Low Poly Modeling

[ctk111]

My workflow has been to model almost everything in AutoCad and then file link to max for rendering. Lately, I've been going back and forth on whether to model more complex objects in max. The primary reason is to decrease the number of polys in the model, but also to speed up my workflow. I have attached a test render that has an object created in max and the other in acad. The acad object has 2800 polys while the max model has 1500. I rendered with max default lighting and the difference is pretty obvious in the quality between the two models. The light is dispersed so much more naturally on the acad model. The max object has the smooth modifier applied, but I'm wondering what other tips/tricks there are to get the quality of the acad model while keeping the poly count low.

Any help is appreciated.

[Guest nazcaLine]

did you use lathe? if so, the smooth mod is not neccesary. just try the edit poly mod and change the smoothing groups. also, in the original profile spline, you can modify the detail with the interpolations.