Is everything built uniquely for each title you work on?
Do we re-invent the wheel? No, but we might refine it.
You wouldn’t build a pair of hands if you had built a perfectly good set with nice UV co-ordinates a week before, would you? No, that would be waste of time. If you had build a chunky pair of male hands and wanted a more slender pair for an elegant female model you’d simply slim them down or elongate the fingers.
Re-use, re-work and recycle.
As you build models you are essentially building your own library of resuable assets which you should recycle over multiple models and even multiple projects (legal issues aside). If you picked up the excellent D’Artiste Character Book 2, (the Gears of War one), you’ll see how they reuse not only vast chunks of models - legs, heads etc, but smaller parts like fingers, noses, teeth, buckles, buttons, insignia. When you are in a production environment it is much better use of your time to grab existing elements and integrate them into your newest work, and spend the time you saved on polishing it instead.
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