tricks to keep number of poly down

[bluediablito]

hello to all.

i am wondering how in the world these great animations are done with such rich details. is there a way to achieve great detail and keeping the polygon count down?

the reason i as is because when modeling in 3d max what slows down the software is the huge numbers of polygons and here i am seen great details in large scenes.( i was seen some animations and still images from the competition)

[Clanger]

You could use the same tricks as the game world builders and make your high res models and then use a low poly + a normal map made from the high res.

 

Or keep your high res and just make good use of the mental ray proxy object, I believe VRay can do the same.

[monkeyman905]

Normal maps and the use of other software like mudbox or zbrush.

[dean@pikcells]

use the delete button?

[BrianKitts]

Proxies and rely on textures more than geometry. But the biggest helper is investing in ram and a good 64bit system and renderfarm so you can knock out large scene animations without worrying about polygon count.

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

Another tip..

 

Max struggles more with lots of objects, than it does with high poly's. Keep your objects attached as much as possible. This will keep you view port faster, and reduce load time of the scene.

[RevitGary]

Attached? as in grouped? Would help to group or attach your entire model for rendering?

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

Not grouped, grouped will still run slow. Attach in the Edit Poly rollout or Edit Mesh rollout. .....I am still on Max2009, but I think containers in Max2010 may alleviate some of this problem.

[bluediablito]

dean@pikcells "delete"

lol when its hopeless i use it lol

 

thanks for the quick reply.

i have a 64bit with a 8gb system looking forward for a quad to see if there is a bog differ.

i mainly model in rhino or autocad and use 3d max to touch up some things

thanks for the tip

[Cad64]

I have a 64 bit duo core with 8GB RAM running Max 9 at work and it really struggles with large scenes containing lots of plants and trees. But at home I have a 64 bit quad core with 12GB RAM running Max 2010 and it fly's through renders. For example, I ran a low quality test render at work and it took 15 minutes. The exact same scene, rendered on my home computer, took only 33 seconds. I will be upgrading my work system and software very soon.

[Brian Smith]

it's not the polygon count you have to worry about...it's the vertex count you need to keep down. you could have a single polygon object composed of a million vertices and even though it would only be a single polygon, it would be a complex and memory hungry object.

 

the polygon count doesnt mean much also because you could have some objects where many vertices are used in the creation of only one polygon (for example the leaves of a tree), and then other objects where each vertex is used in the creation of 4 separate polygons (for example a simple teapot). they might both have the same number of polygons, but one could have many times more the number of vertices, and therefore be much more resource hungry.

 

just look at the difference in Max's poly counter tool when you create a 64 segment teapot as an edit mesh versus an edit poly, and the difference in file size when you save both.

[dean@pikcells]

i was serious about deleting stuff you know!

 

delete anything you cant see, and delete objects that are hidden or of no use (such as cad drawings). by the way, even if an object is hidden, it will still use resources.

 

also delete back facing polys, and other polys you dont see.

 

Dean