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LOW-POLY ART

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hawken polycounter lvl 19
This is the sweet spot for your low-poly models. Post 'em if you've got 'em!

Low-poly hasn't really been a requirement in the games industry for a long while now. This thread is for low-poly art style appreciation, so please take note of these rough guidelines:
  • Keep models under 1,000 triangles.
  • Scenes are fine, if all models are low poly.
Some dedicated low-poly modelling tools now exist that make this art style a lot easier to produce; Crocotile3D & Blockbench

Here's a handy list of ways to make your art look right in mainstream 3D software: Low-Poly Art Style Guide

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  • LoTekK
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    LoTekK polycounter lvl 17
    slaught, 9skulls: Cheers! Love both your work :)

    Texture sizes are rather extravagant, considering. 256^2 each for the head and body. UVs are pretty messy at the moment, too (honestly, I just wanted to get to painting :p)

    bit more:

    dude2.pngdude2-wire.jpg
  • NoisyMonk
    Really great looking stuff here!

    @LoTekK - He's looking pretty badass, coming along nicely.

    @OzMa - Love the Spirit, great little character. I'd lose or lessen the noisy background though, takes away from the character.


    On to my post..

    This is the pretty much the first organic model I've ever worked on, so I was a little intimidated at the start. It's at 540 tris atm, not sure if I could get it much lower without losing the silhouette - but let me know if you have any ideas.

    I'm thinking a pretty small Diffuse, and maybe Spec... 256*256 if I can get away with it. He'd be pretty small in game, about 1 foot long and moving pretty quick, so you wouldn't be looking at him in close. Also not extremely worried about stretching when animated for the same reason.

    SnapperSmall.gif

    Any thoughts?
  • mrmmaclean
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    mrmmaclean polycounter lvl 8
    Looks cool as heck, NoisyMonk!

    Did you think of making the legs 3 sided rather than 4? You might be able to make the outside of each leg flat (without the middle seam, I mean), especially if it's going to be small and fast in-game.

    [edited for poor spelling]
  • NoisyMonk
    Thanks!

    Yeah, I tried that - it saves a few polys. For some reason I just couldn't stand how flat the legs ended up looking, even though I know it will never been seen - I'm weird like that. :poly142:
  • Freidenker
    Great stuff here! I love this thread and I come by nearly every day to see what`s new here.
    Maybe I´ll add a peace some day, too.
    LoTekK wrote: »
    slaught, 9skulls: Cheers! Love both your work :)

    Texture sizes are rather extravagant, considering. 256^2 each for the head and body. UVs are pretty messy at the moment, too (honestly, I just wanted to get to painting :p)

    bit more:

    dude2.pngdude2-wire.jpg

    Do I get this right? You gave him 6-sided legs to add more volume but the fingers are flat?
    Nevertheless I like the style - looks cool so far.:thumbup:
  • Gallows
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    Gallows polycounter lvl 9
    Lotekk, excellent work so far. I really like how this one is progressing. What are you planning on doing with it afterwards?
  • crasong
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    crasong polycounter lvl 14
    Gallows - I think he totally plans to turn that dude into a badass golfer.

    ......hypothetically speaking of course :D

    Definitely gonna start working on something the second i get the time! Inspiring work all around!
  • hawken
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    hawken polycounter lvl 19
    fonfa wrote: »
    @hawken - Instead of setting a triangle limit, why dont we just rename this thread to "handheld/flash game art"? A current gen barrel or sign or small prop would fit the polycount, but not the theme.

    I've often thought this myself.

    Maybe I'll rename this and re-do the rules. Thanks.
  • hawken
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    hawken polycounter lvl 19
    changes. Please take note. :icon60:
    hawken wrote: »
    this is the sweet spot for your low poly models. Post 'em if you've got 'em!

    try to keep your posted models for low poly applications please. (no next-gen items)

    Desired target formats are, but not limited to:
    • PSP
    • DS
    • Papervision
    • iPhone

    The 500 triangle "appreciation club" still exists, but for player models this is now somewhere in the sub-1000 triangle range.
  • 9skulls
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    9skulls polycounter lvl 13
    hawken wrote: »
    .. sub-1000 triangle range ..
    Ooh 1000 triangles, dat is cool! That's like.. that's like 2x more! How will I ever get used to such a bonus :poly108:
  • bbob
    What if I do something browser based, with say, unity. That can handle a bit more than a 1000 tris per object..

    Like for example interstellar marines' bullseye.

    Would that just go in P&P?
  • 9skulls
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    9skulls polycounter lvl 13
    bbob wrote: »
    What if I do something browser based, with say, unity. That can handle a bit more than a 1000 tris per object..
    That is why it still says "(lowpoly thread)" ;O
  • LoTekK
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    LoTekK polycounter lvl 17
    Waywo/own thread would be more appropriate, I would think. This thread really is meant to be in the spirit of lowspec stuff.
  • Slaught
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    Slaught polycounter lvl 18
    Yay, now I can post 80% more models!
  • Japhir
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    Japhir polycounter lvl 17
    Slaught: then do so! ASAP!
  • Snader
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    Snader polycounter lvl 15
    hawken wrote: »
    it may be 600 polygons but how many triangles is that?

    This thread is more for small items and advice on polycount reduction techniques. Your model is moving more toward a mid range player model and would probably now be better serviced by it's own thread.

    Or flying the nest, one might say. ;)
    600 triangles, sorry i put polies, for me a triangle is a poly and a poly is a tri, measuring with quads makes it messy.

    I know it is/was over the limit, but i figured the model was relevant enough to warrant a post here, and it was lower then some of the other models posted her. examples:
    itismario's initial zoey - 750 △
    sentry gun - 736 △
    hunter - 800 △
    car - 987△

    That said, yeah i will make a thread for this, once i get some more characters done.
  • Valkrist
    I'm Loving this thread.
    I discovered this whole site a few days ago. Been reading this thing since then and got inspired to make something. To tell the truth this is the first model i seriosly textured.
    It's got lots of wasted tris and texture space but oh well. I'll learn form these mistakes.
    Oh i'ts made in blender btw 8).
    lowpolycharsheet.jpgsecuencia01x.giflowlowpoly.png


    Dunno why those black lines are around my gif :shifty:

    Oh i tried to make this guy look like the chars in DS Final Fantasy games like neosorcerer's lancers, but i lost the way.
    Cheers mates
  • Willburforce
    ha ha new rules :) oh well, i tried this for 500 triangles exact...

    mccharacter.jpg
    mccharacterpose.jpg

    Any thoughts or tips? I can re-visit the texture. Apart from the hip hip spelling i just noticed dammit.
  • 9skulls
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    9skulls polycounter lvl 13
    Willburforce That's a nice model! Just a few things: is it HE or SHE? Since the hip/ass area looks very feminine. Is his/her face final? Because it looks very unfinished now. What's the big idea behind that?

    [ edit ]
    And about your presentation: please use a different font since that is way too difficult to read.. I can't really tell if it says "KIP KIP" or "HIP HIP" :P And in the bottom it says "no AA & no filtering", but clearly those shots are filtered and anti-aliased.
  • dv8ix
  • neosorcerer
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    neosorcerer polycounter lvl 17
    OZMA that spirit guy is the best one yet, but where are all the tris going ? Doesn't seem like 564, you could probably collapse a few verts in the curly hood part. Keep it up!
  • 9skulls
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    9skulls polycounter lvl 13
    @dv8ix Oh cool, a custom WipeOut racer :D Looks a bit like team Feisar's / EG-X's racer. Allthough the model is nice, I think the texture could use more work 'cause now it looks very uneven. For example I see that you've used a dirt texture for the yellow stripe that goes at the sides of the vehicle, but then again the thruster at the back is clean as Mario's reputation. And that microchip-texture at the back.. please get rid of it. In the 80's that could've been RAAADDDD but now.. seriously man :P Also the main colors of the paintjob are too strong and doesn't match up very well. The top part of the vehicle looks like its UVW-map is not connected in any way to the sides of the vehicle.

    But don't get depressed, you've got a nice start here :poly145:
  • OzMa
    @neosorcerer: Yes I maybe do it in the future but I left some extra tris for a good mesh deformation. Thanks by the way, you did a great job too with the dragon knights :D
  • MissMaddyTaylor
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    MissMaddyTaylor greentooth
    Hello everyone! Haven't posted here yet, but here's a low poly piece I did in December. It was mainly a texturing study since I've never textured before that. Working on a new (better) low poly I'll post soon. :)

    faymay.jpg
  • Mr_Drayton
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    Mr_Drayton polycounter lvl 14
    It's nice how much you can improve between a model (red) and the next one (blue). Basically it's the main character of a DS homebrew about Parkour. After doing the red one a little time ago, I though it was very horrific, and today I did the second one. Much better! Still a WIP, so I'm going to add some details like hair and some other things, then texturing and rigging.

    traceursw.png

    Red guy: 456 tris
    Blue guy: 432 tris
  • Mr Smo
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    Mr Smo polycounter lvl 18
    i guess i can post this now that the count has been raised, made him not long ago. based on the barbarian concept for diablo 3

    fodking_2.jpg
  • JohnnySix
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    JohnnySix polycounter lvl 16
    Nice texture work Mr Smo , got wires? His legs look strangely flat from that shot, but could just be the lighting/angle.

    Also, how come there are five axe-heads on the map? Could make much more efficient use of that texture space with a little moving around - unless there's going to be a radically different design on either side, you could get away with just one - at least at the detail level you have there.


    Inspired by Bbob - thought I'd make some low-poly shermans to make a small scene.

    Still deciding on proportions , also for some reason the barrel flew off to the right and is off-centre- this will be fixed.

    LP_Sherman_wip_01_by_JohnnySix.gif


    a : 'Normal' or as best as I can approximate based off the 200px blueprints I dug out.

    b : Stretched Vertically

    c : Normal size body, larger turret.
  • Slaught
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    Slaught polycounter lvl 18
    Sweet...But yeah, post those wires! :)
  • Mr Smo
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    Mr Smo polycounter lvl 18
    thanks guys, yeah legs are flat from front on, maybe a bad choice. I got lazy with the axe texture, was goign to put different axe heads in place of each duplicate there.
    wire.jpg

    I like your tank, i think b looks like a sherman, i remember them being fairly tall.
  • Mr Smo
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    Mr Smo polycounter lvl 18
  • MikeF
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    MikeF polycounter lvl 19
    really nice work mr Smo, Impressive texturing!
  • hawken
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    hawken polycounter lvl 19
    9skulls wrote: »
    Ooh 1000 triangles, dat is cool! That's like.. that's like 2x more! How will I ever get used to such a bonus :poly108:

    people have been posting player models over 500 triangles for quite a while now. Time to cut them some slack.

    As for the Unity question. I'm actually working on a Unity title, and it's low poly. With Unity, try to keep your counts low, so that it works on the majority of computers, not just high end gaming computers.
  • 9skulls
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    9skulls polycounter lvl 13
    JohnnySix wrote: »
    LP_Sherman_wip_01_by_JohnnySix.gif


    a : 'Normal' or as best as I can approximate based off the 200px blueprints I dug out.

    b : Stretched Vertically

    c : Normal size body, larger turret.

    C - absolutely! The other ones look plain boring :/
  • Slaught
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    Slaught polycounter lvl 18
    tali02.jpg

    Finally done.

    Aaand construction:
    tali01.jpg
  • Willburforce
    Thanks for the reply 9 Skulls!

    Ah... was a break to do low poly challenge, i;ve spend the last year or two learning next gen... this thread totally inspires ... i can code AS3 and OOP script okay now so i am kinda toying with an idea for a simple game... with papervision perhaps. or UDK (if flash platform is being it's usual half baked self :| )

    Character has no face as there is another character... a robot minesweeper dog who must sweep mines (pacman... meets snake ... kinda) against arty backdrops like the Ban the Bomb tree.... am just at the stage of playing around with the "look" of it.

    I thought i can use textures to animate the face in 2d? And make sure he has some expressive and cool animations... he seems to deform nicely with the little bi-ped test. However... i guess i should make the face... i mean... HE LOOKS HALF FINISHED as you say... so i will spend another session on him for sure.

    I blag on... hope to post more soon, i lurk too much on polycount. Thanks again my friend :)
  • Willburforce
    Ha ha Slaught.... THAT is fantastic! I loved mass effect... infact she was one of my main crew.

    Is it possible to get paint more zing on the metal bits ... + spec, to make it stand out.... not that it need it tho.
  • LoTekK
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    LoTekK polycounter lvl 17
    Always a joy to see your lowpoly stuff, slaught! I'm with Wilbur, though. The main thing tha stood out to me was tha the metal bits looked really dull (especially with the shininess of the visor). Make that shit pop with some painted spec :D
  • OzMa
    Awesome work guys, that Tali it's fantastic. Mr Smo love the viking, maybe too flat at legs but it's good!
  • dv8ix
  • Laheen
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    Laheen polycounter lvl 18
    smo u da baus ;D
  • achillesian
  • neosorcerer
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    neosorcerer polycounter lvl 17
    Valkrist wrote: »
    I'm Loving this thread.
    I discovered this whole site a few days ago. Been reading this thing since then and got inspired to make something. To tell the truth this is the first model i seriosly textured.
    It's got lots of wasted tris and texture space but oh well. I'll learn form these mistakes.
    Oh i'ts made in blender btw 8).
    lowpolycharsheet.jpgsecuencia01x.giflowlowpoly.png


    Dunno why those black lines are around my gif :shifty:

    Oh i tried to make this guy look like the chars in DS Final Fantasy games like neosorcerer's lancers, but i lost the way.
    Cheers mates

    I don't know how I missed this before, its pretty cool for your first go Valkrist. I think the proportions need a bit of tweaking because its a little awkward at the moment, like its not quite chibi but still has that large head.
  • ivars
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    ivars polycounter lvl 17
    Slaught: That is awesome.

    Here's a little something I'm working on for a compo.

    500 tris | 256 texture

    WARNING: Skin colored pixels!

    Poledance.gif
  • kaptainkernals
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    kaptainkernals polycounter lvl 12
    nice model ivars, though it looks a bit like she has a pregnant six pack O_o
  • 9skulls
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    9skulls polycounter lvl 13
    @dv8ix Polys != tris

    @ivars Pfft, those are so fake.
  • ivars
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    ivars polycounter lvl 17
    9skulls: Indeed ^^
  • hawken
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    hawken polycounter lvl 19
    ivars wrote: »

    Poledance.gif

    knew there was a reason I made this thread
  • OzMa
    Haha, ivars that's so fresh!!
  • leslievdb
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    leslievdb polycounter lvl 15
    :D pixelboobs, reminds me of duke nukem 3d only yours have more geometry :p
  • Slaught
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    Slaught polycounter lvl 18
    Thanks guys. :)

    Ha, awesome Ivars!
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