Re-Topologize a Game-Ready Alien Head in Blender

on Aug 17th 2009 with 26 comments
Tutorial Details
  • Software: Blender
  • Difficulty: Beginner
  • Estimated Completion Time: 1 Hour

The retopology tools in Blender allow you to take a high-resolution model and very quickly create a low-poly version of that model. You can then use this new low-poly mesh to easily generate a normal map, displacement map, or anything else you may need from the high-poly version.

This tutorial introduces you to the basics of retopo in Blender, including how to use the extrude feature, the paint tool, and some of the quirks of retopo in general. Retopologizing a model.

Additional Files/ Plugins:

Final Effect Preview

Tutorial

Note: click the ‘Monitor’ icon to view tutorial in full-screen HD.

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By

Rollover to read this author's bio or click through to see a full list of posts by this author.

Jonathan has been very active in the blender community over the years, and his main focus is character modeling and design. He has helped to organize and present two blender conferences in Montreal, one blender conference in New York, and returned two consecutive years to North Carolina, to teach alongside fellow Blender-artists at a Summer camp for junior-high students hosted by Red Hat Linux. He has also been featured in two publications on Blender, and worked to pass on the skills he has learned by producing training materials on his own as well. You can see some samples of his Blender art on his site at: www.montagestudio.org.  

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  • http://craigps.co.nr Craigsnedeker

    wow, that’s totally awesome!

  • accessoire

    Congrats Jonathan :). I’m already familiar with retopo tools in Blender but I’m sure this tutorial is very good, just as every tutorial from you. Anyway, I’m just taking a look at it just because of the mesh topology :).

  • http://www.gutsblow.com/ Satya Meka

    Hi Jonathan I love your work over at CGCookie!

  • Nixon

    Hey Jonathan,

    thanks for this great tutorial, your work is really awesome and the output of in depth tuts that you create is just baffling.
    You roxx!!

  • Timo

    could we get a dowlnoad like aetuts?

  • MDxm

    Man, I didn’t know about that retopology feature! Thanks alot! :D

  • http://www.montagestudio.org Jonathan Williamson
    Author

    Thank you for the comments everyone :)

  • http://danysyahban.wordpress.com dzinc

    Nice tut…
    this is what I’ve been looking for…

  • Nvisiongameco

    dude wow

  • Pixeltwister

    Hi,

    Good tutorial as always.

    Just a thought when starting out with retopo I found the X-Ray
    button to be very useful.

    Kindest Regards,

    Pixeltwister

  • dakiru

    Very good tutorial, thank you!

  • Rorkimaru

    One major flaw in this tutorial is your failure to mention turning on xray mode on the mesh you are retopoing with.

    In the physics buttons select xray and select wire as the draw mode to wire. That way you can clearly see the model you are making and the high res model underneath.

    The important thing is to remember to fill the faces but once you have the edge geometry down you can hide the high res model, switch to solid mode and then once over to make sure that anywhere you missed filling is filled.

    Aside from that though this was a great tutorial for aspiring game designers on how to make low res models with good edge flow and a great normal map. (I know you don’t cover baking but it’s prety straightforward). Very clearly delivered. Well done! Lets hope we see a few less models trying to animate after having a decimate modefier applied now!

  • SnowInChina

    hey jonathan

    i really like your video tutorials. they are really helpful (and awesome)
    thanks for your work

  • Diana

    Very clear! Thank you.

    One quibble: the singular of “vertices” is “vertex”, not verticie.

  • pixnlove

    Great tuto,
    It is however very difficult to follow your click when you are in edit mode.
    You could have turn x ray for the retopoed model for more clarity.
    Thank you again.

    I am a bin fan. jonathan

  • Chris

    Love the Tutorials!

    Little known tip for you: You can shift select both vertex and/or edge and/or face selection mode down at the bottom of the 3D viewport. It actually lets you select EITHER vertices OR egdes (or faces) at the same time without having to switch. I’d have to say it double my effeicency when modeling.

    • Jeremiah

      Holy moly… what an amazing tip!

  • Phil

    This is great, Thank you!

  • Jesse Hoegen

    Great job! Your tutorials are really good!!! Thanks for sharing them.

  • sunil

    absolutely great work!

  • sunil

    great work!

  • Mathew Silva

    Jonathan Williamson Thank you for the great tutorial!..im a newbie,i just started using Blender a couple of weeks ago!..(so much to learn!!)
    I think your a great artist and your tutorials are awsome!!..
    When i tryed to use RETOPO something happened…
    When i delete the cube, to create the vertices..the vertices do not appear??…what should i do?..Is there anything i can do to overcome this delay?…
    I would really aprecciate any help!!..

    • http://montagestudio.org Jonathan Williamson
      Author

      Hi Matthew,

      Apologies for the really late reply but have you tried toggling in and out of shaded mode with Z? If you are in shaded mode you may just be able to see the vertices unless you enable X-ray under the Object properties.

  • milad

    hello
    very good

  • http://uptimefirm.com Jesse

    The link to the download is broken for me, it includes an extra in the link provided.

    • http://www.christateonline.com Chris Tate
      Staff

      Hey Jesse,

      Sorry about that! It should be working now.

      Cheers,
      Chris