Low poly Models & Anti Aliasing!

Javier

I have some questions, I want to start low poly modeling but I've noticed there are a lot of triangles in weird places, I have no idea how to achieve that, I am using maya. Here is an example from a user I found on this forum, If anyone can port me over to some tutorials or some help on achieving this I would appreciate it

edit: Also if anyone has any idea on how to remove Anti Aliasing in maya, leaving a retro pixel like edge like in nintendo DS games please let me know!

Ace-Angel

You can't really ask for very specific tutorials like these (about triangles) for low poly modeling, since it's a artist to artist basis and there really isn't a standard you can look for, outside of learning the basics and creating your own stuff in the process.

For example, the 3 finger setup is something old artists used to do to save polygons and because it was easier (only thing needed) for old UT like games, it was a product of it's generation, not a specific thing everyone did.
You can read about it if you do a quick search, but I don't think anyone has written a specific tutorials for stuff like this.

The other triangles...they're just making the most out of the silhouette of the design, the one on the mouth for example, only exist to give the mouth that pushed in detail, since for a low poly piece like this, it would be pointless to have an entire loop around the head.

Even so, alot of the structure is following basic topology guides for places like around the arms and legs, nothing special, if you learn the high end stuff, the low end stuff will be easy to wrap your head around to.

If you want to just kludge your way through low poly, then you can use this thread as reference: http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41232

The only tutorial that even comes close to what you want is an old one called 3DTotal SwordMaster, it's pretty old, but you have XSI, Max and Maya versions of it.

I don't know how you would do it in Maya, but you need to set your texture filtering to Linear iirc? Either through you Viewport settings or inside your material, on your texture

Doctor 0

no antialiasing: Grab current viewport, or use Window & Rendering Editor & Render Settings & Maya software & Anti-aliasing Quality & Low quality
no texture filtering: For viewport, choose Shading & Hardware Texturing & Texture Filter & Unfiltered

From: http://forum.lowpolyworkshop.com/topic/9028216/1/

Game engines turn 4-sided polygons into triangles. You can make a low poly model out of all 4-sided polygons if you really wanted. But since a 4-sided polygon is equal to two triangles, you will have double the amount of triangles needed in some places on your model. There is a bare minimum of geometry necessary for maintaining form and fidelity for animations. You want as few triangles as possible. This is what low poly modeling is all about, maximum fidelity with minimal geometry. So that's why the triangles exist, but not the how or where.

There are some conventions to low poly modeling. Ace-Angel mentioned the hands. If you observe older games and dig around low poly art sites, you will see what I mean. I encourage you to explore on your own. But there are also traditional techniques for handling joints and expressing specific forms. Joint variations can easily be found in a sticky.

But really, it's an art more than a science. There is no set method for placing triangles, only general strategies that will require adapting to specific situations. Don't be afraid to experiment on your own and try multiple things out. Polygons are free you can turn out multiple variations of a model if you feel weird about a certain area. Play with it until you find out what works.