I'm modeling a character for practice and ran into a question about best practices for game-ready models. If a character has a mesh-based beard (not just textures or normal maps), is it better to keep it as a separate object (parented to the face), or should it be merged into the head mesh?
Right now, I'm mostly focused on edge flows, pole management, and general topology, but I want to keep an eye on industry standards, especially since my long-term goal is indie game development.
Keeping the beard separate makes it easier to maintain a clean, quad-based topology without forcing extra edge loops into the face. But in actual game development, could this approach cause issues with rigging, animation, or performance? Or is it actually a common practice?
Here’s my current progress (I’d love feedback on edge flow and topology as well!). The beard and eyebrows feel a bit off—I tried to keep the core mesh clean without overcomplicating the beard shape, but now it just looks kind of... boring. 😅
Either is fine. General rule of thumb is if the beard is going to be removeable or replaceable in the game then it needs to be a separate object. As for rigging and animating, just make sure that if it's a separate object that there are faces that enter into the face/head mesh to prevent backface culling from being seen in extreme deformations.
Judging from my own experience with videogame glitches and seeing my character move one way and the beard go the other way, I'd say they are separate. So yeah, either way is fine, but I bet everyone does it separate. Not only for the convenience in modeling, but it's also weird to have the beard mesh stuck to the face.