Game Art (low pollycount)

[P2xelgen]

When it come to low poly game modelling, whats the best poly count to aim for ?

[Sentientv2]

A lot of the Unreal 3 models are anywhere between 1k-5k. It depends on the scale of your model. The 5k ones I can think of are the samurai warrior statues they have in some of their levels. Just be careful where you take your advice from on this. I know you can get some outdated advice that would be cautious at best and give you a poly count that is just too low for current engines.

The big questions are, how often is the asset going to be on screen. How well can you define the same features within a high poly baked normal map? Things like first person viewed weapon models (the weapon you're holding) get high counts. Objects that are way off in the distance, like a building that the player will never reach, that stuff might be huge, but would only consist of a few hundred polys. All of the work can be done in the normal maps. This is speaking from what I've seen a professional studio do with their assets.

[Tiros]

4 pollies should suffice

Heh, no.. Excuse my sarcasm.. but there's really no way to tell unless you supply us with game/engine speccs and type of model.. complexity and priority.. that's pretty much what it comes down to

Edit: Damn, seems Sentientv2 posted while I were browsing around in other tabs

Cheers!

[Talon]

There are no real rules for this and it's pretty much impossible to give you even a rough answer your question without knowing more about what you intend to model.

[P2xelgen]

Mainly next gen:

This is a model for a scene for a game engine, thinking of UT3 but I like the look of the cry engine.

image: W.I.P

[P2xelgen]

Where can I find the polly counter:
Also when you guys model how do you know what to keep on the solid model and what to bake into a normal map

[chris89]

omg i thought the era of "what polycount should i use" questions were over :P

Anyway, there's no definitive answer. It depends on the engine, the level limits, pc limits, kind of objects and MOSTLY your own preference. If you want to make something that is 2 polys, why not? same goes for 500.000 poly's.
If you're working for someone and he wants a certain poly limit, then yeah sure. But don't be afraid to use more polys than people suggest.

[P2xelgen]

How can I find out how meny pollys the model is ???

[sestan]

Originally Posted by P2xelgen

How can I find out how meny pollys the model is ???

Depends on which package you're using... Maya, Max?

[P2xelgen]

Originally Posted by sestan

Depends on which package you're using... Maya, Max?

Sorry I'm such a dum ass.

3D max 9