Polygon count and texture size for a 3D world and character
by Renzo Sanchez · in General Discussion · 08/27/2003 (5:56 pm) · 6 replies
Hello, I am making a 3D adventure game. It is a game like Diablo 3. I have a design team (3d models) and world builder team.
I could have 5 character moving in the screen same time.
I would like to know, how many polygons and texture size should I use per model?
For example:
A character in Counter Strike game use:
Faces: 828
Vertices: 417
Texture: 2 files, total size: 280 kb
I know polygon count per model depends on many factors. What I need to know is what should I tell to my design team in order to create the models. How many polygons per model and what is the maximum texture size.
I have same question for a 3d world. This world is a forest with a lot of trees and some houses.
I have this information:
----------------------------------
Tree ~200
Rock ~50 (so it's a sharp rock)
Terrain ~20,000 (An possibly MUCH more depending on your algorithm and terrain size)
PC ~1,000 (See the progressive mesh example for about what a char with 1K poly's would look like)
NPC ~500
-----------------------------------
Total 21,750 Poly's
I have this info too:
Characters - roughly 2200
Vehicles - roughly 1500
Weapons - roughly 600
Misc - roughly 400
What about texture size?
Thank you a lot.
Renzo.
I could have 5 character moving in the screen same time.
I would like to know, how many polygons and texture size should I use per model?
For example:
A character in Counter Strike game use:
Faces: 828
Vertices: 417
Texture: 2 files, total size: 280 kb
I know polygon count per model depends on many factors. What I need to know is what should I tell to my design team in order to create the models. How many polygons per model and what is the maximum texture size.
I have same question for a 3d world. This world is a forest with a lot of trees and some houses.
I have this information:
----------------------------------
Tree ~200
Rock ~50 (so it's a sharp rock)
Terrain ~20,000 (An possibly MUCH more depending on your algorithm and terrain size)
PC ~1,000 (See the progressive mesh example for about what a char with 1K poly's would look like)
NPC ~500
-----------------------------------
Total 21,750 Poly's
I have this info too:
Characters - roughly 2200
Vehicles - roughly 1500
Weapons - roughly 600
Misc - roughly 400
What about texture size?
Thank you a lot.
Renzo.
#2
I have a Geforce FX, but I want my game to play in a PC like:
PIII 550 Mhz 128 RAM
Nvidia TNT2 32 MB 800x600 or
GeForce 2 Mx 400 32 MB
So, how many polygons per character and what size of textures should I use?
How many polygons should I use for my 3D world?
Thank you.
08/28/2003 (7:34 am)
I know size and polygons count depends on video carda. Because this is a project game, should be playable in many PC configurations.I have a Geforce FX, but I want my game to play in a PC like:
PIII 550 Mhz 128 RAM
Nvidia TNT2 32 MB 800x600 or
GeForce 2 Mx 400 32 MB
So, how many polygons per character and what size of textures should I use?
How many polygons should I use for my 3D world?
Thank you.
#3
There are no magic numbers here. Try something and see how it works.
08/28/2003 (6:59 pm)
It depends on what framerate you want. Like I said, 256-512px is the standard range nowadays. Your card should be able to handle it, but it's getting a bit old. Upgrade if you're seriously developing. :)There are no magic numbers here. Try something and see how it works.
#4
What will be the thing that most dazzles the player? Really cool lookin scenery, or an avatar who does a righteous roundhouse kick on the opponent?
08/28/2003 (9:28 pm)
Looks like you've done your homework, counted up all the polys, considered framerate, Now look at the story, is that light post at the end of the street something the client will interact with or is it just a visual till they reach they're next objective? Prioritize your elements in the level and give them polys via percentages. 1000 polys for an avatar in 3rd person is a little tight, I'd look for ways to cut your modeler's some slack, course I'm a modeler so my opinion is bias.What will be the thing that most dazzles the player? Really cool lookin scenery, or an avatar who does a righteous roundhouse kick on the opponent?
#5
Poly counts on newer cards like GeforceFX 5800+'s/9500+ Ati's can be very high (assuming basic pixel / vertex shaders), 20k+ per character wouldn't be a problem at all (assuming you batch sensibly, especially in Direct3D).
Optimising for such a vast target range of hardware would be crippling for a small project, strangly it might be useful to set a 'maximum' hardware target as well. Better hardware will just run it faster, and don't even think of going near the programmable pipeline with that minimum spec :)
08/29/2003 (6:41 am)
A geforce 2 mx is a really low spec card, the poly counts you've specified aren't a bad target and i'd not take my textures above 512x512 (ideally <256x256) at the most on that spec card. A 20k visable terrain would instantly chew 50% of an GF2 MX's maximum fill rate at 60fps. You'd seriously need to use a better algorithm for such hardware.Poly counts on newer cards like GeforceFX 5800+'s/9500+ Ati's can be very high (assuming basic pixel / vertex shaders), 20k+ per character wouldn't be a problem at all (assuming you batch sensibly, especially in Direct3D).
Optimising for such a vast target range of hardware would be crippling for a small project, strangly it might be useful to set a 'maximum' hardware target as well. Better hardware will just run it faster, and don't even think of going near the programmable pipeline with that minimum spec :)
#6
So there you go, you are making the Half-Life engine again!
08/29/2003 (2:59 pm)
I would say those are the specs of a machine that would play Half-Life pretty well and not much of anything else any newer in the FPS genre.So there you go, you are making the Half-Life engine again!
Associate Kyle Carter
I think that most games nowadays use textures in the 256-512pixel size range.