Hey! When working with a low res character, to animate a higher res, do you have to subdivide or split up low poly and high poly into layers in order to skin properly? Or can you just skin your low res mesh FIRST, and then smooth it a few times to get a weighted higher res? *And possibly transfer weights either automatically or somehow?*

Is the correct method to subdivide or smooth a few times before you weight the model?

I don’t really have displacement, just want to get my weighted low res smoother, so I can basically use the lower poly character to animate with and then smooth it out for render.
(I’m just using this for rendered animation, not a game engine)

I’m not a professional so you might want to actually try it, but I believe that is the right way;

I remember few videos that even recommend using it for such cases where your high res model is a bit heavy on your computer.

Also, I believe maya does it automatically.
As said though, you might want to do a few simple experiments on it inside maya just to be sure.

good luck.