Tips on low poly artwork
by Stephen Zepp · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 11/17/2004 (6:00 am) · 0 replies
I asked the question on the private RTS Pack forums regarding tips for producing low poly models that would work well with the RTS pack "lean and mean" rendering and networking changes, and Craig Fortune was very helpful. I wanted to repost this here since I just realized that most artists aren't going to actually buy the pack itself, and therefore won't have access to the private forums:
Craig Fortune said:
After reading a thread where someone asked for some tips on how to create low poly artwork in regards to RTSs I thought I'd sit down and write up some tips.
1. First off its best advised to keep any animations simple and straight forward. You only have a limited number of polys that you are trying to deform so REALLY think whether that little flicking movement in the tail is vital... or can u not bother with that extra bone and thus save some processing resources? Remember when you have tens and hundreds of units on screen every poly and bone counts!
2. If a detail wont really be visible, then DONT DO IT. Sounds obvious, but at a distance of 200m can u see someones hand? or so u see a little blob? If its possible to do the detail in textures rather then polies then do so. But dont take this as an excuse to increase your texture sizes :P
3. Back on the animation side of things... dont do big elongated animations for things. Sure it may look kool at times, but in realiy a simple punch, fire, build animation etc will suffice in an RTS game. Dontcha think it'll just end up a big mess if all your units are performing black belt karate constantly? :-)
4. Maximise your texture space usage. As we are working within strict limits its vital to fully utilise anything you can. To be honest the building in the RTS pack actually wastes more texture space then I would normally accept, but I was hurrying the UVmapping on it. (I hate UVmapping just like everyone else... but ya gotta stick in there and do it well - it'll pay out ten fold)
5. People normally ask "whats the poly limit for this type of model" etc and to be honest there isn't one. Every situation and target machine spec means this value changes (often dramatically) But to give some general numbers regarding poly counts I would suggest these:
Unit: 600 polys TOP
Building: 400 polys TOP
6. Bones...
Unit: 2 bones per limb (no bones for hands... its not necessary)
Building: 1 bone per moving part. (Each chimney has a bone, each side piece has a bone and so does the front piece. Obviously none of them linked together)
Enough waffle for now =D I might spruce these up into some sort of resource if people want it.
-Craig
Craig Fortune said:
After reading a thread where someone asked for some tips on how to create low poly artwork in regards to RTSs I thought I'd sit down and write up some tips.
1. First off its best advised to keep any animations simple and straight forward. You only have a limited number of polys that you are trying to deform so REALLY think whether that little flicking movement in the tail is vital... or can u not bother with that extra bone and thus save some processing resources? Remember when you have tens and hundreds of units on screen every poly and bone counts!
2. If a detail wont really be visible, then DONT DO IT. Sounds obvious, but at a distance of 200m can u see someones hand? or so u see a little blob? If its possible to do the detail in textures rather then polies then do so. But dont take this as an excuse to increase your texture sizes :P
3. Back on the animation side of things... dont do big elongated animations for things. Sure it may look kool at times, but in realiy a simple punch, fire, build animation etc will suffice in an RTS game. Dontcha think it'll just end up a big mess if all your units are performing black belt karate constantly? :-)
4. Maximise your texture space usage. As we are working within strict limits its vital to fully utilise anything you can. To be honest the building in the RTS pack actually wastes more texture space then I would normally accept, but I was hurrying the UVmapping on it. (I hate UVmapping just like everyone else... but ya gotta stick in there and do it well - it'll pay out ten fold)
5. People normally ask "whats the poly limit for this type of model" etc and to be honest there isn't one. Every situation and target machine spec means this value changes (often dramatically) But to give some general numbers regarding poly counts I would suggest these:
Unit: 600 polys TOP
Building: 400 polys TOP
6. Bones...
Unit: 2 bones per limb (no bones for hands... its not necessary)
Building: 1 bone per moving part. (Each chimney has a bone, each side piece has a bone and so does the front piece. Obviously none of them linked together)
Enough waffle for now =D I might spruce these up into some sort of resource if people want it.
-Craig
