Blender 3D By Example - Second Edition

Method 3 – Shrinkwrap

This method is pretty simple and is usually just used as a jumping-off point. You may want to refine the polygon placement afterward.

Earlier in this chapter, we saw one use of the Shrinkwrap modifier that helped us visualize our retopology object. But now we're going to take a look at a more traditional use for it. When it comes to retopologizing simple forms of a character, such as the tail on our baby dragon, we can start by box-modeling a basic shape with clean topology, and then shrinkwrap that object to the surface of the high-res model:

1. Make sure your 3D cursor is at the world origin.
2. Tab back into Object Mode.
3. Add a cylinder (Shift + A | Mesh | Cylinder).
4. Set Vertices to 16.
5. Change Cap Fill Type to Nothing