low poly boombox - antannae or not?

[Leionaaad]

well, if they want it, you should find a solution for it.
Depends a lot on the platform and how close you get to the object. you can have as the antena a 3, 4 or 5 sided cylinder. place the pivot at the base, rotate it and animate the scale on the height axis (y in maya, z in max). parent/link it to the boombox and you are ready to go. If you have issues with the polygon budget, I am sure is not because of the 12 triangles the antenna would add.
just treat it a separate object.

[overEZ]

thanks! you're right...I'm just being lazy. now there are also two round volume control knobs which are supposed to be perfectly round and protrude... should I just leave that for the bump map? with a limit of 1000 polys I don't think I'll be able to model the detail in there...I've included a jpg.

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n275/overez/blog/newFront.jpg

[DisturbeD2k]

I think most of the dials and bits can come from the texture. If its for a game I cant see it needing to be heavily moddled. I would moddle the main parts like the large dials though be careful as they are cylinders and will take a few polys. The cylinder parts of the the spekers with its housing. A simple anetena. 1,000 polys is more then enough IMO.
What the client needs the client gets so I sugest you work closely to there specifications. Dont say the words "it cant be done" or "I cant do it" and just be positive
Good luck

[overEZ]

thanks a lot for your advice so far...here's what i've done...
my main question now is:
how can i make the volume knobs be more round...softening edges doesn't seem to be doing it enough...http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n275/overez/blog/wire1.jpg

[DisturbeD2k]

looks good but I think you have a lot of unneeded edge loops which can be delt with. Looks like your getting there. I would also model the actualy speaker cylinders.
To make those cylinders more round I presume would just mean add more polygons if its possible. But I wouldnt worry if it isnt.

There might be some kind of normals smoothing like in maya?

I am not sure how things work in the gaming industry as the last time I worked on a game I made 3d renderings imported into flash for a kind of Donkey kong look. I did a couple of models for a few Half life 1 mods back in the day.


Whats the polycount up to now?

[Leionaaad]

way to many edges, boy!
When they said one object they probably meant combined geometry. You don't have to have edges running along for every little button. Just one simple box, edges only to define the basic shape, then you make the cylinders for de knobs and combine all these together. The handle as well (not to mention you can weld vertices at the corners of the handle).
Look for articles about triangle stripping, then you will know how to split it up.

[overEZ]

ok! thanks, both of you! I feel like an idiot. hows this? now I guess i have to UV this thing...what a pain...

[overEZ]

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n275/overez/blog/wire2.jpg
whoops forgot to attach image...

[JesseGraffam]

My suggestion is even less edge loops and bevel your edges. This way you'll get a rounder look on the knobs and such. Another thing to consider which can add a lot of realism, is to make a really high poly version with all the fine details. Then just generate a normal map and put it on the low poly mesh, now it looks awesome at a low poly count.

[Leionaaad]

I agree on mesh density. You can still crank it down the polycount. still a lot of edges.
Before jumping ahead to normal maps you should ask first if you can use any. You still can make a high poly version and bake the the texture out for low poly version, that is true.

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