How to make Low poly from High poly?

Question

3D

I created a High poly model from 700k triangles, according to the pipeline I have to do retopology, unwrap, bake and texture. But the question arose: how to do this retopology? Is it possible to just take and turn off the bevel and subdivision surface modifiers and thereby reduce the number of polygons, or will we have to create a simplified object shape? Do I need to combine all the details into one object? Do I need to apply all modifiers before unwrapping and exporting to substance painter? Do I need to separate high poly and low poly into different files or can it be in one? And the last most stupid question, is a polygon a quadrilateral or a triangle? :)

Sorry for the noob questions, thanks in advance.

Answer 1

I will answer the most important question, a polygon is a quadrilateral, which consists of 2 triangles. In general, everything consists of triangles, but for ease of perception and modeling, it is displayed as a 4-gon.

Answer 2

You can't just turn off modifiers and get low poly.
You don't need to merge anything.
I do not remember.
Can be done in one file. (.blend)
A quad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-c3UqlGGmk&t=1s
This is a link to one of the character modeling tutorials for the game. But there is what you need. There are answers to all your questions.