How-to: Hand Retopology for Animation

sketchfab

This project is part of a series where I completely reorganize a head (https://skfb.ly/6YSK9) as well as an entire character (https://skfb.ly/6YWsM). I'm limited to 5 annotations, so I made each one count, with timestamps for when they're most relevant. In the final step, colors highlight different loops related to the hand. Follow these steps and you'll end up with a model that's perfect for rigging and animation! Hands are notoriously tricky. There are at least 30 ways to reorganize a hand, but this is my go-to method. Here's a tip: start by retopologizing the fingers and work your way down to the wrist. Fingers are the densest part of the hand, and you gradually reduce the number of loops until you reach the wrist. Keep in mind that every studio and character artist has their own preferences. I conducted extensive research and experimentation to come up with this approach.