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Poly Count Rules of Thumb - Full Chart

polycounter lvl 10
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Lt_Commander polycounter lvl 10
Hey all!

I was asked to review our polycount limits for the definition of Real-Time at TurboSquid - up until now, we defined the cap at 100k polys, which is way too broad. It's either too high for most stuff or (in the case of modern racing games and the like) too low. I didn't want to just come up with 'a number' either, since we don't want people thinking a 500k coffee cup is going to get a real-time label.

The solution I came up with ended up being a spreadsheet, with numbers sourced from various places like the wiki, a lot of years of researching models, and making my own. The numbers are a little on the abundant side, but as a 3D stock site, the idea is that it's easier for an end user to strip out detail then it is for them to make detail where none exists, especially with the rise of auto-decimation tools.

Check it out here
(spreadsheet deleted, but youtube has screenshots of it)

We want this data-set to be as accurate as possible, and I'm looking for feedback! Feel free to respond here, or if you have a TS account, we have a thread dedicated to the topic with some conversation already going on and a more in-depth explanation. We're hoping to turn this into an easy resource for artists that'll probably end up more user friendly - probably something like a calculator, but it'll do more harm than good if the data behind it is wrong. Let me know what you think!

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  • throttlekitty
    I'd suggest also having some images as guidelines for artists, since as always, polycounts vary wildly. Just like texel density, you can quickly judge polygon density by giving some context, like a wireframe shot of objects in a similar set of various sizes; like things you'd find in an auto body shop.

    It's easier to go down than up for sure, but it's annoying to find super detailed spots that need cleanup where an artist got a little obsessive, so some examples of do's and don'ts might be helpful? Like a lamp with sane polygon distribution, but the tiny knob is a basic 72 sided cylinder with 30 loops along its length.

    Your "inventory inspection" counts seem very high especially compared to the examples you've listed.
  • Lt_Commander
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    Lt_Commander polycounter lvl 10
    I'd suggest also having some images as guidelines for artists, since as always, polycounts vary wildly. Just like texel density, you can quickly judge polygon density by giving some context, like a wireframe shot of objects in a similar set of various sizes; like things you'd find in an auto body shop.

    Image guidelines are good, and I might end up with them. I think most people in this line of work are visual learners, I know I am! 

    It's easier to go down than up for sure, but it's annoying to find super detailed spots that need cleanup where an artist got a little obsessive, so some examples of do's and don'ts might be helpful? Like a lamp with sane polygon distribution, but the tiny knob is a basic 72 sided cylinder with 30 loops along its length.

    Right, undoubtedly. This is something we're trying to address separately with StemCell - there's training on our site that covers poly and texel density, when to separate geo for poly count and material reasons, and other topics that are common sore points when you try to use a DCC model for a game. The main idea for the spec is that it's not just how it looks in a render, but the quality of the technique used also matters.

    Your "inventory inspection" counts seem very high especially compared to the examples you've listed.
    Noted, thanks!

    perna said:
    The term real-time describes intent. The actual specs may be too contextual to be of much use, and then it just becomes micro-management, I would think. It would help if you describe why a strict definition is needed.

    Why not keep it simple and just use a tricount search, show the wireframes, and let the searcher define what qualifies as "real-time" in their specific case? If the answer is because they might not have any clue what they're doing, then I suspect no effort from your end is going to rectify that - such a person wouldn't be able to make much sense of the spreadsheet anyway.

    Right, so this is kind of a chicken and egg problem.

    This is how I described it on our forums:

    When selling stock 3D models that can go to all kinds of projects, you loose the artistic and budgetary constraints that normally answer this [poly count] question. Instead, you have to try and factor in every possible scenario where the model could be used. Worse yet, when you ask people what they think when getting started on a project, you usually get the the old 'it depends' argument instead of a real number.

    This chart isn't just for customers - it's just as much for the artists we have that may not have any experience working with poly restrictions or a natural feel for what a real time asset should be. We have the issue where artists might not be properly tagging their models as real-time or game ready, thus making the quality of those search results worse for people that are trying to use them. We do have tri count filters already on the site, but there are enough searches on those terms for us to try and do what we can to make them higher quality. 

    Although it's never going to be as good as an art and/or technical director handing down a project or scene budget, I think providing a few example soft ballpark numbers as well as some hard technique guidelines should be enough to get the ball rolling for most projects.  
  • Eric Chadwick
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