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View Full Version : Polycount standards: modeling for games vs. film?

8chbomb
01-30-2009, 01:54 AM
(this is my first post, so I hope I'm posting in the right forum... sorry if not)

Hi... and thanks in advance for your time and thoughtful input.

I'm about to finish art school with a degree in animation but, I've decided to switch gears slightly...

Up until now, I've been on the path of a 3d 'generalist' with the film industry in mind. Fairly recently, I realized that the game industry is where I REALLY want to be, and I have more-or-less focused on modeling... although I still love animation, rigging, and other facets of 3d as well.

I only have one class left (portfolio), and so at this point, it seems I've missed the oportunity to take the game-specific classes where I could have learned all the nuances specific to modeling for games. I want to taylor my reel towards the game industry, but am unsure about accceptable polycounts for game-specific modeling.

Can anyone point me in the right direction for information on where the current standards are for polycounts of various types of game-specific models (characters, vehicles, weapons, environments, props, etc.)??? Any other gems of wisdom are greatly appreciated as well.

Thank you so much for your time.
GrogMcGee
01-30-2009, 06:01 AM
On the issue of polycount it's all over the place these days. Diablo 3 looks like character meshes are coming in under 10k, while Mirror's Edge looks like it's rolling in the mid-teens (just a guess). Fallout 3 likely comes in around 10k, while Crysis likely runs in the mid-teens - possibly in the high-teens (it's Crysis).

I'd suggest picking up a game that has strong mod community (I know Oblivion does), Mirror's Edge might, Unreal certainly does, Most Valve (source engine) games will as well. From there find what ever tools are used to rip mesh files out and then start looking at them, how they're built, how the UV's are set up, etc.

When I was foolin' around in Oblivion, I think the character meshes came in at about 10K triangles. Environments are do it as cheep as possible and still look good. I think the Unreal 3 guys had some figures around the 10k for player meshes, 5k for important friendlies and badies and under that for the cannon fodder.

Now that normal maps are standard in games, hi-res meshes are still made so that they can be used to create normal maps for the low res version.
8chbomb
01-30-2009, 07:52 PM
Hi Blake,
Thanks for the response and all the good info.

So it souonds like high-end character models are coming in between 10k and 15k tris (I assume that translates to 5k to 8k quads?... which is what I'm use to thinking in/working with).

Hooking up with a mod team is a great suggestion. I was actually thinking of trying to get involved with a game mod team to get some experience and a little guidence, as well as maybe produce a few pieces for my demo reel.

Do you happen to know of any particular projects/teams who would welcome another, talented-but-not-so-experienced modeler?

Thanks again for your help!
GrogMcGee
01-31-2009, 07:14 PM
Mod teams... no not really

But, yup on the 5k to 8k quads.