Beginner question regarding workflow

reiro

Hi guys,
I am new here and also to 3dsmax.

I modelled a 2000 tris car in max and attached seperate parts (air cooling, spoiler, mirror etc) to the main body of the car.

My question now is: Can you attach parts for a game model is that appropriate and a clean model technique or is it not the usual workflow of professionals. Do you just attach moving parts for instance?

To get you an idea lemmie post this picture of my mesh:
(you can also give me advice regarding the polyflow)


Wireframe

Eric Chadwick

Attaching depends on the game.

Most of the time the car parts are attached as one mesh, except for things that move like the wheels.

Usually you want to use as few separate materials as possible, attaching all pieces together that use the same material, better for rendering performance.

If the game has damage-modeling, then the car model is kept as separate chunks. When parts are to broken off or replaced with damaged versions, then the parts stay separate meshes.

Post your wire in Pimping & Previews for advice.

Mark Dygert

If by attaching you mean cutting and welding the pieces into one mesh, normally you don't need to do that. Just merging the pieces into one object but leaving them as separate elements will work fine. In your case if they are customizable pieces, such as the player can attach different pieces at different times, you might want to leave them as separate pieces. In general as Eric mentioned merging objects based on materials used is normally how most games operate, some exporters actually force this.

Eric Chadwick

Vig, you're awesome. Good point about cutting.

reiro

[ QUOTE ]
If by attaching you mean cutting and welding the pieces into one mesh, normally you don't need to do that. Just merging the pieces into one object but leaving them as separate elements will work fine. In your case if they are customizable pieces, such as the player can attach different pieces at different times, you might want to leave them as separate pieces. In general as Eric mentioned merging objects based on materials used is normally how most games operate, some exporters actually force this.

[/ QUOTE ]

So let me get this straight, its fine when you have a custumizable object in the game otherwise it should be welded into one piece of mesh, because it costs performance if you rather attach every piece than welding everything into one.

In the end though it doesnt rly matter because both methods work...?
Thx a lot.

Eric Chadwick

Attaching two meshes into one entity (either interpenetrating or placed very close to one another) is different from welding those two meshes into one continuous seamless surface by cutting/adding new vertices. The former is usually fine.

Sage

Well the thing is with games you model to support the needs of the game. Some need it as separate object others don't also you model to get the most of the texture space. A friend of mine told me that each new object requires a separate draw call for the rendering engine but I'm not too clear on that, so someone more qualified like Eric could clarify this.

Alex

Eric Chadwick

Whether multiple parts are sent in the same batch (draw call) or not depends on the game engine. In an unoptimized engine, each separate entity is sent as a separate batch. But an optimized engine will try to stuff a bunch of meshes that have the same material into a single batch.

Ask your programmer. Also, read why triangle optimization is not always king.