Lowering draw call.

Rockley Bonner

Ive heard about this but haven't realy found a great source on it which is very important when making art for games.

What are the best ways to minimize draw calls when making 3d art for games? Any input or links would be appreciated!

Bal

Less shaders, less objects. This is pretty vague outside of a production setting, you shouldn't worry about it too much unless you're on the job, in which case you should be asking your engine guys or tech artists what the best practices are for your current project.

Rockley Bonner

How about how you lay out your UVs? would that effect draw call?

Eric Chadwick

Bal's advice is good.

Also this article explains it pretty well. Each game engine is a little different, so like Bal says, the solution is particular to each project. But this is a good summary at least.
http://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/DrawCallBatching.html

Some more info here
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/GameRenderingTerminology#Draw_Call

UVs don't affect draw calls. But multiple materials per mesh do.

Zezeri

There are lots of factors that can affect drawcall count. However, it has little to do with how you set your model, texture and UVs up, but more with the in-engine setup.

Each map you plug in your shader is a drawcall usually and so is every sub material you have, as mentioned. Casting a shadow is also another drawcall. Using more complicated shaders costs Drawcalls (esp. valid when you have i.e. node based shader editors like in UE4).

But yeah, the advice given in this thread is good.