Retopology, The Tedious Next Step

 After creating a character in ZBrush, more often than not, the poly count will be in the millions, especially if that character is full body. This can be tasking for games designers or animators to work with, and can also be tasking for the engine the game is being created for. The best way to remedy this, is to retopologise the character after completion, so that the flow of the polys works better for facial movement in animation, and the poly count is reduced to a nice and workable number.

What is retopology? 

Retopology is the reducing and laying out of the faces of a mesh, usually needed for characters or high poly assets, in order for a higher poly version to be baked onto. While a slow process, Maya is a good tool for retopology, allowing you to create new polygons over the top of your high poly mesh with a reduced poly count, and following the flow of the character better than the provided mesh ported from ZBrush. The flow of a character's polys are important especially within the face, as if they follow the contours and movements of the face naturally, then rigging the character will be a lot easier.

For faster work flow, I tend to export a low poly version of the character over to Maya as well as the high character, so that the software can handle it easier, and I can see the already existing flow of the polygons within the mesh. Retopology takes time, and can get tedious, but in the end is worth it for a better, game ready result for your finished character.