u/Fun-Meat-6435

Hello guys,

I recently scrapped my previous character model and started over from scratch.

Normally I follow a strict concept-to-3D pipeline, but this time I tried “winging it” without a solid concept first… and it completely fell apart. So I went back and started rebuilding the character based on a fan art illustration I drew earlier (first image in the link below).

https://imgur.com/a/hoCcg4y

Current progress / setup:

* Modular mesh setup (Hair, Head, Eyes, Torso, Arms, Hands, Pelvis, Legs, Feet)

* Carefully maintained seam normals between separated parts

* Palette-based texture workflow for dynamic color changes in Unity

* Baked shading into Vertex Colors to avoid overly flat shading

* Eye tracking using a “Sight” dummy

* Morphers(Blendshapes) for blinking, pain, anger, etc.

Next step is basic locomotion rigging (Idle/Walk/Run), then moving into base clothing like T-shirts and jeans.

A couple technical questions:

1. Vertex Color FidelityMost of my background is hand-painted low-poly stuff (around 800–1500 tris), so this workflow is fairly new to me.Does 3ds Max Vertex Paint generally transfer cleanly 1:1 into Unity?
2. RGB Mask WorkflowI’m planning to use RGB channels as masks for different textures/patterns inside Unity for customization purposes. Are there any common pitfalls or performance issues I should watch out for?

Also, how do the facial expressions feel so far? I’m debating whether to push toward a heavier/more detailed aesthetic, but I’m not sure if that would actually improve the look.

Would love to hear any feedback or criticism.

Hello everyone,

I’ve been working on a stylized character as part of a personal project.

The goal is to bring a few elements into a single setup:

- Customization (outfits, hairstyles, skin tones)

- Blendshapes (talking, blinking, expressions)

- Shared color palette texture (single material)

- Ready-to-use setup in Unity

Right now I’m mainly focusing on:

→ Palette-style textures using vertex color

→ Keeping everything flexible while still lightweight

This time I started modeling without doing a proper concept first, which is unusual for me, so I’m also curious how that affects the overall result.

Here’s the current state (topology + textures).

https://imgur.com/a/TybW09a

I’d really appreciate some feedback:

- I’m considering adding facial hair to the male version.

In this kind of setup, anything beyond simpler styles would likely require separate blendshape variations, which can get complicated to manage.

Because of that, I’m leaning toward keeping it limited (like mustaches or simpler styles).

For those who’ve worked with similar setups, what range of facial hair styles have you found to be safe or manageable without running into major issues?

- General first impression is also very welcome.

Thanks!

Hi all,

Stylized character I’ve been working on.

Trying to keep it simple and clean while exploring a more flexible base for customization later.

This model was created in 3D Max and has a total of just over 3600 polygons.

Any feedback is welcome!