How to Retopologize a Head in Maya

[@nicolasQQ]

I love this kind of "talk show" tutorials. Can't wait for more.

[@FlippedNormals]

Glad you like it! We have a couple of more tutorials like this on our channel, where we discuss various things while working, should you be interested.

[@ravenrichards2089]

As a game student it's really useful seeing workflow videos/explanations like this even if it's a less ~glamorous~ part of the job

[@tionanima]

Here's a tip i learned the hard way, if the quad draw tool is sluggish (e.g. taking like 20 seconds to create a quad) make sure to delete the history on the mesh

[@FlippedNormals]

Good point! Thanks for sharing. It does get rather slow with history on.

[@halimaibraeva7751]

Very useful helpful video even at the start of video with no overinfo❤thank you so much

[@everett7858]

I like that you guys are talking to each other during the process, it's sorta like listening to a podcast. I use this process for everything now!!

[@FlippedNormals]

Thanks Chad! We really enjoy doing these tutorials, so super-happy you enjoy them! /H

[@TheRustedPixel]

Thanks for posting this guy. I love the banter between you guys, it's so fun and relaxing. I get asked "how do I create uv maps" and I always tell people it's like game where you have to clean everything up and find a space for everything yet I've struggled with retopology for years. Such an eye opener to see you use the same description for how to retopologize a mesh. Thanks so much for this.

[@FlippedNormals]

Thanks a lot! It's interesting how many similarities there are between the various parts. I find that the better you understand the foundation, the easier everything becomes. Glad it helped! /H

[@arifnbd]

You guys do not know how important it was for me to learn quad draw tool and retopo inside maya....Thank you so much for sharing the info. Very easy to understand but moreover what i like most that when you 2 describing all pros and cons...it makes really comfortable to learn...thank you again.

[@FlippedNormals]

Thanks! It's really fun for us to read comments like this! We try to not just describe the tool, as you can use a manual for that, but instead HOW and WHY you'd want to use a tool.

[@danias.1833]

Subscribed! I just wanna say I absolutely love you commentary and your calm, chill yet funny conversations here and there. I, myself am retopologizing in maya while listening in to this and it makes me so happy because you are not only the best maya teacher I've found but you have your fun while at it too 😊❤ I'm a university student and I rely on you to quite a lot to get me through my assignments. Thank you!

[@adamdargan]

Love videos like this. Sometimes you learn a lot just from watching someone else's workflow. For instance the absolute transform tool at 19:10 is awesome! Never knew you could do that.

[@FlippedNormals]

Cheers Adam! Glad you picked up a trick or two :D

[@manojlogulic4234]

You guy's are absolutely brilliant, one of the best concept to teach is when you two discussing about what you do and how should things be for industry. BIG thanks for everything you do!!

[@FlippedNormals]

Thank you! Much appreciated. More to come!

[@BlackMarketHoney]

Great video guys. The dual commentary works great. A lot of these tutorials, although technically interesting, can be painfully boring with the wrong delivery. Nice one!

[@RedEyedHolloway]

My goodness, sooooo therapeutic! I love how you guys are like, what do you watch when you do Retopology? And you guys are like Netflix or a good podcast - I'm like, put on a Playlist of FlippedNormals. Lol! You guys are awesome man. I'd love to see more Retopology vids for doing complicated shapes like ears, feet, hands, wings (for creatures), etc.! And it would be so cool if you guys showed how to do this kind of stuff in Modo, as well! I know the technique is the same, but really just the proper tools, and the equivalents of this type of efficient workflow of using features like Relax and stuff like that from Maya, in Modo. Anyways, amazing vid again! Cheers!

[@FlippedNormals]

Awesome :D I think everyone should put on some FlippedNormals in the background, but I realise my bias :D We definitely want to do more retopo videos in the future on all the topics you mentioned! I also really want to make some more videos using MODO for retopo. It's been my main retopo tools since 501 and it's really good. In a lot of ways, I prefer it over Maya. Btw, if you like long FN videos, we just posted a super long one (over an hour) on the life as modeller in film :) Maybe you find that to be interesting.

[@RedEyedHolloway]

Nice! I'm literally watching it right now! I can't wait to see what else you guys have in store! And it's cool to be biased - you are for good reason...you two are the BEST!

[@EruchAdamsSchool]

Super helpful video tutorial! I wish I had watched this 2 days ago... I just shared it with my 3D modeling class.

[@caseydewitt6236]

12:40 This is something I'm glad you mentioned. Back in college, one of my professors insisted we couldn't have any poles/starfish in our face model project, but to this day I can't figure out how he thought that was possible.

[@Mega6501]

Maybe your teachers was trying to get you to learn how to not rely on poles and more on edge loop flow.

[@caseydewitt6236]

@@Mega6501 Well it was my second modeling class, so we were all fairly unfamiliar, which means he should have specified. Especially since the pole he pointed out while showing us a speed modeling video was on the cheek, which is very common on character models.

[@Mega6501]

Casey DeWitt Yeah I’ve heard that some teachers don’t really know what their talking about regarding topology. I’m knew to CG so I was just thinking that was the reason. On the side note I left a message at the top of comments maybe you could maybe give me a answer to my question I would appreciate it. Thanx.

[@AerysBat]

I'm watching you guys retopo when it's already something I know how to do, just because you are fun to listen to, hahaha

[@FlippedNormals]

That's awesome! :D i'm really glad you enjoy our ramblings /H

[@ipwn3du]

You guys are my new favorite people lol. Very funny and down to earth and your videos are so helpful!

[@wykapanyTata]

I've just discovered this channel. Really good stuff here.

[@PoseidonArts]

I really enjoyed watching your process! I would love to see more topology videos in the future :D

[@FlippedNormals]

Thanks! We'll definitely do a couple more of these. Next time, we'll look into doing a body.

[@PoseidonArts]

Even better :D

[@Raquel96]

Your topology videos like this one have been incredibly helpful, thank you so much!!

[@northernfreelance5788]

This has been the best tutorial! Amazing results with a few clicks and one tool!

[@FlippedNormals]

Awesome, really glad you liked it! :D

[@Brachwah]

OMG I just found your channel and everything you do lines up with my workflow. THANK YOU SO MUCH.

[@Dumbanana00]

You guys are great, good video. Also I was the one asking about your approach for fabric retopo, and I went down the zremesh path for a hot second. I actually quite liked the results in certain spots, but in the end, ended up doing manual retopo, based on the zremesh output. For that workflow I placed a strong blinn material on the zremesh output and followed the specular highlight with quad draw making nice edge loops (with plenty of triangles and stars, hah). Just wanted to share!

[@FlippedNormals]

Hey! That's a really good way of doing it! :) I find that Zremeshing sometimes does magic when it comes to topo, but I prefer to do it by hand like in this video, as I know then I have ultimate control over everything. I always decimate my models out of ZBrush, which is exactly what we've done here too. This reduces the polycount a lot while retaining the details. Super handy! Feel free to look into it; it's called Decimation Master. /H

[@douka3993]

really like your approach of teaching guys, keep it up and can't wait for more!

[@FlippedNormals]

Thanks! We'll do our best

[@Projekt.09]

Amazing tutorial guys learned alot from you in this video!

[@featheredmusic]

i can watch this all day

[@maarten176]

thanks! very good. maybe the best tutorials I ever seen

[@FlippedNormals]

Wow, thanks a lot! Glad it helped.

[@mystyle022]

Thank you very much for the informative videos, I really enjoyed the process, please keep them coming !

[@FlippedNormals]

Great, thanks a lot! :)

[@yuido]

Thanks for the video! Easy to understand and very clear. I really like it. It would be great if there was a Texture Baking video! Like: What are the important points? What should we pay attention to when we are making low poly models for baking? What is the minimum polygon limit to use in this way?

[@FlippedNormals]

Thanks a lot! That's something we might do in a separate video. Good suggestion.

[@Farrukh3D]

Thanks for sharing. Good information and easy to understand

[@FlippedNormals]

Thanks! Glad it helped :)

[@miemiestudio]

I love your tutorials! These are awesome! I just have one question - you mentioned in real production work, you don't usually start from scratch to retopology models, you use some existing retopologized shell and wrap it up to a new model. How do you do that? For example, how do you snap those vertices to the new model? It'll be greatly appreciated if you can talk about it further!

[@spundefiant3925]

It's like 3d knitting.

[@FlippedNormals]

Hah, that's a good way of putting it!

[@bobbyfox8410]

Great advice, cool video!

[@FlippedNormals]

Thanks a lot!

[@ponimania]

Never know where it is.... made my day dude.

[@emeraldeelentertainment8988]

This is some very helpful knowledge, even for Blender users. Thank you!

[@jekaabdullayev5346]

Really , a lot of thanks for u guys, i have one question about relax , how do u increase or decrease of smoothness?

[@לגג3שטיינברג]

will be a fantastic journey!

[@_._._raine_._._]

Hey guys! First of all thank you! Your videos are awesome and easy to understand :) I just have a question: after this process, how can i reproduce details?

[@FlippedNormals]

Cool, thanks a lot! I made a tutorial on this many years ago. Hope it helps! henningsanden.com/2013/03/06/reprojecting-details-in-zbrush/ /H

[@_._._raine_._._]

thanks man, you saved me

[@iamron_TV]

going well. For so reason tNice tutorials video struck as really concise and really cleared up so questions I had. The DAW I used back in

[@makofdahouse]

that was super helpful thank you guys and i think it would be great if you did a video on retopo-ing the body for animation/games

[@alikkadoum3614]

Really love your videos! Also guys, there is a smooth brush in Modo in topology mode)

[@toddlawrimore3577]

Great watching you guys work. Would love to see when you're not doing "quick and dirty" work. ( your words, not mine. :) ) Question: Do you really prefer Modo? Is it because you learned it first, or is it more sophisticated? ( like having a more mature tool set or better work flow )

[@yamileorozco3796]

seriously helped thank you!!

[@florianristea]

I love the tut and you guys are presenting the stuff super easy (especially for stupid people like me that are hard learners ) . I'd love to see on your channel the entire workflow for a model, from Zbrush-retopo-texturing-render

[@FlippedNormals]

Thanks! We'd love to make a video like that too. It's on our list.

[@marcbingobingo7727]

Great tutorial, but I still have a question : what happens to the small wrinkels and folds ? Baking the High mesh on the retopo one ?

[@FlippedNormals]

Good questions! You can do it either way. Its often a good idea to bake the big folds into topo

[@ming1au455]

Thanks dude! You guys are awesome!

[@FlippedNormals]

Thanks :D

[@el2themeck]

I’m listening to you guys retopologing 😉

[@darshanjain6061]

Awesome video...you guys are amazing. Thanks a ton.

[@markusschille75]

Nice talk on the topic of retopology. I find the whole process of doing retopology manually can be quite relaxing and you go into a sort of Zen mode, unless you are pressed on time... then it becomes a bit stressful! ;) btw the tools you are using here looks very similar to the retopology tools in Max (which I use). I have however seen some interesting videos on retopo in Blender. Seems very nice. Have you tried it? I’m very keen on investing some time in learning Blender.

[@FlippedNormals]

Thanks a lot, Markus! I also really enjoy doing retopo, as it's relaxing and not terribly hard. I haven't used Blender, but from looking at it from time to time, it looks like a really excellent tool. Maya is great and all, but if getting a job wasn't a concern I had, Blender would definitely be on my list of tools to learn. /Henning

[@ssslava]

Amazing tutorial, thank you guys!

[@StephenWebb1980]

Speaking of loops...this video is playing on loop while I work LMAO

[@arminbox3986]

a big thanks ;) but the point is the more I enjoy watching it, the more I realize that I'm still a Beginner :)) and a question ... is there any way to retopo a hard surface model ?! I was trying to model a round and hard surface shape but it got messy !

[@ricardoao19]

Hey guys! Nice channel you got over there! Congrats for both of you. Wouldn't ZRemesher with guide lines (or even polygroups) do the trick? Or do I have to do it mannually either way? Thanks!

[@FlippedNormals]

Hey! Zremesher even with guides is deceptive. When you get the topo from it, it looks awesome, but the more you try it out, the worse it gets. You realize that you didnt get a perfect loop around the mouth, so you're now doing this by hand, and now connecting the new mouth you made to the zremeshed topo is a real pain. In short, doing topo by hand doesnt take that long, and it means that you have full control over everything you're doing - saving you a *lot* of time in the long run.

[@ricardoao19]

@@FlippedNormals So I will do my topo on Maya. Thanks for the answer guys!

[@Mega6501]

Thanks for this video I learned a lot from just this video.. I use blender since I’m still learning and want to know if I will continue before signing up on a yearly subscription with Maya or Zbrush. I have been starting out retopology on high poly count which takes me 24hrs within 3 days, didn’t know to start with less dense poly count. My question remains can I retopologize the mesh in little amount of vertices and then at the end subdivide the whole model to add the necessary detail?

[@caseydewitt6236]

There are a lot of methods to high and low models! You can definitely start with a low-poly mesh and add subdivisions for a higher model, then transfer detail from the high to the low using what's called "projecting" or "baking." I do this for objects that don't need TOO many details, but need beveled edges or something simple. Otherwise I'd suggest starting with high and building a low version. This method works really well with sculpting like in ZBrush (or Blender), because ZBrush is usually for models with a lot of texture details like characters or important objects. One thing I learned over the years is that you can do things in 3D modeling a lot of ways; some just might be slower for you.

[@Mega6501]

Casey DeWitt Oh okay, my goal is to learn the industry way mostly so that I can cut down my learning progress time and produce workable models in a productive way. My focus is around realism which pertains to detailed models but I’m trying to see what would be exceptional enough in poly count and what I can get away with to accomplish this task without taxing render time. Thanks for your answer as of now I understood you need to be clever enough in graphics to reach an ultimatum that is compatible to current technologies for usability.

[@caseydewitt6236]

@@Mega6501 I'd suggest: -looking at polygon counts on asset stores like Unity or Unreal (I do this when I make trees) -finding ripped models from video games and importing them into Blender Both of these can give you an idea of what is a good polygon count.

[@Mega6501]

Casey DeWitt that’s a great idea thanks I will do that I don’t know why I didn’t think of that earlier.

[@caseydewitt6236]

@@Mega6501 I'd love to see what you produce, so remember to come back to this video when you're ready to show your work!

[@Tosiopath]

quality videos from this chanel thank you

[@FlippedNormals]

Thanks a lot, Samuel!

[@lukeinator_]

I’m new to this haha so do you retopologize the low or high poly model or both? Also, do you have a video on how to go from a good high poly model to a low poly one?

[@erenjaeger2083]

thank you alot guys i really love what you are doing for us it's make our work easier can u make a long UV Video like this one too

[@FlippedNormals]

Thanks! We'll for sure make a couple of UV videos like this too :)

[@amirbabaei7048]

Thank you so much guys

[@jaimeorozco7019]

Sooooo Awesome!!! you guys are the best

[@FlippedNormals]

Thanks! Much appreciated :D

[@amey_1337]

If it's 3rd person game's main character... back of the head becomes super important

[@Kennnyboy888]

Hi guys, how do you access the Absolute Transform dialogue box that you use to zero the co-ordinates of the verts when you do the mirror function? I'm new to Maya 2019, coming from 3DS Max and I'm finding it tricky to find things that I'm used to. Thanks for the awesome video.

[@yanntrolong1977]

Hi, great tutorial ! I'm trying it right now but and i can't find the way you select a edge loop like you're doing at 24:23 I'm only able to select one edge at a time... is there an hotkey or something for that ?

[@yanntrolong1977]

Ok i just find it myself, you're not in Quad Draw mode so you can select multiple edge to extract them !

[@NebulousOdious]

Good day, I'm a total beginner and I have, perhaps silly, question about mouth - should I add cavity and gums and teeth and tongue during sculpting, or insert them after retopology as a standalone model? Thanks in advance.

[@priderice3078]

really nice informative video keep ehm coming!

[@raashid_kf]

what are you guys' take on stars in Topology? i.e. when a vertex is connecting 5 different edges, is it the same stance you have on triangles? Also, thanks for this video, very nice 😁☺

[@ZNeutrenoHD]

what about areas the need to deform, in joints you want more vertices around the bending areas, does the same apply to faces/heads or should all be even?

[@FlippedNormals]

Good point - you should definitely have higher density around deform-able areas.

[@monsterkilstk7257]

Much appreciation.

[@HPHyenadon]

I'm brand new to maya and retopology. What commands did you use to extrude and create the mouth 'bag' and eyelids?

[@viniciusdominiquini241]

Thanks for the video, your channel is great!

[@FlippedNormals]

Thank you!

[@aday4711]

Really helpful for my video games course, thank you very much.

[@FlippedNormals]

Thanks! Much appreciated. Good luck with your game course!

[@dantertart5118]

Thanks for the video! Do you guys have any clue why then working with a high density mesh, around 90k, my quad draw start to run super slow? I can't find the problem with it. It is not the history since I turn it off when using the quad draw.. Maya should be able to handle more polygons than that...am I right? Any help would be super appreciated!

[@FlippedNormals]

I know exactly what thats happening: Performance in Maya is, well.. crap, when it comes to retopo high poly meshes, unfortunately. I find that I have to split my model into separate parts sometimes when it gets too dense, and then stitch it all back together afterwards. It's rather annoying, and unfortunately I dont have any good fixes for Maya. I prefer to do my retopo in Modo, as I find performance to be better there. /H

[@dantertart5118]

Ok thanks for the reply!

[@NickYT90]

Good videos thanks. Still new to this world and I have a question: If you've already say made a low res mesh in maya, brought that to zbrush and added sub divisions and extra modelling details, why then do we need to bring it in to maya again to retopologize? Shouldn't it be maya > zbrush > substance painter (or some other texturing package?) Just trying to understand the how and whys of the workflow. Thanks in advance! :]

[@FlippedNormals]

Hi Nick! That's actually a great question. If you already make a low res base in Maya, there's no need to retopologize it. Retopoing is for when you have a super high res mesh in ZBrush which has been sculpted from a blob without any consideration of topology. There's a huge advantage to doing it this way: You can separate out the creative (sculpting) and the technical part (topology) so that each part will be as good as it can. For instance, it's a lot faster and better to design characters in ZBrush than it is in Maya, as you can play around with designs in a completely different manner. Once you're happy with your design, then you can retopo it. If you already have a base mesh which is working well and you're just adding details to it, you already have the topology ready, so there's no need to redo it. If you have a mesh with topology: - Maya > ZBrush > Painter/Mari > Rendering If you're concept sculpting - Concept sculpt in ZBrush > Retopo in Maya > Reproject details in ZBrush >Textures in Painter/Mari > Rendering. I hope this helps! :) /Henning

[@btaalaibekov9565]

Thanks!! Great!! Really cool lesson!!! Waiting for anohter Tutorials)

[@FlippedNormals]

Cheers!

[@nikitavidonov1959]

Thank you, you really help me, but (there is always some "but") there is a plugin tool "Decimation master" in ZBrush. I think it is better than Zremesher and can ease face retopology. What can you say about it?

[@StephenWebb1980]

great therapy watching

[@SleepyMatt-zzz]

This is pretty handy information. Even for someone like me who mostly uses blender.

[@thebigjago]

are you guys making a reducing polys vid at any time ?

[@boulaawny4420]

Can i now use Sculptris Pro in ZBrush to create my own creature/character , then doing some Retopology whether in Blender/Maya/ZBrush to make UV Master be apled to my model again after making good topology ?

[@masterami3942]

Thanks i love all of u guy

[@FlippedNormals]

Thank you! Much appreciated

[@TheKSerge]

Thanks for explaining process

[@cr0w-qz277]

Is it necessary to retop something you modelled within maya (all quads) or is it only needed for sculpts?

[@FlippedNormals]

Only if you've sculpted it :)

[@BU-sj2gn]

thinking about sticking to box modeling!

[@sonhoang-sq9fw]

THank you alot! That's so useful

[@FlippedNormals]

Thank you!

[@ronydey2696]

great and helpful

[@MuazzamShahzad]

please do a in depth tutorial for z-remesher

[@nanfredman1991]

I notice that retopo in Maya, as you're showing it, isn't all that different from Modo, and the basic principles you discuss apply. Which brings me to a question: have you abandoned Modo, or do you just use various applications depending on what the customer wants or what the app is strongest in?

[@FlippedNormals]

You're right - the principles are identical when it comes to retopo in Maya and MODO. I still prefer to retopo in MODO, to be honest - as I find the tools to have better performance. That said, as I work in Maya at my studio, it often makes sense to stick to one software, as moving models which have already been put into our pipeline between software is a bit of a pain. I definitely still use a cocktail of software, as they all have different strengths.

[@acpokefan9742]

The area where you put the three quads make up a subdIvided TRIANGLE! You could have just them into ONE QUAD!

[@andresfelipecalderonfranco2415]

Thanks for sharing

[@6Z3N9]

Amazing vids, thx a lot! :) keep it up

[@FlippedNormals]

Thanks - will do!

[@emiliovera4887]

Thank you.. i´ve been for 2 days doing retopology on a dinosaur trying to not get stars and it´s just giving me nightmares!

[@zielonebutelki]

If I go out of the quad draw tool and correct something or add new polygons, like you guys in the inside of an eye, in the end my mesh has new seams (after in UV mode view) in these places and I can't get rid of them. Is there any way to delete these seams?

[@TheBritMonk]

Is their similar tools for doing this in 3ds max or zbrush? Like the smooth function seems really useful

[@AllenC1x]

Why you choose to mirror it after its done instead of doing retopo with symmetry activated?

[@FlippedNormals]

Good question! Symmetry has a tendency to be a bit broken, so I just dont trust it. It also makes performance better, as you're only working on one side. /Henning

[@darksteelyurius]

My retopology tool keeps making the new quads translucent. Any way to update/change that?

[@supatrupa13]

Nice videos keep it up

[@FlippedNormals]

Cheers! Will do.

[@DetectiveBlackCat]

Can you do an eyeball tutorial? I mean a full tutorial with model to render if possible.

[@FlippedNormals]

It's on our list :)

[@firemartins]

Michael, tNice tutorials is the best soft soft Video Tutorial ever.

[@SeanSpitzer]

Is it possible to Mirror retopo as 3D Coat has in place?

[@raymonddicksen5196]

do a body topology. i want to know how it effects in rig

[@FlippedNormals]

On our list! Thanks.

[@legally_blind]

Yaw teacher , you say that you should paste already good topo for ears and weird shapes , how do you go about that? (from zbrush)

[@legally_blind]

also Im trying to make a char with a hoodie but the hood is down , so the inner part of the hood maya doesnt let me work on like Im no longer in the live surface.

[@alifstarfath]

thank you so much very helpful n detail video, more video like this pls XD