can make anything out). This is why I like using Retopoflow so much, but I can't use it at the moment because it likes using mirror modifier for symmetry and I applied that ages ago and things get messy when it tries to put another one on.
So I just eyeballed vertices I couldn't see and nudged them so they'd stick to the surface. And fixed up anything that had gone slightly awry from the shrinkwrap which had mostly done its job at least.
The little finger was such a mess I don't even want to share a screenie.
Managed to fix it as I'm reasonable at detangling and then noticed there was a whopping great big hole. That was actually just mesh and might have been okay but I noticed other things I needed to fix and fixed them too, and got a decent bake (still in need of repairs).
I kind of felt like I should have made the topology a bit heavier but then I also remember how much trouble I had with the heavier topology in one of Red's earlier meshes, and the subdivision surfaces are doing a decent enough job with the shape so I guess I'll see how I go. Meanwhile after making the subd modifier visible in edit mode, turns out the nails aren't quite conforming to the bake so I turned on correct face attributes and keep connected (I'm assuming I need this anyway as the last time I turned this thing on by accident I ended up with vertices all over the joint and ocd was not happy) and where increasing the crease weight isn't enough to get it to conform I'm gently nudging vertices, with the option checked it moves the vertex on the uv map as well instead of moving the uv map with the vertex (I just need to remember to uncheck it when I'm done or things are going to break x_x).
And then those annoying artefacts and seams will have to be painted out again but that's theoretically a relatively quick job when Blender doesn't decide to lag massively (I'm not sure why it's lagging massively in texture edit mode).
Then I have to repaint the dragon and phoenix tattoo that took me the better part of forever the first/last time I did it -_- On the bright side that should really put bpainter through its paces given that the last thing I did with it was the hive hoodie which was relatively simple, so I'm simultaneously looking forward to it and...no I'm not even dreading it I'm just mildly irritated that I have to do it again.
The other bright side is hopefully I can do all the image maps properly now as I've baked this without scars and am hoping to paint those on with bpainter, and ideally I'll have separate image maps for the scars and the tattoos (everything was all in one normal map and one colour map before because I was trying to make my learning curve less insane). After investigating the bake settings I think I've figured out how to bake just the tattoos onto characters that need them (for the characters with family tattoos), hopefully it works as well in reality as it does in my head x_x
This post also appears on my blog.
I really need to stop going to bed so late
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This looks amazing. Always wanted to try and learn blendr.
Posted using Dapplr
Thanks ^_^ If you ever wanted to pick it up there's a few of us here that can help you along :)
though you may be stuck with mostly me as the people that actually know what they're doing seem to be in a permanent state of busy x_x
Your topology looks amazing from where I am sitting. Can't believe you are doing all this off your own bat and getting down to the detail of finger nails. You will be a Blender master when all this is done.
Thanks :D It's a damn sight better than the last topology that's for sure ^_^;
still unsure about the fingers, I'd kinf o like more polys for the shape but then again the shape seems to be holding up reasonably well with subd
I am a tiny little bit detail obsessed, if you think this is bad you should have seen when I was stressing about some other stuff and some things in the script and had my sibling screaming NO ONE IS GOING TO NOTICE at me both over text and in meatspace on the few occasions we can get together XD
In more seriousness I do actually do fingernails and whatnot in both 3d and 2d renderings, it's just my sketchies that don't have fingernails or lips anymore (I used to at least hint at them and then I got lazy).
I certainly hope so, this entire bit at the moment is rework (and not the first time I've done it) so I am also feeling a confused mess of freaking hopeless (coz I had to redo it) and pro (because it got done a lot quicker now that I know what I'm doing XD).
It's the little details that get you. Sometimes I wish we could just turn that OC part of our brains just so that we can get some semblance of sanity back. Definitely a curse and a gift. Know that I appreciate all of these little nitpick efforts, mate-re 'd!
They weren’t kidding about devils being in details! 😅
I had a mini tantrum last night as I was intending on writing some notes about udim tiles but then baking completely stopped working (process ran but I didn’t get my map, not to mention the freaking dramas as at some point while I was fixing some mesh issues that I’d missed the uvs exploded) and I didn’t end up able to finish my progblog 😑
The amount of rework is killing me 😵
Glad you appreciate the disproportionate amount of effort in the details 😆
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That's the spirit! 😎😊👍