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LOW-POLY ART

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polycounter lvl 19
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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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  • renderhjs
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    renderhjs sublime tool
    from the techTalk threads:

    191 voxels and 7 colors :D
    voxel_engine_dmo_03.jpg
    online demo:
    http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/polycount/voxel/dmo03/
  • fabio brasilien
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    fabio brasilien polycounter lvl 11
    CactusFantastico: I think that a hand painted texture would fit better on this model than real photos. There is a post where you can get nice tips about it...But it gonna be a little hard to achieve nice results without a wacom ;)
    http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=68416
  • PolyHertz
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    PolyHertz polycount lvl 666
    renderhjs: neat stuff. Do shadows work if over an inclined surface? Like say you have the copter over some voxels/cubes at 1x high and some that are 2x high, does it color the relevant sides and not just the top? Curious cause haven't seen an example of that yet.
  • Andreas
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    Andreas polycounter lvl 11
    Loving it render. Can you keep each individual voxels perpendicular orientation while still having the propellers animate? (Almost as if it was from an actual 2D Pixel game) That would be a really nice effect.
  • MachineMinded
    I haven't done anything in ages, so I decided do a quick tower shield:
    tower_shield.jpg

    Edit: Perspective as requested:
    tower_shield_perspective.jpg
  • Joshua Stubbles
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    Joshua Stubbles polycounter lvl 19
    Vrav wrote: »
    tristram03.jpg

    Reminds me of the lowpoly "Polycount Town" we all made some years ago. Nice stuff :)
  • DOG-GY
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    DOG-GY polycounter lvl 12
    MachineMinded, care to give a perspective view? Can't really tell anything as is.
  • Cap Hotkill
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    Cap Hotkill polycounter lvl 13
    lol, true, give some perspective to that, it looks like a Flat image right now.
  • DOG-GY
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    DOG-GY polycounter lvl 12
    I would recommend bumping up some saturation on the shield. Make the cross look more like it's popping out. It would be a hell of a lot better.
  • hawken
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    hawken polycounter lvl 19
    DOG-GY wrote: »
    Speaking of trees with faces on them

    whispyrender.png

    Is this from Kirby?

    8863.Kirbys_5F00_Dream_5F00_Land_5F00_GBC_5F00_ScreenShot2.jpg_2D00_550x0.jpg
  • Cap Hotkill
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    Cap Hotkill polycounter lvl 13
    It must be! xD
  • Szark
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    Szark polycounter lvl 12
    Very nice, Vrav. Love it! :)
  • DOG-GY
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    DOG-GY polycounter lvl 12
    hawken wrote: »
    Is this from Kirby?

    8863.Kirbys_5F00_Dream_5F00_Land_5F00_GBC_5F00_ScreenShot2.jpg_2D00_550x0.jpg
    Indeed.

    I need to add a segment to his trunk so I can animate him being pissed and throwing apples.
  • rumblesushi
    I'm very busy programming at the moment, I haven't had a chance to improve my modelling skills by doing something more difficult like a human etc, but that's my next modelling challenge, to build some decent humans between 250 and 500 polys.

    However, here are a couple of basic models of some beach huts and a ferry.

    100 polygon ferry.

    ferry.jpg

    12 polygons per beach hut.

    huts02.jpg

    They are in this demo - http://rumblesushi.com/beach.html

    By the way snader - absolutely superb trees a couple of pages back, and all on a 32 pixel texture, unbelievable :)

    Cheers,
    RumbleSushi
  • DOG-GY
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    DOG-GY polycounter lvl 12
    I'm very busy programming at the moment, I haven't had a chance to improve my modelling skills by doing something more difficult like a human etc, but that's my next modelling challenge, to build some decent humans between 250 and 500 polys.

    However, here are a couple of basic models of some beach huts and a ferry.

    100 polygon ferry.

    ferry.jpg

    No idea why that's 100 polygons. Doesn't really need to be. Also it's basically an extruded shape. Instead of drawing over it (useless in this case and I'm no good at it anyway) I made my own to show you how it could be improved.

    boat.png
    The smokestack is given a lot more personality by having a box that is rotated 45 degrees. It now looks more like a cylinder smokestack. The smoke stack and white part are floaters that aren't connecting to anything else. This should be fine with nearly any engine nowadays so it's not like you'd have a problem there.

    I also made the bottom of the boat beefier. It's now got some definition in terms of width. It's a wider base, and look at all the room you've got to put a nice texture on it. Yeah you've got less room for upper windows seeing as those planes are tilted now, but you can easily flatten that off to make a huge deck that wraps around or something cool.

    Now you've got a better defining point for what is underwater and what isn't, and you've trimmed down a lot of tris (if you really had 100 polygons).
  • NeoDement
    Assuming he meant 100 triangles, you haven't saved a thing.
  • DOG-GY
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    DOG-GY polycounter lvl 12
    NeoDement wrote: »
    Assuming he meant 100 triangles, you haven't saved a thing.
    I was hoping that's what he meant to say, but even so, I added 4 tris while adding a lot more to the model. I'd say that's doing a lot.
  • Snader
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    Snader polycounter lvl 15
    Considering it's painted like one of these, I say he's closer to the money than you are.
    2026_05_1---P-O-Pride-of-Bilbao-Ferry_web.jpg

    Though I agree with your crits about form and shape, it looks like it's gone through a cookie cutter. But I think most of that can be solved better by rounding out the bow and adding more blocks/levels. Like such:

    POferry.png
    Texture is crap but I didn't want to spend more than a minute on it. Might make a decent one later.. but doubtful.
  • DOG-GY
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    DOG-GY polycounter lvl 12
    didn't know it was based on anything real my bad.

    snader did a great job at helping
  • meador_forest
    These aren't near as low poly as most of the other posts in this thread, but since they are the low poly models that i have "on hand", I figured I would post them up.
  • rumblesushi
    DOG-GY wrote: »
    No idea why that's 100 polygons. Doesn't really need to be. Also it's basically an extruded shape. Instead of drawing over it (useless in this case and I'm no good at it anyway) I made my own to show you how it could be improved.

    boat.png
    The smokestack is given a lot more personality by having a box that is rotated 45 degrees. It now looks more like a cylinder smokestack. The smoke stack and white part are floaters that aren't connecting to anything else. This should be fine with nearly any engine nowadays so it's not like you'd have a problem there.

    I also made the bottom of the boat beefier. It's now got some definition in terms of width. It's a wider base, and look at all the room you've got to put a nice texture on it. Yeah you've got less room for upper windows seeing as those planes are tilted now, but you can easily flatten that off to make a huge deck that wraps around or something cool.

    Now you've got a better defining point for what is underwater and what isn't, and you've trimmed down a lot of tris (if you really had 100 polygons).

    Neo is right, it's 100 triangles. I just say polys, but I'm always talking triangle count, who counts quads or n-gons ;)

    And I appreciate your input, but I actually prefer mine.

    It's based on a PO Ferry, they are VERY blocky and angular, with very flat sides etc believe it or not.

    Check it out - http://www.freefoto.com/images/2026/05/2026_05_1---P-O-Pride-of-Bilbao-Ferry_web.jpg
  • rumblesushi
    Snader - just saw your post.

    Good catch for sussing what Ferry it's based on ;)

    Nice job too on the mockup, apart from the bow being too long. Impressive that you've got it as low as 102 polys, even with the extra levels and more detailed front.

    These models were mostly done by a colleague that I'm teaching modelling to.

    Before putting the Ferry in my engine, I knew there was something not quite right about it, but just wanted to finish the demo. Now I see 2 things clearly, one is the lack of curve on the bow, and second - the chimney is the wrong way round, haha :D
  • DOG-GY
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    DOG-GY polycounter lvl 12
    Yeah sorry about the mistake in the design of the ship, just trying to help! :)
  • Snader
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    Snader polycounter lvl 15
    Triple post with random not-lowpoly models

    Nobody is forcing you to post here, and those are most definitely not lowpoly.

    Did you even read the first post?
    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.

    Normalmapped things of about 3000 triangles do -not- go here. Your shotgun and crate should go into the WAYWO THREAD instead.

    And there's no need to triplepost.

    Please do us a favor and go read the FAQ now.
  • pixelchaot
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    pixelchaot polycounter lvl 17
    next nintendo ds game i am working on and now released...
    and yeah, again a girlsgame made from only boys ^^
    cool team, its fun do work with you guys :thumbup:

    cheers!

    vip_news___nds_lineup_by_pixelchaot.jpg
  • d2king10
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    d2king10 polycounter lvl 12
    Nice work pixelchaot!

    Here is about 2 hours of work on a low poly thief. Tomorrow I will uv map him:

    thiefwire.png
    thiefhead02.png

    another shot of the head here: http://grungemedia.com/dkseries/My_Work/ThiefGame/thiefhead.png
  • Ged
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    Ged interpolator
    really nice work pixelchaot! love the simple crisp style works so well on lowpoly stuff, what was your main inspiration for that style?
  • rollin
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    rollin polycounter
    pixelchaot: lol ich hab die ganze zeit deinen namen falsch gelesen *G* eher so was wie pixelschaf ;)

    nice work!!

    are the steps in the gradients painted in or is the texel resolution so low to get the effekt?
  • pixelchaot
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    pixelchaot polycounter lvl 17
    thank you d2king10!

    ged thank you !
    all characters were concepted by our animator jochen volz his inspiration was some famous actors or the actual highsociety...
    now we`re all society experts and we know whats going on in hollywood :P

    danke rollin...ja pixelscha(r)f is auch schön :P
    the base colors for 4-5 character is a 16x16 texture with 256 colors (gradients)
    we like that crisp vector style for this project...the backgrounds are very realistic so we had a cool contrast between backgound and the characters.
    the eyes and the mouth are 32x32 textures with mostly 16 colors or if it is possible 3 colours (with alpha)
    trianglecount was around 500
  • JohnnySix
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    JohnnySix polycounter lvl 16
    Vassago wrote: »
    Reminds me of the lowpoly "Polycount Town" we all made some years ago. Nice stuff :)



    Sounds cool - is this still lurking around somewhere? :D
  • d2king10
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    d2king10 polycounter lvl 12
    K, finished the theif :D

    TheifDone.png
  • hawken
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    hawken polycounter lvl 19
    JohnnySix wrote: »
    Sounds cool - is this still lurking around somewhere? :D

    I have some shots of the final town once I put all the entries together, I'll dig them out one day. (been meaning to do some kind of challenge archive)
  • Ruz
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    Ruz polycount lvl 666
    update on a couple of pieces
    medievalguy1.jpg
    yelloowron1.jpg
  • Cap Hotkill
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    Cap Hotkill polycounter lvl 13
    nice stuff Ruz!, how many polygons each and what texture size?
  • rollin
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    rollin polycounter
    nice one.. love the 2nd

    the 1. one seems bit unfinished though (boots) but cool cloth design
  • Ruz
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    Ruz polycount lvl 666
    ahh actually they are both slightly over 1000 faces. I will try and knock the count down a fair bit.textures are 256, but the head on the second guy is 128
    I am struggling a little with the design on the boots at the moment.
    ron.jpg

    Knight_Diff.jpg
  • FreshDumbledore
    now posting in the right thread:

    update on the dog for an iphonegame:
    dogob.jpg
  • woogity
    Oleg wrote: »
    hi guys , working on tower defence game with a friend. Here is the Archer tower , any ideas how I could improve it ?
    Because right now it looks pretty lame. I got around 100 extra polys I could use.Many Thanks
    tower1.jpg


    definatly get rid of the seam or hide it on the back side, its killing it right now, Also to make it more interesting, id say vary the texture on the tower a bit, right now the stone is pretty repedative, switch it up a bit give the base some bigger stones or change the color on some of them also if you have the extra tris why not add some spikes or barricade type fortifications at the base of it...just a thought
  • MachineMinded
    I tried to follow the critique and make thing pop out a bit more:

    old: tower_shield_perspective.jpg new: tower_shield_perpective_v2.jpg

    Still 36 tris and a 64x128 color map.
  • dang87
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    dang87 polycounter lvl 12
    I normally don't post anything in here but.. wow, I just cannot resist joining in on the fun. I also couldn't resist being a bit different. Definitely learned a lot by looking at some of the previous models, though.

    sadsun.jpg


    Wouldn't its tears evaporate or at least it would cry hot, molten plasma? :D
  • conte
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    conte polycounter lvl 18
  • kennyspirit
    now posting in the right thread:

    update on the dog for an iphonegame:

    that looks really cool, good work man ;)
  • d2king10
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    d2king10 polycounter lvl 12
    Finished up a guard to go along with the thief:

    guard01.png
    thief here: http://grungemedia.com/dkseries/My_Work/ThiefGame/TheifDone.png
  • hawken
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    hawken polycounter lvl 19
    dang87 wrote: »
    Wouldn't its tears evaporate or at least it would cry hot, molten plasma? :D

    your logic is flawed, the sun has a freaking face!
  • LoTekK
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    LoTekK polycounter lvl 17
    Posted in WAYWO as well.

    One-upping gauss in obscurity of weapon choice, here's a low poly SDK Carbine (still WIP). Been meaning to do this up for years, but never got around to it. Anyways, this weapon, as far as I know, never actually saw service. It was commissioned by the German Secret Police Chief specifically for the plot to assassinate Hitler.

    Bullpup design, bolt-operated (I still don't understand how you're supposed to work the bolt, given its placement), integral (takedown-able) noise/flash suppressor, custom 9mm subsonic round, modified Luger P08 magazine. Being ridiculously rare, I've found it impossible to find any angles other than side-on, though there are two pics of the weapon broken down into its component pieces, both sides.

    gsdk-wip1.png

    gsdk-wip1a.png

    (If this ever sees use in an engine/game, it'll be for an X-Com/Jagged Alliance-ish game, so I'm not fussed about how the scope looks close-up).

    (Also, I was well into the texturing when I realised I'd forgotten to un-mirror the stock, so the left side of it also has an ejection port and recess for the bolt handle. Doh)
  • JohnnySix
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    JohnnySix polycounter lvl 16
    LoTekK wrote: »
    Posted in WAYWO as well.

    One-upping gauss in obscurity of weapon choice, here's a low poly SDK Carbine (still WIP). Been meaning to do this up for years, but never got around to it. Anyways, this weapon, as far as I know, never actually saw service. It was commissioned by the German Secret Police Chief specifically for the plot to assassinate Hitler.

    Bullpup design, bolt-operated (I still don't understand how you're supposed to work the bolt, given its placement), integral (takedown-able) noise/flash suppressor, custom 9mm subsonic round, modified Luger P08 magazine. Being ridiculously rare, I've found it impossible to find any angles other than side-on, though there are two pics of the weapon broken down into its component pieces, both sides.

    gsdk-wip1.png

    gsdk-wip1a.png

    (If this ever sees use in an engine/game, it'll be for an X-Com/Jagged Alliance-ish game, so I'm not fussed about how the scope looks close-up).

    (Also, I was well into the texturing when I realised I'd forgotten to un-mirror the stock, so the left side of it also has an ejection port and recess for the bolt handle. Doh)

    The average gamer won't notice, looks great - has a unique profile.

    Trigger came out well for an alpha-plane too.



    Been working on some stairs, been playing far too much torchlight, wanted to try have a go at the fortress style stairs.

    Not added the gold yet, I wonder if they used some kind of poly-painting, as I don't remember seeing seams at any point, or at least noticable ones.

    Low_Poly_Stairs_by_JohnnySix.jpg
  • DOG-GY
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    DOG-GY polycounter lvl 12
    You might wanna bump up the saturation, maybe add some AO as well.
  • JohnnySix
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    JohnnySix polycounter lvl 16
    Added a subtle AO and ramped the contrast a little. Also had a quick check of tiling.

    Low_Poly_Stairs_2_by_JohnnySix.jpg
  • DOG-GY
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    DOG-GY polycounter lvl 12
    Looking much better!
  • Vrav
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    Vrav polycounter lvl 11
    It's nice. No real darks and no real lights, so it looks soft and friendly. To apply this approach to an entire scene could be cool, & if the characters had better contrast they'd stand out nicely etc. The little chips are incredibly tiny and don't stand out at all though, so I'd say either just do a dip in the texture or widen and exaggerate them...
18788909293287
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