Millennium Falcon model

Kalipto

Hi there, I wanted to share a model I have been working on for a while now and have finished the high poly version, it's of the Millennium Falcon (from Star Wars) which is attached in the post. The layout of the model isn't exactly like the original.
This is my first serious larger scale model which I'm looking to create into a game asset.
The current polycount is around 750,000 and I'm looking to get it down to 40,000. I used quite a bit of turbosmoothing while working on the highpoly version, so I could really use some advice on how to proceed with optimization. Should I collapse the turbosmooths and start removing edge loops or remove them and add some smoothness manually or in a different way completely? I know it's a noob question, so go easy on me :P
And if you have any other tips or critiques, feel free to post them here,
Thanks.

beefaroni

Wow I just have to bump this cause it's quite a task to do all of this

In terms of optimization, you can start by removing support edge loops; however, as a general rule, if a edge doesn't contribute to the shape of the high poly, you can remove it. A example would be a flat plane with like 4 edge loops on it. You wouldn't need the center edge loops since they really do nothing for the shape as a whole.

If you search around and find some topo breakdowns on here I'm sure you'll figure it out.

Good luck.

Kalipto

Thanks, making a bit of progress already
I had another question concerning normal mapping; I haven't done any nornal maps before so I'm not sure how much of the little details I should leave for the final model. Should I create all those smaller details (ie the parts on the back/hyperdrive ) with textures/normal maps or leave them as low poly geometry in model form for the final asset?

JohnDraisey

I say start low, maybe 10K polys to see what you can get away with in terms of pure normal mapping. Then add more polys as you adjust and bake the normal maps.