Blender 2.8 Retopology with Polybuild Tool

[@ronthehybrid]

Best tool ever. Did a full bust retopo in less than an hour.

[@JayAnAm]

Great, will be perfect when they added a real backface culling in a retopo mode.

[@TECH3_]

its a real great addition blender is becoming more more independent

[@JayAnAm]

Yep, I love it.

[@dhruvakikkeri6217]

:D

[@JayAnAm]

One info was wrong: When you are in sculpt mode and use the grab brush to move around the vertices or smooth the mesh by holding the Shift key pressed, the vertices will not snap to the surface. But you could disable the option "In Front" on the Object tab, switch to sculpt mode then and move the vertices with the Grab brush to line them up with the retopo mesh to the underlying high poly mesh.

[@SkyFly19853]

You mean making low poly graphics? 😮

[@HelloHiHola]

I'm glad you clarified that. F2 MeshTools lacks the same ability. Whichever addresses it first will be noteworthy!

[@HelloHiHola]

@@bezoro-personal I'd done that a long while ago but now can't remember the difficulty I encountered that made that only a partial solution; I think it was overlap areas like an ear or collar or nostril or strong chin would trip up Shrinkwrap. The other problem was the retopo mesh was in wild positions with the modifier disabled.

[@bodhipeace]

For the Grab brush, you can use "G" grab in edit mode with proportional editing. For the Smooth tool, you can select vertices in Edit mode and Vertex > Smooth Vertices.

[@ektelion]

Retopology is arguably the most tedious part of 3d modeling (though I've heard people say that they enjoy it - go figure). For me, it's the least creative and therefore most boring part of the process. The poly build tool makes it so much easier, dare I say even borderline fun :) Thank you so much for your comprehensive tutorial. You explained everything perfectly and touched upon all important aspects of the tool. By far the best tutorial on this invaluable tool.

[@JayAnAm]

Thank you very much

[@dreamyrhodes]

Retopo is quite creative, if you want to make it right you need to solve a few issues all the time with the loops. It's also a quite meditative process, put on some music and relax while trying to make a smart topology that actually works.

[@ektelion]

@@dreamyrhodes I will agree that it can be meditative, but that's exactly because it's tedious and repetitive work ;-) So I guess it's up to the person doing it. I admit though that I have grown to enjoy it more (or to hate it less) over time :)

[@JayAnAm]

@@dreamyrhodes Yes, absolutely :-)

[@goku21youtub]

fanboy lol

[@BlueBead]

Note to people like me who couldn't figure out why their edges and vertices weren't highlighting red/blue like in the video: This tool just 100% doesn't work if you have gizmos hidden. It's one of the buttons down where all your viewport display options are. [Crtl + ` ] is the hotkey to toggle it if you can't find it. I normally have it off because I don't like the move/rotate/scale gizmos getting in the way of my selections all the time, so I had to troubleshoot why my poly build was broken for a while...

[@hoangphung1012]

my hero

[@voracdesign]

A lifesaver

[@danielloo1255]

Damn you're like the only one who points this out anywhere

[@teroblepuns]

For those who happen to only produce tris instead of quads: Make sure the edge is glowing, click or drag somewhere for the first vertex, then hold Ctrl and click/drag for the second. Rinse and repeat. Holding Ctrl for multiple vertices will result in n-gons.

[@milos_slav_sky]

ty

[@CasiyKNguien]

Thx very much

[@cmfwt]

After viewing many tutorials on retopology, this one has to be the best. Very well explained. Thank you for sharing.

[@JayAnAm]

Hey, thx a lot

[@jazenism]

Jayanam, you're fantastic. Thanks for sharing!

[@JayAnAm]

:-) Thx a lot

[@Qedhup]

Looks like it might save a little time and some key strokes during that step. I like it. Saves me from switching tools. I'm always for anything that helps stream line the work flow.

[@JayAnAm]

Yep!

[@JayAnAm]

@Denwer Brugol Ya... good point

[@recurveninja]

It's about time Blender got a good built-in retopo tool.

[@JayAnAm]

:-) Yep.

[@JeffreyThrash]

This Polybuild tool reminds me of the retopology tools in Maya. I think that's the most underrated thing about these new Blender 2.8 releases--it's a lot less difficult to learn if you come from a Maya background (which is most likely the case if you went to school for animation, as Maya is the "industry standard.")

[@JayAnAm]

Yeah, a good point.

[@williambell4591]

"Industry Standard"?? Perhaps you meant "Pro" software? kzbin.info/www/bejne/g4u2g3SZe9GCnLM

[@JohnSmith-rn3vl]

Yeah i cancelled my Maya subscription a few months ago for blender 2.8 ... been using Maya on and off for 10+ years. This retopo feature WAS on my list of things that USED to be better in Maya. For me this is perfectly good enough for me to make models for games. Last week it was the the new origin snapping features. It's happening so quickly. And my list is getting smaller all the time. If Maya was free I would still use blender for most of my workflow.

[@brunocastro4558]

@@JohnSmith-rn3vl 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👍 Do you have a portifolio, or tutorials ?

[@blendergt]

I love your way of focus on the add ons!

[@JayAnAm]

Alright, but this will be a built-in feature.

[@blendergt]

​@@JayAnAm That's even better i will recommend this topology video to the ones that can use it! I now see the the 2.81 point at the intro, dont know how i missed that one it just feels like 2.80 came out few days ago

[@kevinm3751]

This is a great feature and the only one really that was keeping me from completely moving away from Maya!

[@JayAnAm]

Hey... alright!

[@williamlacrosse9389]

I moved away from 3dsmax one year ago! I'm freelance and blender was my solution! Its tools are great!

[@kevinm3751]

@@williamlacrosse9389 Yes I am quickly discovering this and finding it to be a tool that has already removed the need for several other applications I used to use. 2.8 is shaping up to be a serious contender and game changer for our industry!

[@JayAnAm]

@@williamlacrosse9389 I guess this was a good decision, in workflow Blender is the swiss army knife as well:-)

[@samdavepollard]

brilliant tool, explained in an excellent tutorial i've watched a lot of your tutorials, Jayanam, and there isn't a dud amongst them you do a superb job many thanks, as always, for sharing your knowledge

[@JayAnAm]

Wow, thx a lot m8!

[@celocelocelocelo]

So clean and quick explanation, thanks a lot!

[@jeffg4686]

That's awesome. Pablo's been kicking ass in the sculpting dev.

[@martok2112]

Another great tool. Thank you for this tut, Jayanam. Pretty soon, someone is just going to invent the "Easy button" add on. LOL!

[@anzatzi]

Great demonstration

[@kruth6663]

Wait... Yeah you could use Polybuild without Shrinkwrap now, I didn't realize it and have been using them together. Worth trying! Polybuild is an amazing tool, I love it. Thanks for the tutorial!

[@FPChris]

Great tutorial. Here's a tip. Drop the alpha on the base model to make it semi-transparent. Then shut off the "In Front" option. It still looks a little weird but you can see the points contacting the surface better IMO.

[@hanselxyb5825]

Some pro level modellers must be really loving this feature.

[@MaiAriSquee]

YEEEESSSSS!! I had fallen out of learning Blender when I hit retopo. So happy to see this feature!

[@Numocron]

This is an awesome Blender tutorial right here Jayanam I love it.😃👍

[@leonardsiebeneicher5550]

I was not aware of "In Front". Thank you!

[@Paulo-zr5zo]

Seems like a bunch of new great features after 2.8 release

[@ProfessorOfHow]

All other tuts are using shrinkwrap modifier and project individual elements (in face snapping options). Why not you? I am confused.

[@culsud]

i am confused asf everyone is using diff techs for retopo

[@artcadev]

Good tool, new improvements it's always appreciate it. Although hard for me to try this since I am so used working with Retopoflow, cleaner interface and faster retopo. But still great tool :3

[@nima9640]

Can one find Retopoflow for 2.8 yet? :O

[@artcadev]

@@nima9640 They are working on it, I still have 2.79 just for Retopoflow and then I will open and continue my .blend files on 2.8. once finished.

[@artcadev]

@@nima9640 5 days ago :3 github.com/CGCookie/retopoflow/issues/490#issuecomment-530349982

[@BlueHawk80]

Too expensive for me and many others, who are doing 3D only as a hobby-project. So unfortunatelly I wont be able to give RF a try.

[@darkfoxfurre]

Me, after watching this video, having just spent a week retopologizing a mesh without knowing about this tool: ಠ_ಠ

[@Mrflippyfloop]

This looks super awesome.

[@janmelik4890]

wow you realy helped me a lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Hdx64]

ahahah someone distracted me at 0:53 and i was ready to press Control + Z to Undo on your video lol

[@saikopiratos]

smooth tut, thanks

[@sonu-jangir]

Thank you so much...🎉🎉🎉

[@bodhipeace]

Thanks for the helpful video.

[@JayAnAm]

You're welcome! Thx a lot

[@massivetree7937]

in the beginning, why not just scale down the plane you created and snap it to the surface of the head instead of going through the steps of deleting vertices and creating a new plane.

[@JayAnAm]

Yes, you can do this as well... a matter of taste, I like to start with a singe vertex but snapping the vertices of a quad is also nice:-)

[@williambell4591]

Exactly, that's exactly what I did - start with the Plane and snap its verts to the surface.

[@hubiguschti5867]

I still have some questions left like is there a way to close face loops (e.g. when i make an edge loop around an eye and then wanna close it without having to leave polybuild mode)? is there a way to insert patches? that's actually the only things that would be great to have as well. Thanks a lot Matthias for all your tuts!! I benefit a lot from them. always straight to the point and no big bla bla to lengthen your videos. this comes in so handy if you're in the process of working on something and need some tips, advice, keyboard shortcuts or whatever. i just watch your tutorials and can continue working after a very short amount of time with all the info i needed! fantastic job!

[@RTSFan1337]

I really look forward to the stable release.

[@RDHardy79]

Great tutorial! Thank you!

[@SupaPoopaScoopa]

Works a lot like 3dMax's topo tools I'm used too

[@wam3d]

Rápido y conciso. Muchas gracias!

[@schonkigplavuis8850]

Hi i have a question: In your case the vertices snap beautifully to the model. Even with magnet snap enabled, whenever i draw a quad or extrude from one it A: reaches extremily far inside, there's no way to reconnect it anymore, even if it's just empty square like fields like a character stomache, it will reach inside my characters spine??? B: It reaches for something OUTSIDE i have no idea what, since i hid all my other meshes. 3 vertices look good, the 4th one just straight up escapes the mesh with extreme strength. C: my treshold is now at 0.000001m. It still does NOT snap to vertices. I have to hover for one minute to connect one SINGLE vertices of a quad, to another set of quads. Please help me

[@usagirocks]

thank you!!! yes!! very good!!!

[@TheSteveTheDragon]

Fantastic info, thank you!

[@pipgator4271]

When i dropped the single vertex on the model that i sculpted even afterselecting the snap faces it dosent snap..it is just on the space...i had to go manual and drag it close the surface. could you say what went wrong ?

[@mch43856]

Disable snapping feature when you use polybuild because it has that automatically and if you have snapping on it will invert it when you use polybuild causing it not to snap :D Edit: Or as Jayanam already mentioned in the video at 3:24 you can release ctrl before you release the vertice

[@chrisgee2610]

Took me 1:26 to hear that you are german. And i'm german and quit good at english. Oh and very nice video :) I love the Blender Cummunity so far.

[@JayAnAm]

Thanks! 😃 My english skills improved but when I started youtube it was horrible;-) It's so sad that we don't learn proper english at school.

[@rebelangel8227]

This is an awesome and looks amazing step forward.. i wished pablo and the retopoflow guys could work together to build something easy and user friendly...im still against the idea of having to add anything and than adjust it before retopologizing id rather see bring 3d item into a retopo mode and just start clicking on it quick and easy like 3d coat and retopogun is... this cant be that hard to do.. after all they have been doing it for years

[@Marco-bj7ct]

Thanks. Really.👋

[@user-st5je3up2f]

MUCH BETTER THAN OLD USUAL WAY TO 3D NEWBIE LIKE ME.

[@jinseo1399]

Thank you!!!!!!!

[@angrygreek1985]

holy shit this is cool

[@ZacharyAghaizu]

I had issues with not being able to extrude the edge without making a single vertex

[@ZacharyAghaizu]

Oh it is because you have right control selected

[@iamvartist]

thanks

[@Im_Ninooo]

The tool is kinda broken as Shift-clicking vertices for merging deletes them.. and changing the keymap doesn't affect the visual behavior which means holding shift still highlights it in red.

[@Rafael-kb1ql]

As great as this addition is, Blender would win over far more users if it took a look at Topogun, and implemented a dedicated workspace for it that was similar to it.

[@daviddahl8562]

My computer is fairly new I have a dell inspiron computer newest version of microsoft windows 10/64 and a dell keyboard. I do not see a del key any where on my key board. I really like this tutorial is there another option

[@xlindvain]

Del it's the "delete" key, I think it is on the top right corner of your keyboard :)

[@daviddahl8562]

@@xlindvain Yeah I know my brain wasn't all there at the time

[@PrometheusPhamarus]

Thanks for sharing, but why this insane approach of adding a plane select a vertice, invert selection and delete all other vertices..just to get a darn point in to the scene, surely the workflow should be easier than that. In lightwave, you just click on point button and click where you want the points (vertices) And in blender we also have a way of adding a single point, but I think you need to activate extra mesh tools in the addon list. After that you should have add mesh/single vert/add single vert, it will be located both in object mode and in edit mode, but for edit mode it will be add single vert directly. so hover locate that with the mouse, but right click on it and you will be promted with "add shortcut" make sure to stand on that blue field with the mouse cursor, then you can hit " p" for points...if you want that as the shortcut of course. Now you just have to hit "p" to add a point to the scene in the future, to note is that p is assigned to another default command, (seperate selected geometry in to a new mesh) but I do not use it at all, you could of course set the shortcut to whatever character you please. The mesh addon for adding a point in to the scene or in edit mode, it should really be there by default when installing blender..it´s basics, and a proper shortcut to go with it.

[@m198891]

thx man :D

[@thomasanderson1416]

Thank goodness there is still RetopoFlow.

[@BlueHawk80]

Not goodness it costs almost 90$ which not everyone can afford.

[@dhruvakikkeri6217]

Nice 👍

[@JayAnAm]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@spittingame4241]

I'm creating a VIDEO GAME, I just created over 200 full body characters from here to toe in blender. I just need to add fine detail like wrinkles, the puffiness under the eyes etc. What is the best method to use DYNTOPO or MULTI-RESOLUTION? But I DON'T want to go through the trouble of Retopologzing all 200 characters just so it could render. I just want a straightforward flat answer.

[@NodokenStar-k917]

I tried using grab in sculpt mode, but the vertices aren't snapping to the high-res model. So was there another option I needed to do?

[@MeltonECartes]

Hi. My Blender 3.2.0 doesn't show the new "green" color of my new mesh that I'm Poly Building... I'm just grey against grey...

[@anzatzi]

Loved this video but I did not like the tool in practice. Difficult to select smaller edges, and undo is flaky. Could be user error, but I much prefer extruding a face with component snapping on

[@Al1987ac]

Great tool overall! But I really miss the ability to extrude multiple edges at once.

[@slycreature972]

Me too.... hope they add this feature!

[@breadforbun]

Pablo Dobarro is working wonders. Does anybody know where/how to download his tools and stuff?! Edit: I should have watched til the end of the video before asking.

[@boitahaki]

When you push the edge only one of the points snaps. Then you have to position the other one

That's really seems like an easier way and thanks for introducing this addon Jayanam (Y) I wonder if we create another plane to make different parts and merge them then? Is it possible?If it is, how? :)

[@vazak11]

Cool!

[@marcus_ohreallyus]

All of that convoluted stuff you did at the beginning... Hopefully they will change the need to do that. Who in the hell would know to do that? How did you know to do that as the first step?

[@JayAnAm]

Which parts do you mean exactly? BTW: Checkout my free Fast sculpt addon to have these steps done with one click.

[@marcus_ohreallyus]

@@JayAnAm at the beginning when you created the plane. There should probably be a function built into the tool that starts the process automatically. No one is going to know how to start.

[@JayAnAm]

@@marcus_ohreallyus Ok, my Fast Sculpt addon covers this.

[@adriento]

Do the grab and smooth brush really snap to the geometry? Doesn't seem to work for me :/ thanks for the video !!

[@JayAnAm]

Oh you are so right, it was the InFront option that tricked me... or perhaps I just *wished* that it'd work that way:-) But what you can do is to disable InFront and then switch to sculpt mode and more the vertices around to line them up with the surface.

[@NodokenStar-k917]

@@JayAnAm Where is the "InFront" option, I can't find it. Is it in viewport?

[@frankerzed973]

I am not getting the "create quads" checkbox in both 2.81 and 2.82. Anybody with the same issue?

[@renzviana6591]

why my retopo pass through the main reference object

[@aristateles1549]

My plane is not snapping to closest mesh

[@PrinceWesterburg]

I've just done all that in 2.80 using the ShrinkWrap modifier - did I miss something?

[@AwakeningAnimations]

It just avoids using the shrinkwrap for now but in the future it should remove all the tedious setup for retopo. I imagine that the tool will become independant in the sense that you activate it and draw on the active model instead of all the prep with a plane etc

[@oficado58]

@@AwakeningAnimations Then hopefully next will be a "convert to simplified mesh" tool, letting the computer do all the work without being destructive to the detail of an object. One can dream.

[@remon563]

looks like a good tool to have. Hoping for a Retopoflow 2.0 release soon!! EDIT; it seems they removed the "create quads" toggle ? can anyone confirm this?

[@teroblepuns]

I do not have it either

[@EnsoloCraft]

yes me neither..

[@YuriNoirProductions]

why the hell is the tool creating tris instead of quads for me? i cant find a way to create quads with it... holding Ctrl just creates a tri but makes it an NGON with the previous surface...

[@pixunPL]

Love it!!!

[@Shwebbies]

Does anyone know hoe to make the tool create quads instead of triangles?

[@revotiva]

great!

[@ramalshebl60]

why when i choose polybuild tool it doesn't highlight an edge????

[@paysobilverslack5031]

Whats next? how to you apply the new retopo mesh to you model?

[@ralph2361]

Is it possible to make an extruded edge loop snap into a sphere when doing retopo for a sphere object like a fruit?

[@NaitoDev]

For me it won't snap to the object

[@mzprox]

Why is this better than using extrude and the fill with F2 addon?

[@salestefa8645]

I don't have that "Split Edges&Faces" checkbox under "Auto Merge"... Anybody know whats the problem? I use 2,8, of corse

[@tris0913]

Why doesn't the faces of the "new" head don't glitch into the "old" head?

[@johnbelding1426]

Enjoyed the video, but have a question. Does the mirror function actually work on a non-symmetric model?

[@PrawnKing89]

Yes but the snapping is going to be off. The mirror modifier is basically "telling" the vertices where to snap. If the geometry that it's snapping to is not the same, the vertices will bunch up in weird coordinates.

[@ravanin]

how well does this work with bsurfaces, maybe do a more in depth retopo tutorial with all tools available in 2.8?

[@JayAnAm]

Alright, will put this to my list.

[@djgyrad]

how do we join two face together though?

[@musicandhappinessbyjo795]

I don't know why but my plane is not at all snapping

[@shaolinsnake9650]

anyway to get it on 2.7? I cant understand how 2.8 works, its like going to a new grocery store and you try to find where is the nugget box

[@hanshusch]

is this the same as maya's retopology ?

[@FlashySenap]

Toggle in front. won't change anything. change color won't see color. All i see is verticies and honestly I dunno how I even would do this... Maybe a boxing glove was a mistake to have as a beginner project after following tutorials that did not take game assets to account?

[@JayAnAm]

I dont now what exactly your problem is.

[@chcamp]

Hello i have a questrion how u can join the vertex automatically?? inside new poly build tool thank u can select for faces o should be select for vertex?? thanks!!

[@JayAnAm]

Have a look at 02:24 - the auto merge option and threshhold.

[@chcamp]

@@JayAnAm thanks my friend..

[@williambell4591]

I was confused at first too - you don't get any "pre-snapping feedback" - it just happens after you drop the vertex. If you go back and move the vert again, the connected edges should all follow.

[@chcamp]

@@williambell4591 ahh ok yes because sometimes work and other not join the vertex in poly build tool..good tip!

[@salvadorjimenez51]

I can't see the option "Create quads" D:

[@teroblepuns]

Ditto. Mine only produces tris

[@user-nj4pc8kv2w]

希望uv得到更多的改进（那将是更完美的）

[@hardarbuz8969]

It`s Satyr from Satyricon? :)

[@FreemanBG]

IDK why the controls are different for me. :(

[@earthsteward70]

i dont know whats going on because i followed the steps and my polygons are going inside of the bloody thing!

[@peterhall4216]

Try using the shrinkwrap modifier and adjusting the offset

[@RomboutVersluijs]

What is different from the 2.80 version?

[@RomboutVersluijs]

I didnt see any use for the tool prior, but this makes it useful. I tried it very briefly in 2.8 and wasnt sure how it worked, always acted weird.

[@JayAnAm]

@@RomboutVersluijs Yes, now it really helps us:-)

[@JoeCentralGaming]

there is also voxel remesher which is really cool for sculpting

[@JayAnAm]

@@JoeCentralGaming Yes, checkout my previous video in which I use it with my Fast Sculpt addon.

[@RomboutVersluijs]

@@JoeCentralGaming I know those remesher, but those have way different usage. They make kinda useless retopology for animation of proper edgeflow