Sculpting an object with armature

Question

Good day guys,

I am reaching for your help regarding sculpting some details on a rigged character (riggify). There are some details that I want to add but they are hard to reach or estimate if I don't pose the character. I have also multires modifier on (on top of armature modifier), if I put the multires below armature, the whole mesh is distorted. My main problem is that I cannot pose the character and then entering sculpt mode without the mesh always resetting to its neutral position. Any workarounds that you guys might have? Maybe some of you encountered the same issue.

Thank you!

Answer 1

In some cases the modeled character uses Multires Modifier on top of the Armatrure Modifier to provide finer details, especially on close-ups. Blender supports sculpting of posed characters. Unfortunately there is a restriction. If Multires Modifier is present the sculpted mesh defaults to its rest position. This makes sculpting hard to access parts (ex. sculpting a pimple on armpit) a difficult task.

However there is a simple workaround.

Let's suppose we have a model of a female pelvic area and we want to add details to the genitalia.

The model named Cube is rigged and have both Armature and Multires modifier.

Duplicate the object. It will inherit the modifiers from the original.

You can hide the original model and pose the Armature so the desired area is accessible for sculpting

Now apply the Multires Modifier with the highest level on which you plan to sculpt, but keep the Armature Modifier.

Sculpt the desired details:

If you reset the armature pose you can see that the newly added detail nicely conforms to the rest pose.

Now the most important part!

In object mode select the original object (Cube) in the Outliner and then the sculpted mesh Cube.001.

In the Multires Modifier make sure it is set to the same Viewport level as previously applied. In Shape panel press the Reshape button. This will transfer the geometry of the Cube.001 to the current level of the Cube multires mesh.

Now you can hide Cube.001 in case you want to keep sculpting and transferring its shape or delete it if no longer needed.

The original Cube preserves is base mesh.

Now spread your wings and sculpt freely.

Happy blending!

Answer 2

Blockout > sculpt > retopology > baking > painting > rigging > weighting.

It's a long process with destructive steps along the way to create a finished, rigged asset. You can't take a finished product, go back to the sculpting phase and... hope everything will be fine. A rig affects vertices, if you modify the mesh, you'll have to redo the whole weight paint at best, and if you change things too much, you'll have to redo baking, etc. It's definitely not a common way to do things.

But, if your aim is just to sculpt in a pose: Pose your mesh. Apply the Armature Modifier. And go on sculpting.