but I feel like that's for people who are absolutely anal about polygon count

Nah, automated tools are great at hitting polycounts. They're just terrible at providing adequate density and correct edge flows in light of intended deformation leading to poor results on animated/deforming meshes. Looking at part 4 where the retopo starts, that looks like fairly straightforward manual retopo. Admittedly, I skipped through it owing to its long playtime and relatively low quality.

In terms of tools, I use a couple to speed up the process. ZRemesher with guide curves can get pretty close for unimportant meshes where turnaround time is paramount. For hero characters, where I want complete control over flow and density, Topogun 3 makes it less of a chore.

For unconventional characters (creatures, weird proportions), I work freehand without thought of topology in Zbrush. Once the form is pretty close to final, I'll retopo and unwrap before projecting and finalising the sculpt. In the end, your lowest sub-d level is essentially your LP. You'll often want to make some minor adjustments before bake, but they are that, minor.

Generally though, you should be looking to avoid as much topology and UV work as is humanly possible. It's a time sink, a formality required to have nice, consistent characters.

Reshaping the closest candidate from a set of base-meshes I've made, and using projection workflows is something I do wherever I can. Best case scenario? Tweaking some verts in a couple of tricky places and relaxing a couple of interior UVs after sculpting. Minutes. It also makes for relatively consistent UVs, which you can use to accelerate skinning across similar meshes.

but I feel like that's for people who are absolutely anal about polygon count

Nah, automated tools are great at hitting polycounts. They're just terrible at providing adequate density and correct edge flows in light of intended deformation leading to poor results on animated/deforming meshes. Looking at part 4 where the retopo starts, that looks like fairly straightforward manual retopo. Admittedly, I skipped through it owing to its long playtime and relatively low quality.

In terms of workflows, I use a couple of tools to speed it up. ZRemesher with guide curves can get you pretty close for unimportant meshes. For hero characters, where I want complete control over flow and density, Topogun 3 makes it less of a chore. Generally though, you should be looking to avoid as much topology and UV work as is humanly possible. It's a time sink, a formality required to have nice, consistent characters.

For unconventional characters (creatures, weird proportions), I work freehand without thought of topology in Zbrush. Once the form is pretty close to final, I'll retopo and unwrap before projecting and finalising the sculpt. In the end, your lowest sub-d level is essentially your LP. You'll often want to make some minor adjustments before bake, but they are that, minor.

For everything else, I do as little as possible - reshaping the closest candidate from a set of base-meshes I've made by hand, and using projection workflows. Best case scenario? Tweaking some verts in a couple of tricky places and relaxing a couple of interior UVs after sculpting. Minutes. It also makes for consistent UVs, which you can use to accelerate skinning.

but I feel like that's for people who are absolutely anal about polygon count

Nah, automated tools are great at hitting polycounts. They're just terrible at providing adequate density and correct edge flows in light of intended deformation leading to poor results on animated/deforming meshes. Looking at part 4 where the retopo starts, that looks like fairly straightforward manual retopo. Admittedly, I skipped through it owing to its long playtime and relatively low quality.

In terms of workflows, I use a couple of tools to speed it up. ZRemesher with guide curves can get you pretty close for unimportant meshes. For hero characters, where I want complete control over flow and density, Topogun 3 makes it less of a chore. Generally though, you should be looking to avoid as much topology and UV work as is humanly possible. It's a time sink, a formality required to have nice, consistent characters.

For unconventional characters (creatures, weird proportions), I work freehand without thought of topology in Zbrush. Once the form is pretty close to final, I'll retopo and unwrap before projecting and finalising the sculpt. In the end, your lowest sub-d level is essentially your LP. You'll often want to make some minor adjustments before bake, but they are that, minor.

For everything else, I do a fraction of the work by just reshaping the closest candidate from a set of base-meshes I've made, and using projection workflows. Best case scenario? Tweak a couple of verts and relax a couple of interior UVs after sculpting. Minutes.

but I feel like that's for people who are absolutely anal about polygon count

Nah, automated tools are great at hitting polycounts. They're just terrible at providing adequate density and correct edge flows in light of intended deformation leading to poor results on animated/deforming meshes. Looking at part 4 where the retopo starts, that looks like fairly straightforward manual retopo. Admittedly, I skipped through it owing to its long playtime and relatively low quality.

In terms of workflows, I use a couple of tools to speed it up. ZRemesher with guide curves can get you pretty close for unimportant meshes. For hero characters, Topogun 3 makes it less of a chore. Generally though, you should be looking to avoid as much topology and UV work as is humanly possible. It's a time sink, a formality required to have nice, consistent characters.

For unconventional characters (creatures, weird proportions), I work freehand without thought of topology in Zbrush. Once the form is pretty close to final, I'll retopo and unwrap before projecting and finalising the sculpt. In the end, your lowest sub-d level is essentially your LP. You'll often want to make some minor adjustments before bake, but they are that, minor.

For everything else, I do a fraction of the work by just reshaping the closest candidate from a set of base-meshes I've made, and using projection workflows. Best case scenario? Tweak a couple of verts and relax a couple of interior UVs after sculpting. Minutes.