113 replies to this topic

[TroDuS]

In the Documentation of the bfme2modsdk it says in the "Characters.htm" that the polycount is about:

LARGE MONSTER

MUMumakl_skn00.w3d   (max. 8 characters prior to the underscore)

Normal:         2250 verts and up to three textures.

Medium:        1125 verts and one 256 texture.  (approx. 60% of orig. vert. count.)

Low:               700 verts and one 256 texture.  (approx. 35% of orig. vert. count.)

 

MEDIUM MONSTER

MUCavetrol_skn00.w3d

Normal:         600 verts and one 256 texture.

Medium:        450 verts and one 256 texture.  (approx. 60% of orig. vert. count.)

Low:             300 verts and one 256 texture.  (approx. 35% of orig. vert. count.)

 

HERO/CHARACTER

GUAragrn_skn00.w3d

Normal:         1200 verts and one 64texture.  (These are rez up versions yet TBD.)

Medium:          575 verts and one 64 texture.  (Current asset size.)

Low:               325 verts and one 64 texture.  (approx. 60% of orig. vert. count.)

 

Though I didn't open the models to look up their polycount. Maybe this information can help you out however.

[Nazgûl]

Thanks!  I wonder though, how that translates to polygons? The image of the assembled model on previous page, is staggering 3,7 million polys (lol). This is how it looks with a serious reduction down to 12.000 polys. Reducing much more than that will kill a lot of details to the extent of loosing the models caracter. What makes it this partical model, so to speak... For the looks of things, in game The Mumak and Balrog must be at least 6-8k polys?

 

Edited by Nazgûl, 30 June 2013 - 01:14 PM.

[Lauri]

You won't need that much detail on the head. You can skin it pretty good on a lower poly head. Individual teeth? Not neccesary. Beard of fat? You don't need to model the roughness, you can skin it. Just my opinions anyways, you can still shave more polies off him.

[njm1983]

Id agree with lauri. Most of the finer details can be put into the skin. Right now his head is looking very poly heavy and id say any of his wrinkles and fine details can all be in his skin rather than model.

[Nazgûl]

I know, but the question is what is resonable in comparison to other models - considering that this is also one on screen at any given time... I'll see if I can import any of the models I speak of, in order to get the proper poly count.

[Mathijs]

Vert count is basically the same as polycount as far as I know, since vertices are a component that makes up a polygon. That means you're way, way above the recommended limit. Do what Lauri says, remove essentially all the wrinkles from the face/head/stomach etc. Modellers using zbrush for game-making purposes (as far as I know) often create two seperate meshes, one high poly and one low, then use the high poly to create surface maps to give the low poly the illusion of detail (normal maps etc). 

 

This is what I meant when I said you'd get in trouble trying to properly convert a mesh with such a huge polycount. There are tools, but they don't usually result in ready-to-rig meshes due to the often awkward distribution of vertices (as evident on the arms of your mesh). You'll have to go in and fix a lot of stuff there to allow for proper rigging. 

[Lauri]

Btw, his staff is used by his right hand when attacking Thorin and Gandalf.

[Nazgûl]

Thanks Mat for your input... I find it really hard to beleive that the Mumak and Balrog are only about 2000 polys though? I'll see what I can do to lower poly count further. I've gotten down to 6500 now and it still looks fairly good, even though the program makes the model rather "blocky" indeed. That can be countered via a polish brush to some extent though.

 

Lauri, yeah but in many of the other scenes he holds it in his left hand actually. The introduction scene being the most prominent. That's why I put it there =)

 

Edited by Nazgûl, 30 June 2013 - 07:16 PM.

[Nazgûl]

Here's something very interesting, posted by the famous Cahik back in 2007   
 

 

Posted 25 March 2007 - 02:55 PM

if you look at CaH they can easily have 6000+ polys. but it is not matter just polycount another thing is binding. if you have a lof of vertexs binded to the same bone there will be no deformation on them thus it will be much easier for comp to render that. also number of subobjects is important. try to merge them as much as possible. having like 20 subobject with polycount around 400 is much more work for comp than 600 polygons on one object. 

hope you see the point, it is not just about polycount.

Edited by Nazgûl, 30 June 2013 - 07:26 PM.

[NewErr]

Hey I'll keep that in mind , I'll merge everything before binding ! Tho that would make the rigging so painful... Sacrifices ...

[Lauri]

Lauri, yeah but in many of the other scenes he holds it in his left hand actually. The introduction scene being the most prominent. That's why I put it there =)

Hey, if you have a set of animations where he swings his weapon with his left hand, by all means! If not, I would still suggest he has it in his right hand. He has it there when he fights, and it's easier to make.

 

edit: Of course, you could simply be talking about having it in his left hand only in these renders, and not in the binded model later on. In that case, you're doing it right (pun intended).

Edited by Lauri, 30 June 2013 - 08:47 PM.

[Nazgûl]

Ok well then *pun intended*, the animations I have in mind is dual weapon - the fat orc model from RotWK. If that doesn't look good, we'll move the septor to the right hand and go for troll anims...

This is the best I can do ATM with poly reduction. Body is about 6k, septor 1k and crown 0,4k. I'm quite certian that will work in game, as this is no horde unit. I have tried the new Easterlings that Ed3rd made for us, that are about 4000 polys each, in hordes of 15. I had 4 hordes running on screen with no lagg. So, yeah.. this should be fine.

 

Now, I just need to figure out how to learn texture mapping... 

 

Edited by Nazgûl, 30 June 2013 - 09:03 PM.

[Bofur]

Just FYI, Naz, it's sceptre, not septor. And looking good... For a Goblin...

[Nazgûl]

Ah right... I just spelled it as I pronounce it, hehe. Thanks, sceptre it is.

Here's what I'm hoping for now...

 

UV Master plugin

[njm1983]

Doesnt he still need his loin cloth?

[Nazgûl]

Hehe yeah, but with everyone going on about the poly count, I figued I'd try just skinning for that part, as it seems to be rather thin anyways. Unfortionately I don't understand much about UV mapping at this point. Will dive into it more, later this week..

[njm1983]

Yeah you could just skin it. Though I think you should have a pointy part drape in the front otherwise it will look like a diaper.

[Nazgûl]

You're probably right about that. However, all my attempts at UV mapping is failing so I'll give up for now. Need more studying before I can do this part myself..

[Lauri]

Hmm, now that you mention that area, the thighs look too thick. If you look at the concept art you used on the previous page, along with the scene in the movie where the Great Goblin is killed, you'll see that the feet are about as thick as the arms. You got them right below the knees, but above that they kinda explode in size. They shouldn't.

 

Other than that, pretty much perfect. Polycount is fine now. It's the Easterlings you should worry about Think hordes + FX + fighting. That makes the lag come, depending on your computer. The Great Goblin will likely not cause any extra lag now.

 

edit: oh, and you know I'm rather safe than sorry. I always tell you to shave polies, even if you don't need to

Edited by Lauri, 30 June 2013 - 11:10 PM.

[Nazgûl]

Hehe yeah np =)