Software for Low Poly Character and Game Asset Design

Unity Engine
1

I’m looking for some software that would work well with creating low poly game characters and game assets with a low learning curve that can easily be imported into Unity and is under $200. (Sadly I can’t afford the really nice programs.) The characters I will be making are mostly 1800s soldiers and horses.

Here’s what I’ve found out so far with the research I’ve done:

Blender: Tried making a character using this and had some success but it was a little steep on the learning curve

Zbrush: Sadly can’t afford this one

Silo 3D: Recently found out about this but I haven’t tried to make a character or any game assets yet. If anyone has had any success I would love to hear your opinions and/or see your results.

Sculptris: Saw a lot of mixed feelings from this one on the forums. I know it’s very high poly so I don’t think it would be a good option for a Unity game. If anyone has had any success with this software I would love to hear your opinions and/or see your results.

Wings 3D: Also recently found out about this but I haven’t tried to make a character or any game assets yet. If anyone has had any success I would love to hear your opinions and/or see your results.

I’m leaning more towards Silo since it’s advertised that you can go straight from the program to Unity without too much trouble. I’m going to use SketchUp for my structures so I’m looking for something that will not clash too much when placed together with this level of work.

2

There is no easy software for character creation. There is also no easy way for character creation. Character creation is kings class since humans makes art. It all comes down to experience and lots of practice. And the learning curve will be steep in all cases and with all tools. It simply takes a while to create useful characters. Be it high or low poly.

The current standard way to create humans is to model a low poly basemesh, sculpt it high poly, then do a retopo. You can also skip the low poly basemesh at the beginning and sculpt directly. Or you can leave the retopo part away when your low poly basemesh is useful enough. What you need in the end is a low poly version, and a high poly version to bake your textures and normalmap from.

When you can`t afford ZBrush for sculpting then Sculptris is still a nice free substitute. Blender has some new sculpting tools since a while, but they are still not as good as the ones from Sculptris. Mh, when you have some money left then 3D Coat could also be a good advice. But the full version is above 200 bucks.