LOW POLY ART STYLE GUIDE
polycounter lvl 19
The following are steps to set up your 3D software to make lowpoly renders. The original post was made back in 2008 so some information may be out of date. It's highly recommended to use a dedicated multiplatform tool like Crocotile3D or Blockbench to make lowpoly art these days.
Turning off antialiasing & filtering.
Meet the team by Tommy Tallian
You may be asking, "how do I make my software do that!?"
Here is a list of methods to get your low poly renders looking perfect.
blender:
3ds max:
maya:
Cinema 4d:
modo:
XSI:
silo:
Turning off antialiasing & filtering.
Meet the team by Tommy Tallian
You may be asking, "how do I make my software do that!?"
Here is a list of methods to get your low poly renders looking perfect.
blender:
- gray background: Shading (F5) & World Buttons & World
- no antialiasing: Scene (F10) & Render Buttons & Render & turn off 'OSA'.
- no texture filtering: Shading (F5) & Texture Buttons & Map Image & turn off 'Interpol'.
3ds max:
- gray background: Either grab the viewport, or open Rendering & Environment and set the background color.
- no antialiasing: Either grab the viewport or un-check the "Antialiasing" checkbox in Renderer tab of the Render settings.
- no texture filtering: For viewport, go to Customize & Preferences & Viewports tab & Configure Driver and set Texel and Mipmap Lookup to "Nearest" and "None". For rendering, un-check "Filter Maps" in the Renderer tab.
maya:
- gray background: Grab viewport, or select current camera & Attribute Editor & CameraShape & Environment & Background Color
- 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
Cinema 4d:
- gray background: Either grab the viewport, or make a background object and texture it gray.
- no antialiasing: Either grab the viewport or turn off in render settings.
- no texture filtering: Check sampling to "none" in the texture you're applying.
modo:
- gray background: for viewport grabs: system>preferences>display>colors>background>change background color. For render: shader tree>environment>environment material>environment type>constant>change zenith color
- no antialiasing: Must change per image map. Works with renders and viewport grabs: shader tree>image map>texture layer>uncheck antialiasing.
- no texture filtering: Must change per image map. shader tree>image map>texture layer>texture filtering>nearest
XSI:
- gray background: Viewport Grab, or Render & Options & Render Engine, Open GL, Background Color, 0.5 all RGB values
- no antialiasing: Viewport grab, or Render & Options & Aliasing & Max Level 0
- no texture filtering: Select textured object, Get & Texture & Image & from Material:Image property window select Edit (Image) & Texturing tab, select 'Uninterpolated pixel' under OpenGL Texture Settings for both far and near filters...or Press 8, open object material property, click Color connector, follow previous steps starting at Material:Image property window.
silo:
- gray background: editors/options > display settings > uncheck draw viewport gradient
- editors/options > color settings > viewport background
- no antialiasing: if you've AA in Silo, force disable it via your videocard control panel; many users have already disabled it due to a selection bug that occurs with AA enabled.
- no texture filtering: not sure if this is possible, have tried so many combinations in the nvidia control panel as it is; if anyone can figure out a way, that would be awesome. but silo still can't render alpha in textures, so it might be a lost cause - an alternative application for presentation is desirable.
Replies
<font color="green">no antialiasing:</font> Uncheck OSA in render settings
<font color="green">no texture filtering:</font> Uncheck OSA in render settings
<font color="red">software?</font>
Gray background: Shading (F5) -> World Buttons -> World
No anti-aliasing: Scene (F10) -> Render Buttons -> Render -> turn off 'OSA'.
No texture filtering: Shading (F5) -> Texture Buttons -> Map Image -> turn off 'Interpol'. No idea if it's possible in viewport.
Gray background: Render : Select your current camera -> Attribut Editor -> CameraShape -> Environnement -> Background Color (and pick color)
No anti-aliasing: Render : Hotbox -> Window -> rendering Editor -> Render Settings -> Maya software ->Anti-aliasing Quality -> Low quality
No texture filtering: Viewport : Hotbox -> Shading -> Hardware Texturing -> Texture Filter -> Unflitered
gray background: Viewport Grab, or Render -> Options -> Render Engine, Open GL, Background Color, 0.5 all RGB values
no antialiasing: Viewport grab, or Render -> Options -> Aliasing -> Max Level 0
no texture filtering: Select textured object, Get -> Texture -> Image -> from Material:Image property window select Edit (Image) -> Texturing tab, select 'Uninterpolated pixel' under OpenGL Texture Settings for both far and near filters...or Press 8, open object material property, click Color connector, follow previous steps starting at Material:Image property window.
For a large non-printscreen viewport grab: Click on viewport camera icon, Start Capture. Change format, Image Size, set Sequence for 1 Frame. Uncheck Flipbook, and Anti-Aliasing.
(may vary depending on version and layout (mod tool))
I am re-learning 3Ds max for my DOW3 project and forgot all about the antialiasing & filtering part.
DOWIII Entry
gray background:
1. for viewport grabs: system>preferences>display>colors>background>change background color
2. for render: shader tree>environment>environment material>environment type>constant>change zenith color
no antialiasing:
Must change per image map. Works with renders and viewport grabs: shader tree>image map>texture layer>uncheck antialiasing
for renders only:
shader tree>render>settings>antialiasing>1 sample/pixel
shader tree>render>settings>antialiasing filter>box
no texture filtering:
for renders and viewport grabs. Works with renders and viewport grabs:
Must change per image map. shader tree>image map>texture layer>texture filtering>nearest
gray background:
editors/options > display settings > uncheck draw viewport gradient
editors/options > color settings > viewport background
no antialiasing:
if you've AA in Silo, force disable it via your videocard control panel; many users have already disabled it due to a selection bug that occurs with AA enabled.
no texture filtering:
not sure if this is possible, have tried so many combinations in the nvidia control panel as it is; if anyone can figure out a way, that would be awesome. but silo still can't render alpha in textures, so it might be a lost cause - an alternative application for presentation is desirable.
I have seen people make the mistake of not showing their characters or objects with 100% illumination.
Or in other words, they are allowing the software to shade the polygons which makes everything look like garbage. It probably seems like common sense to a lot of the veterans around here, but I'm sure it's new to the people just getting started.
In 3ds Max: The simplest solution is to "right-click" next to the viewport title (usually next to "[Perspective]" In the top left part of the screen and you are clicking on "[Smooth + Highlights]")
Instead of "[Smooth + Highlights]" Choose: "[Flat]" like shown in the image below (see red circle).
Of course, don't forget to go to "Customize>Preferences...>Viewports (tab)>Configure Driver (button)>and choose "Nearest" at the bottom under "Texel Lookup"
Which as explained above turns off texture filtering.
Lastly make sure that your viewport supports the texture size you are using.
Easiest way to do this... Go to: "Views>Show Material In Viewport As>Hardware Display With Maps"
Again, this will ensure that you textures are not compressed in the viewport, and you are seeing them at full resolution.
Hope this helps!