Seriously, how do people deal with this stuff?
So, the title explains most of it: I am struggling with retopology, specifically hands. For how many days i've been going through a chaotic loop of frustration and trial and error (mostly error). for these hands: https://imgur.com/a/1BTNg
It's been really difficult and frustrating. One part of me wants to keep going with this project, but the other part of me is just ashamed that it's been taking so long to figure out just how to do the hands, I feel awful.
So, whats the trick to mastering hand retopo? my main problems are figuring out how to create a loop for the thumb while having space for the individual finger "sockets"? Sorry for the wording but i mean the part that will have individual circles to connect to the fingers and create the knuckles and webbing.
And connecting the "sockets". It's hard to do nicely for me. I always end up making it look choppy, then I add one too many edge loops to it and make connecting the sockets and the fingers really difficult.
What method do you use for retopologizing hands? Where do you start? How do you get more comfortable with it and finish quickly? And how do you refrain from ripping out your hair in frustration?
Thanks for reading.
Have no fear! Lots of people struggle with retopology. Including me because I'm still working on doing it well. If you haven't been doing the courses I would totally do some. This one's a good one to start with:https://cgcookie.com/course/introduction-to-character-modeling.
The best advice I am able to offer is to watch and participate in courses, practice, and never be afraid to ask for help. Once I do the course exercises I often return to the course with my own project if I get stuck. It acts as a sort of reference. Unless you are a natural it's going to take some time before you get really good at it so have patients.
Oh and when it comes to ripping you hair It's ok. I've done that to. Just don't try to do too much too fast. When you feel frustrated walk away or switch to another project for a bit or my personal favorite, go outside and go for a short walk. I find that fresh air helps clear my head.
Cheers and Good luck!
And how do you refrain from ripping out your hair in frustration?
But that's the first step!
Seriously though, it just takes practice. We've all been at the hair ripping stage before. Luckily, we've got a video on exactly how to retopologize hands (part of the character course that was linked above):
https://cgcookie.com/lesson/retopologizing-the-hands
And if you need a refresher on retopology in general, I'd recommend taking a break and watching through this course:
No reason to reinvent the wheel. Here's a google image search on hand retopology. Steal whatever you like! Once you have become familiar with a few design choices, you have a better foundation for doing retopo from scratch.