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Final mesh fixes.

So there was an issue when doing cleanup on the mesh. For some reason Maya was spotting faces with 0 map area in the UV editor and we couldn't figure out why. When we turned on face centers display we couldn't find any faces intersecting within edges.

A guess as to why is that some of the faces in the UV editor so I decided to blow up the scale having to use up Multiple UV tiles just to get out of the issue. We could've left it on the 1 tile and continued with a risk but its safer to work with multiple UV tiles.

Here Maya is complaining about faces with 0 map area and we don't even know why.

Solution was to scale the UVs across multiple tiles and make sure the texel density was all uniform. Even though we don't know why I have had maya stop complaining about it. My guess is that the problem was that some faces in the UV tile were simply too small and needed scaling.

Low Poly vs High Poly

From observation the mesh looks allot better as a low poly version. When modelling low poly I was seeing how I could work with the soft shaded faces. I noticed that my topology was effecting the strength of the shadows on my mesh.

 Low Poly

SubD

In the SubD version the taper is allot thinner then the low poly version. With the low poly I'm able to work with the soft edges and bring out desired shadows and good form. In SubD if I was to increase the strength of the taper then it can get quite problematic were the low poly vertices would cross over each other. I believe this is part of the reason why the topology was so bad in the last one.

Base shape to detailed shape.

Nearly done.

To do list:
-Finalize hands
-Add shoelace to boots
-probably tweak boots
-Attatch shirt to pants
-Unwrap character
-Mimic previous head shape

Here is the base shape of my new mesh. Topology is similar to the previous version.

While detailing I made sure there weren't too many poles or too many edges going into a single poly, I also made sure the edge flow good for animation and rigging. I decided to use similar techniques to get the cloth tapering effect but bring it more boldly. For reference I sometimes observed my own shirt and trousers and see how they would taper. Some areas of tapering took around 20 minutes so I had to look up some references online just cause I couldn't sit still for that long.

 Here I'm making sure the hand shares the same pose as the previous attempt. Topology was really bad for the hand. When subdivided the edge loop went across the whole body but I don't believe this will be and issue for rigging.

2 selected edge loops pulled out.

Base shape to detailed shape

If I want to achieve cloth tapering in the characters clothes then I'm going to have to compromise with neat topology. Its going to be a debate between the cloths form and topology making sure the character can deform properly. So far I've done the base shape and topology. Now its time to break its symmetry and see what I can do with the form. I'm not worried with the hands, face or boots seeing as there is no cloth there.

I like this Reference Because it shows a good topology for animation. It also shows that The mesh doesn't have to be so horrendously deformed like the last mesh. We can also use a normal map for stronger definition. The mesh will only subtle help for casting the shadows and showing form for cloth taper.

same Mesh with normal maps.

Low poly!

Going low poly this time. So I'm looking up some images of low poly faces. I always start from the head first when modelling a character. While trying to model low poly I'm also trying to ensure the topology follows the anatomy from the face. 

Looking at some of these references I like how the lips have been approached. I don't know if I'm gonna give him any nose holes though. I'll only do it if the director wants me to but no ones gonna observe that much detail.

My first step of modelling is just laying out the topology and work with the edge extrusion technique.
Face is going to be animated so this approach is best for me.

Retopology.

So I've have been given the responsibility of remodeling our main character and I've been given a week to complete this task. If I don't Complete this task by Next week Wednesday then The project will dysfunction and I will be fired from the team. I've let down the team twice due to a lack of problem solving and testing on my meshes. Main issue with the original mesh is that when subdiv preview is turned on it crashes maya and 8 out of 12 blendshapes that I sculpted didn't work. I didn't test the blendshapes before sending it to the team to work with and so I've cost time and damage to the team. I was able to achieve form and topology but the damage I caused was more technical issues. Even though it had for and topology I had to make sure the rest of the team were able to access an uncorrupt file and I have to make sure I test it myself prior to sending it over to the team.

Now that I've been given a week to model the character all over I've decided to spend the rest of my day doing some R&D figuring out the best methodology. I hope that my file won't be corrupt this time and I need to make sure everything is working. I also need to receive the green lights from the technical director, Producer and Director.

First I'm going to model a base shape with proper topology for the joints. Then I'm going to use a texture deformer for get some cloth tapering effect. I also want to use hard edges in specific areas to make the tapering effect stronger. I'm going low poly this time seeing I'm also afraid of using subD preview this time.

Mishu, 2015

First do the base shape and then subdivide once for tapering.

My plan is not to work with so many polys for the base. I should be seaking a good silhouette to work with and then I can later add in more polys in specific areas to define cloth pieces.

Mishu, M.R. (2015, May 24, 2008). Street Cop Workflow. [Weblog]. Retrieved 4 November 2015, from https://area.autodesk.com/tutorials/street_cop_workflow_by_mashru_mishu?o=print