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Training Highlights
Stylized Rendering with Brushstrokes
Geometry Nodes from Scratch
Procedural Shading Fundamentals
Stylized Character Workflow

Training types
Course Documentation Production Lesson Workshop

Training categories
Animation Geometry Nodes Lighting Rendering Rigging Shading
Film Highlights
Wing It!
2023
Charge
2022
Sprite Fright
2021
Spring
2019
Project Highlights
Project DogWalk
Interactive
Gold
Showcase
BCON24 Identity
Showcase
Fighting with Grease Pencil
Article
Course
Stylized Character Workflow
Intro
  1. 01

    Introduction

    Free
  2. 02

    Introduction Update

    Free
1: Head Sculpting
  1. 01

    Defining Goals

    Free
  2. 02

    Research

  3. 03

    Blender Setup

  4. 04

    Sculpting a Primitive Head Shape

  5. 05

    Sculpting a complete Planar Head

  6. 06

    Smoothing the Planar Head

  7. 07

    Stylising the Head Sculpt

  8. 08

    Timelapse: Sculpting Rain's Head

    Free
  9. 09

    Timelapse: Vertex Painting

  10. 10

    Timelapse: Sculpting Hair

  11. 11

    Timelapse: Head Design Variations

  12. 12

    Timelapse: Finishing Rain's Head Design

2: Body & Outfit Sculpting
  1. 01

    Creating a Primitive Body

    Free
  2. 02

    Sculpting the Planar Torso

  3. 03

    Sculpting the Planar Arms & Legs

  4. 04

    Sculpting the Planar Hands & Feet

  5. 05

    Smoothing & Stylising the Body

  6. 06

    Creating Clothing Basemeshes

  7. 07

    Update: Optimal Clothing Basemesh

  8. 08

    Modelling additional Basemeshes

  9. 09

    Stretching vs Compression

  10. 10

    Sculpting Wrinkles & Folds

  11. 11

    Polishing the Surfaces

  12. 12

    Finishing the additional Elements

  13. 13

    Timelapse: Sculpting Rains Body

  14. 14

    Timelapse: Rains Autumn Outfit

  15. 15

    Timelapse: Adjusting Proportions and the Outfit

  16. 16

    Timelapse: Rains Summer Outfit

    Free
  17. 17

    Timelapse: Sculpting Rains final Outfit

3: Expression Testing
  1. 01

    Fast & rough Retopology for the Head

  2. 02

    Modelling the inner Head & transferring Details

  3. 03

    Adding the teeth, gums & tongue

  4. 04

    Basic Expression Shapekeys

    Free
  5. 05

    Sculpting an Expression

  6. 06

    Breakdown: Expression Guide Part 1

    Free
  7. 07

    Breakdown: Expression Guide Part 2

  8. 08

    Breakdown: Design Adjustments

  9. 09

    Breakdown: Adding extra Appeal

4: Clean Retopology
  1. 01

    Retopology Introduction

  2. 02

    Creating & Guiding Topology

  3. 03

    Planning the Facial Retopology

    Free
  4. 04

    Retopology Setup

  5. 05

    Facial Retopology - Edge Flow & Articulation

  6. 06

    Update: Strategic 2-Poles

  7. 07

    Facial Retopology - Patches & Poles

  8. 08

    Facial Retopology - Creases & Tweaking

  9. 09

    Timelapse: Head Retopology

  10. 10

    Timelapse: Body Retopology

    Free
  11. 11

    Timelapse: Inner Body & Transfering Volume

  12. 12

    Timelapse: Head Objects & Tweaking

  13. 13

    Timelapse: Hair Retopology

  14. 14

    Timelapse: Shirt & Pants Retopology Pt.1

  15. 15

    Timelapse: Shirt & Pants Retopology Pt.2

  16. 16

    Timelapse: Shoe modeling & additional Tweaking

  17. 17

    Timelapse: Scarf Retopology & Finishing Touches

5: Bonus Chapter: Snow
  1. 01

    Timelapse: Sculpting Snow's Head

    Free
  2. 02

    Timelapse: Sculpting Snow's Body

  3. 03

    Timelapse: Polishing Snow

  4. 04

    Timelapse: Sculpting Snow's Outfit

  5. 05

    Timelapse: Remeshing & Adjusting Snow

  6. 06

    Timelapse: Snow's Expression Tests

  7. 07

    Timelapse: Posing Snow

  8. Live: Face Retopology Free
  9. Live: Head Retopology Free
  10. Live: Hair Retopology Free
  11. Live: Upper Body Retopology Free
  12. Live: Body Retopology Free
  13. Live: Retopo tweaks & outfit Free
  14. Live: Outfit Retopology Free
  15. Live: Retopology Finale Free
  16. Live: Body UV Mapping Free
  17. Live: Outfit UV Mapping Free
  18. Live: UV Mapping Finale Free
  19. Live: Base Colors & Preparations Free
  20. Live: Tiles & Procedural Detail Free
  21. Live: Height Map Painting Free
  22. Live: Detail Extraction & Stitches Free
  23. Live: Textures & Procedural Eyes Free
  24. Live: Procedural Skin & Hair Anisotropy Free
  25. Live: Turntable & Hair Textures Free
  26. Live: Baking & Final Renders Free
Bonus Videos
  1. 01

    Youtube Version: Stylized Character Workflow in Blender 2.81

    Free
  2. 02

    Snow Character Creation Recap

    Free
  3. 03

    Sculpting Fundamentals

    Free
  4. 05

    Preventing/Fixing Boolean Errors

Cheat Sheets
  1. Topology Guides - Killing/Directing Loops
  2. Topology Guides - Poles & Edge Flow Free
  3. Topology Guides - Stretching & Pinching
  4. Topology Guides - Hiding Stretching
  5. Topology Guides - Strategic 2-Poles
  6. Topology Guides - Hard-Modeling Creases
  7. Facial Topology - Edge Flow
  8. Facial Topology - Landmarks
  9. Facial Topology - Articulation Free
  10. Facial Topology - Patches & Poles
  11. Facial Topology - Creases
  12. Facial Topology - Deformations
  13. Retopology Setup Free
  14. Body Topology - Seperate Limbs
  15. Body Topology - Joint Loops
  16. Body Topology - Finishing Touches
Course Lesson .blend files
  1. File 1: Head Sculpting Lessons
  2. File 2: Body Sculpting Lessons
  3. File 3: Topology Examples
  4. File 4: Facial Topology & Planning
Final Renders
  1. Rain - Final Render Free
  2. Rain - Turnaround Free
  3. Rain - Turnaround (Clay) Free
  4. Rain - Turnaround (Wire) Free
  5. 05

    Rain - Turntables

    Free
  6. Snow - Final Render Free
  7. Snow - Turnaround Free
  8. Snow - Turnaround (Clay) Free
  9. Snow - Turnaround (Wire) Free
  10. 10

    Snow - Turntables

    Free
  11. Rain & Snow - Final Render Free
Rain - Character Development
  1. 1 - Head Exploration Free
  2. 1 - Head Polish Free
  3. 2 - Body Iterations Free
  4. 2 - Outfit Variations Free
  5. 05

    3 - Expression Tests

    Free
  6. 4 - Retopology Free
  7. 4 - UV unwrapping Free
  8. 08

    5 - Turntable Renders

    Free
  9. 6 - Pose Exploration Free
  10. 10

    6 - Pose Polishing

    Free
Rain .blend files
  1. Rain - File 1: Head Sculpting
  2. Rain - File 2: Body & Outfit Sculpting
  3. Rain - File 3: Expression Tests
  4. Rain - File 4: Retopology & UV mapping
  5. Rain - File 5: Shading & Texturing
  6. Rain - File 6: Posing
  7. Rain - File 7: Lighting & Composition
Snow .blend files
  1. Snow - File 1: Concept
  2. Snow - File 2: Sculpting
  3. Snow - File 3: Testing
  4. Snow - File 4: Retopology
  5. Snow - File 5: UVs & Shading
  6. Snow - File 6: Rendering & Compositing
Snow - Character Development
  1. 1 - Concept Drawings Free
  2. 2 - Head Sculpting Free
  3. 3 - Full Body Sculpting Free
  4. 4 - Outfit Sculpting Free
  5. 05

    5 - Expression Tests

    Free
  6. 6 - Pose test Free
  7. 7 - Retopo (Face) Free
  8. 08

    8 - Retopo (Head)

    Free
  9. 09

    9 - Hair Retopology

    Free
  10. 10

    10 - Body Retopology

    Free
  11. 11

    11 - Outfit Retopology

    Free
  12. 12

    12 - Turntable Tests

    Free
More Resources
  1. Base Meshes Free
  2. Matcap: Default with Specular Free
  3. Matcap: Gradient Free
  4. Matcap: Ghost Free
Addons
  1. Screencast Keys Free
  2. Magic UV Free

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Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar Author
License CC-BY
Report Problem
4: Clean Retopology

Facial Retopology - Patches & Poles

This is the second of 3 videos on retopologizing the face in practice. In this lesson we continue the retopology by connecting the general loops into individual patches and strategically placing while avoiding too much unnecessary stretching & pinching.

Other links:
  • Rain - File 4: Retopology & UV mapping: The file that includes the original retopology of Rain.
  • File 4: Facial Topology & Planning: More examples of the finished facial topology from the end of these lessons.
  • Cheatsheets: A collection of cheat sheets, including the ones from this video.
General Links
  • Short version of the creation of Rain
  • Recap video of the creation of Snow
  • Rain .blend files
  • Snow .blend files
  • Course Resources

Join to leave a comment.

14 comments
Keshav Chaurasia
Keshav Chaurasia
Jan. 27th, 2023

I have to say it, I am relatively new to retopology and have only made failed attempts of retopoing a character, but the information about poles, essential loops and edge flow has helped tremendously, thank you!

Mejjay
Mejjay
Feb. 14th, 2022

@Julien Kaspar How do I add images the way that others are able to do? I'd like to get some feedback on my work. Is there html involved? I'd also like to separate longer text into paragraphs if possible.

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
Feb. 14th, 2022

@Mejjay For that you need to embed an image link in the comments via markdown,. But you can also just directly paste the link to it. I will see it either way ;)

Mejjay
Mejjay
Feb. 15th, 2022

@Julien Kaspar I'm not really familiar with markdown but here goes. rlcJhD.png

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
Feb. 15th, 2022

@Mejjay That looks great! The only thing I could say right now is that the nose has an N-pole (3 connected edges) right inside a crease. I can see why those 2 poles are at the nose wing so they should stay but try adding another loop in between them and put that one inside that crease. It will look better when subdivided.

Mejjay
Mejjay
Feb. 16th, 2022

@Julien Kaspar Okay. I'll look out for such things in the future. I'm posting the edited version just to make sure I understood which pole and which loop you're talking about.    rzrWac.png

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
Feb. 16th, 2022

@Mejjay Yes, perfect.

Mejjay
Mejjay
Feb. 15th, 2022

Now, I wonder if I canget this to work with line breaks.  return If the word "return" is seen above, then I didn't do it right. lol

Florent Mounier
Florent Mounier
Dec. 20th, 2020

for some reason i followed along with my shrinkwrap modifier not working this entire time, i realized it when you started using sculpting mode.

i tried to set it properly afterward and my whole topology exploded...

basically this means my retopo looks fine just cause of face snap... i guess i'll have to redo the whole tutorial to see where i f***ed up XD

https://i.imgur.com/v80iAg9.jpg

Mejjay
Mejjay
Feb. 15th, 2022

@Florent Mounier If I may ask, what do you type to get the line breaks within your text?

Amaan Ahmed
Amaan Ahmed
June 20th, 2020

what did u do when you ribed an edge loop

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
June 22nd, 2020

*@Amaan Ahmed* It's hard to explain it without visualising it another way.
I needed another loop to connect the nose & eye area. Instead of just cutting in another edge loop that goes all the way into the lips, I wanted that new edge loop to end at the vertex that I annotated as a pole. That way it would get 5 instead of 4 connected edges.
The result of this would be a triangle right next to one already existing 5-pole and a new one I just created.
But if you have a 5-pole & a 3-pole (or tris) right next to each other it's easy to resolve. So to avoid them I already started to rip the edge loop that leads across the nose bridge to create another edge loop from that direction as well.
This edge loop then connects to that area which would have had a triangle and keeps everything as clean quads.
It also removes one connected edge from the existing 5-pole to turn it back into a regular 4 sided vertex.

It's my way of thinking in these tasks: If you add a loop that doesn't lead back into itself, it will create a poles/tris/ngon.
But by adding more loops to meet them the other way (or removing them) you can clean these up by turning them back into 4 sided vertices & faces.

There's also many ways of doing it in terms of modeling. But it's important to learn why. I hope this was helpful and not to hard to follow.

Amaan Ahmed
Amaan Ahmed
Oct. 7th, 2020

*@Julien Kaspar* yes thank you it was helpful

Quick question, I've been doing 3d modelling for a year now and have finally settled with a small project. however i lack a team and crew to complete this task on my own there fore I've had to cut somethings down. is it possible to create a character for animation with out retopology or at least quicker way.

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
Oct. 9th, 2020

*@Amaan Ahmed* I would say it's possible to not make an extensive retopology and still be able to animate a character. You could for example not rely on facial animations. You characters could be heavily stylized or low poly. You could also have a very 2D or abstract style that doesn't require any specific topology to move limbs or facial features. All these elements could even be detachable.
But for most 3D animations you need a proper topology.

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