We're currently on the amazing task of trying to get our games to look post 2002, but the plethora of available tools in making our workflow confusing. I mean... my usual per-vertex approach to unwrapping is totally useless on a 4.5m polygon head. Does anyone know of a good tutorial on how to get these 3000 polygon things all the way around till i have AO, normal, diffuse and the rest of the maps nicely laid on them?

I do. I used to work with the usual unwrap/meshsmooth thing, but my models are starting to look unforgivably old, so I am in need to update my process.

My problem is this.

-I model low poly things in MAX (been doing this for a while)
-I import this weak models in mudbox and turn them into todays-looking things
-???

There is where it all comes down.

I watched some videos about ZBrush and zproject or something, but Zbruth is quite weird, and I don't wan't to pay for it either (I'm working at a game development studio, so TPB is not an option).

I want to texture these things, down to photo-realistic level, and import them back into max... so I can export all the maps back in the new low-poly mesh so it looks just like the hi-poly one.

I suppose this is a very common question, but I've been unable to find a reply to it with google :|

Could you point me in some direction?

Basically just look for a tutorial on baking your normal map in 3ds max. It usually works a lot better than making one in zbrush. Make sure you have your uvs set up on the low poly first though and that it lines up with your hi poly model.

Most artists will make a retopologized model with either a retopo plugin for their favorite 3d application or use something like Topogun or another specialized piece of software. This way the model will match perfectly with the highpoly model.

If your high poly model is too big for 3ds max, try to use the Decimation master to lower its poly count without removing any details and then try importing it into max.

Once you have your normal map on your model you can generate an AO map which you will most likely combine with your diffuse map. (You can usually do this in max or something like Faogen.)