Polycount

BantamCityGames posted :

I finally broke down and bought a copy of TGE after admiring it since v1.2 and am trying to learn enough 3D modeling to make some prototype art. The biggest unknown for me is figuring out a polygon budget that will run on an average system. So I was looking for suggestions for poly budgets of certain objects for a Third Person Shooter:

- Player character
- Smaller creatures (frogs and lizards)
- Larger creatures (larger than the player)
- Trees and Bushes (that can be walked around)
- Buildings and Other Structures
- Weapons
- Other scenery objects (crates, barrels, rocks)
- Total polygons per scene? Do people consider this or is this just something you test for afterwards?

I'm very new to the 3D world so any other info you can provide would be great.

Thanks.

Skybixus Replied.

Wow, tough question to answer. There are just too many variables to be very accurate with this, but here we go.

Here are my assumptions, if any are wrong, you'll have to ask me to go again :

1) You're making a third person game so the characters will get fairly close to the camera.

2) Weapons won't be right up close to the camera like in a FPS.

3) You're dealing with a moderately powered 3d engine. Not a cutting edge engine.

4) All numbers are triangles. When polycount is discussed, I only EVER mean triangles.

5) Your idea of an average system is an average gamer system, and not an average casual system.

6) These are my numbers. Not advice, just a guide to what I'd use, and something you can use as an average with other people offering their opinions.

Player character - 1500-2500
Smaller creatures (frogs and lizards) - <1000
Larger creatures (larger than the player) - up to 2500.
Trees and Bushes (that can be walked around) - up to 500, but if you're going to have many, you need occlusion, LOD, and quite possibly to billboard them.
Buildings and Other Structures - Kinda vague. Can't really answer that without more detail. How big? Internal? External? Both?
Weapons - 500-800. Less if it's a simple weapon.
Other scenery objects (crates, barrels, rocks) - around 250
Total polygons per scene? Do people consider this or is this just something you test for afterwards? - I've never considered this.

Read More about it here...

Hope this helps you guys deciding the polycount for your levels.