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LOW-POLY ART

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

Replies

  • Baddcog
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    Baddcog polycounter lvl 9
    Love the Djinn Pshyco, Would be cool to have an arabian themed Torchlight mod. That guy would be a perfect fit.
  • Free_Fall
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    Free_Fall polycounter lvl 8
    Wanted to give this lowpoly stuff a try, so I made a Fast food meal :p

    C&C is welcomed !

    fast_food_meal.jpg
  • Edgar T
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    Edgar T interpolator
    Chai: Yeah, this sounds good. I will take a look what you told me and i will look for some references on the net. Thx!
    Tennis: Me too, dude, thx ;)
    Baddcog: Hahah, would be funny!, I'm glad you like it.
  • fabio brasilien
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    fabio brasilien polycounter lvl 11
    hi guys,

    I haven´t done much stuff to fit in this thread, but now I have one.
    Today I gonna start the texturing. Difuse only, 512² or 256², not sure yet.
    Please let me know if there is some major issue on my model. :\

    ic8mm9.jpg
  • PogoP
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    PogoP polycounter lvl 10
    Quick question guys - What's the maximum amount of tris a DS can handle for an environment? Taking into account a character and few enemies running about.
  • Snader
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    Snader polycounter lvl 15
    Depends on how many polies the characters have, duh. =P I think it was just over 2000 for the total scene, so including chars, but a bit more if you use planar quads (which walls will likely be) or maybe even Ngons.

    ... rummage rummage ...

    According to wikipedia it "has a set limit on the number of triangles it can render as part of a single scene; the maximum amount is about 6144 vertices", which would convert to 2048 floating triangles, but more tris if connected as strips:

    floating triangles: 3 vertices per tri -> 6144/3 = 2048
    2 tri-strip or a quad: 3 verts for 1st trim 1 vert for 2nd tri -> (6144/(3+1))x2 = 3077
    3 tri-strip: 3 for 1st, 1 for 2nd, 1 for 3rd -> (6144/(3+1+1))x3 = 3684 with 4 spare vertices

    So it depends. What are your environments like, are they very complex or boxy? Can you get away with prerendered backgrounds like the first Resident Evil? How many things in the environment can be done with sprites/camerafacing planes? Could you give some more info?
  • Szark
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    Szark polycounter lvl 12
    Excellent work, rollin! I love it! :)
  • ScubaSteve
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    ScubaSteve polycounter lvl 17
    PogoP wrote: »
    Quick question guys - What's the maximum amount of tris a DS can handle for an environment? Taking into account a character and few enemies running about.

    Snader has it down pat. With GoldenEye it was a consist testing through the level to see if they float and don't crash. For the game we had load rooms where we drop things out and loaded things in so that why we are able to have the size environments we did. Its all about the engine and a lot of plan on level layout.
  • Mr_Drayton
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    Mr_Drayton polycounter lvl 14
    ScubaSteve wrote: »
    Snader has it down pat. With GoldenEye it was a consist testing through the level to see if they float and don't crash. For the game we had load rooms where we drop things out and loaded things in so that why we are able to have the size environments we did. Its all about the engine and a lot of plan on level layout.
    This is another excellent point. Metroid Prime: Hunters DS uses the same trick to load rooms and textures, and in fact environments are really amazing. Also, Moon and Dementium do the same thing.
    Moreover, if you use a top-down camera, (e.g. on a racing game) you could have even more details, since the viewing area is restricted and not extended to the horizon.

    Oh, I forgot. Are you planning to create an Homebrew? Because HB devkits can't read polygons as quads, but only as tris. In every case, nGons are never supported (neither by official Nintendo devkits)!
  • leslievdb
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    leslievdb polycounter lvl 15
    my handpainted texture practice i did during a workshop week by Mighty Pea

    fishhandpainted.png

    goblinhandpainted.png

    handpainted_scene.gif
    (lantern model (128²) door jeroen tavernier, treetrunk (128²) by Peter Paul Milkain and the bridge/surface (256²) and all the textures by me)
  • ScubaSteve
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    ScubaSteve polycounter lvl 17
    texture memory is also a big issue you face
  • PogoP
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    PogoP polycounter lvl 10
    Nice one guys. That's some awesome info.

    For our handheld module at uni we just have to make a DS spec environment, and whilst we do have information on how many polys we should be aiming for, I wanted to get some advice from some people who've actually had to work to a specific standard of optimization.

    Here's what I'm working on. It's sort of inspired by the volcano base in some of the Bond films. I'm trying to make lots of smaller, tileable, 16x16 or 32x32 textures with a limited colour palette as somebody previously explained in this thread (thanks a lot!), which gives me a lot more polys to work with as I can tile outside the UV area.

    scene_4.jpg

    Just been blocking in textures mostly, only really worked on the floor, trim, and breezeblock wall textures so far.

    These are my texture maps. They're split into 4 texture maps, but I put them onto a texture sheet for ease of uploading! Let me know if this is the sort of thing that would be done in the industry, I'm fairly sure it is.

    textures.jpg

    Edit - Oops, forgot to upload the rocket texture. It's actually on a 128* diffuse map, which is probably massive for a DS texture. It is the focal point of the scene though. What do you guys think? Will it leave me with a lot of texture space still or will that hog up too much memory?
  • Snader
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    Snader polycounter lvl 15
    I'd make the light-grey ribbed stuff straight lines, and let the tapering of the polygons to it's job. And you'll want quite a bit of a higher res for the rocks.

    It's probably a good idea to make most of the textures first, and then model around them, with a few extra sheets for superspecial stuff... For instance I'd make several techy panels, put those through the enviro, and on the rocket, but have a 32 or 64 with details for the rocket such as painted stripes etc.

    ct3dm5lg.jpg
    Here you have a couple of base textures (tiling concrete,grating, bolted plates), some trims (danger stripes, bolted pillars, black holey things), and some unique objects like the banners and lights.

    You should take a similar approach, get the bread and butter in place, then add some details, and lastly some points of interest.
  • LMP
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    LMP polycounter lvl 13
    Here's a little building I've been texturing for a collaborative project, it's not quite done. and I've got another 6 building to go, and a pile of some small vehicles, and a few bridges... I'll probably post those after I finish them.

    building1.jpg
  • ScubaSteve
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    ScubaSteve polycounter lvl 17
    scene_4_over.jpg

    PogoP- you have to start thinking about symmetry for your textures on your models. The red lines are where id symmetry the textures. You can use alpha for textures just don't go over board with those because those would eat up a lot of texture memory. In ds land vert coloring is your friend. Its a way to get rid of tiling textures. With having a white all you can vert shade it to red or what ever other color. Instead of thinking in one texture sheet start making everything in pieces. You might be about to reuse the textures else were. Also having dark lines next to light lines like your floor on the ds will make things centilating causing a weird warping. So Just be careful of doing that stuff. With that said that rock texture needs some more love.
  • PogoP
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    PogoP polycounter lvl 10
    Yeah it's just a base rock texture at the minute, I was just blocking in colours. I am using seperate pieces, I just combined them together to upload here.

    I think I'm going to tackle this scene again from scratch and use mirroring some more. The thing is, I was purposely trying to keep geometry to a minimum because my last scene used way too much geo, how ironic!

    Cheers Steve.

    Edit - So is it ok to use 16x8 textures? They don't have to be square?

    Double edit - I've made my own thread so as not to clog up this one.

    http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=78330
  • Rapante
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    Rapante polygon
    my handpainted texture practice i did during a workshop week by Mighty Pea

    fishhandpainted.png

    goblinhandpainted.png

    handpainted_scene.gif
    (lantern model (128²) door jeroen tavernier, treetrunk (128²) by Peter Paul Milkain and the bridge/surface (256²) and all the textures by me)

    that's pure dope man! love it to bits!
  • T.Bull
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    T.Bull polycounter lvl 13
    Damn, really inspiring stuff going on here.
    So, this is what I made in the past few days:
    lowpoly_han_1.jpg

    lowpoly_trooper_1.jpg

    And yes, the helmet is removable...
    lowpoly_trooper_2.jpg

    Going to make more characters'n'creatures, it's quite funny.
  • FoolishFox
  • fabio brasilien
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    fabio brasilien polycounter lvl 11
    I´ve done the texture for this guy
    259gykp.jpg
    I had some free space and I used to brake the simetry. (but I agree that I haven´t done much for that :\)
    I am not sure yet if leaving those outline is the best way to show this guy.
    YOu can see him here in unity
  • drelectro
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    drelectro polycounter lvl 8
    han solo is a hipster? ;-)
  • bsjkupo
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    bsjkupo polycounter lvl 7
    redonecloudpart3.png

    Advent Children Cloud Strife WIP
    :D

    1x 128 Diffuse Map
    482 Tri's total
  • amsmntparks
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    amsmntparks polycounter lvl 18
    I´ve done the texture for this guy
    259gykp.jpg
    I had some free space and I used to brake the simetry. (but I agree that I haven´t done much for that :\)
    I am not sure yet if leaving those outline is the best way to show this guy.
    YOu can see him here in unity

    I checked out the Unity scene, and that outline is awesome. Reminds me of Jeanne d'Arc.
  • mrmmaclean
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    mrmmaclean polycounter lvl 8
    Yeah, fabio, that is absolutely SLICK!
  • LMP
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    LMP polycounter lvl 13
  • Lionx_Dagger
    i wanted to create as low poli lion character as possible i ended up with this:
    lionxlx_.gif

    324 tris
    201 poli
    (not couting the orb and wand)
  • Harmalarm
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    Harmalarm polycounter lvl 12
    Hi everyone!

    I have been following this topic for about half a year and am very enthusiastic about some of the work shown here. I figured it was time to contribute.

    This mustang model started out as a custom mod for carmageddon. I optimized the texture to fit in the carmageddon 1 palette, and shrinked the polycount significantly.

    lowpolymustang.gif

    Please criticize!
  • mifflefish
    Lurker no lurking... oh ok fine

    finished this a little while back and I thought I would throw it up here I hope it's within the specs of this thread

    jupiter_king_02.jpg
    jupiter_king_03.jpg
    jupiter_king_01.jpg

    the robot is 2860 and uses 1 512 texture, the environment is about 15k and uses 5 texture ranging from 64 - 512.
    diffuse only no lighting
  • renderhjs
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    renderhjs sublime tool
  • ENODMI
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    ENODMI polycounter lvl 14
    Awesome, I love the flurry of rockets spewing from his arm:) ShitS gunna die!
  • drelectro
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    drelectro polycounter lvl 8
    @mifflefish: nice model, but once upon a time this was a lowpoly thread. 2860 tris is way too much. and looking at the actual geometry, i think you can reduce the polycount to under 1000 tris without loosing much shape. i demand a lowpoly version!
  • Harry
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    Harry polycounter lvl 13
  • VPrime
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    VPrime polycounter lvl 9
    Harmalarm wrote: »
    Hi everyone!

    I have been following this topic for about half a year and am very enthusiastic about some of the work shown here. I figured it was time to contribute.

    This mustang model started out as a custom mod for carmageddon. I optimized the texture to fit in the carmageddon 1 palette, and shrinked the polycount significantly.

    lowpolymustang.gif

    Please criticize!
    It is nice,I instantly recognized it as a Mustang...
    But there is no such thing as a Mustang GTR. I would lose the "GTR" title. There is a Mustang GTR concept car.. But it looks nothing like that, so it is kind of confusing :)
  • fabio brasilien
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    fabio brasilien polycounter lvl 11
    Harmalarm: Nice work! She is hot! (for a 8 bits person...hehe)

    mifflefish: Looks great! I am only afraid that this 2860 tris will generate two pages of discussion again about budget of this forum... :\
  • Mad Mike
    @mifflefish: Metal Slug 3D? Or is it just me?
  • deadpixl
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    deadpixl polycounter lvl 9
    @mifflefish That thing looks awesome. I agree with Mad Mike, it's got a nice Metal Slug vibe going on.
  • mifflefish
    *cough*
    .
    .
    .
    Jupiter_King.png

    this is my first real lowpoly piece like this so I'm sure optimization isn't what it should be. I'll see what I can do but if you guys have any suggestions I would be happy to hear them.
  • eld
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    eld polycounter lvl 18
    mifflefish wrote: »
    *cough*
    .
    .
    .
    Jupiter_King.png

    this is my first real lowpoly piece like this so I'm sure optimization isn't what it should be. I'll see what I can do but if you guys have any suggestions I would be happy to hear them.

    It's fantastic, but yeah with lowpoly graphics you'll want to spend polygons for what can help the shapes and silhouette and less on stuff that won't.

    I'm pretty sure you could bring it down in polycount quite alot. (in the spirit of this thread)

    But it could possible be this is aimed at newer stuff, 3DS etc which would make it work at its current density.

    also, it's getting harder in many way to enforce any rules in this thread, so no point in trying.
  • mifflefish
    jupiter_king_04.jpg

    Spent some time trying to cut down on the polycount, Ive got to fix up the textures obviously. got it down to 1694 polys, I'll see if I can get it down a bit more, if you guys see anything obvious I'd be happy to hear it
  • WIZPIT
    ivan.png
    WIP "Ivan"
    298 faces the texture is WIP too
    Wings 3d, photoshop.
  • willy-wilson
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    willy-wilson polycounter lvl 8
    crosspost with my thread, 248 tris, texture is 128x128 wip.

    Capture-75.png
  • drelectro
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    drelectro polycounter lvl 8
    @mifflefish: looking good! some things i may spot out:

    jupiter_king_04.jpg
  • Xenobond
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    Xenobond polycounter lvl 18
    Here's a few other tidbits that might help.
    metal_slug_00.jpg

    Blue- Looks like you have the arm segments all connected. That's a goodly number of verts being wasted on a thin edge like that. I've split out the large segments and merged them into one point. Won't need to change the texture for it. uv's can just overlap into whatever was above it.

    Purple- This is a big mess, and a waste of verts since it isn't a primary focus point.

    One last bit is the head. It looks like it could be a bit wider.
  • willy-wilson
  • Aranoth
    Low poly practice, trying to go the Nintendo DS RPG style.
    The eyes and mouth are from an old model, and are placeholder.

    Does someone know how to use vertex colors with Cinema4D? Is it even possible?

    low_poly_rpg.jpg
  • Mr_Drayton
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    Mr_Drayton polycounter lvl 14
    Aranoth wrote: »
    Low poly practice, trying to go the Nintendo DS RPG style.
    The eyes and mouth are from an old model, and are placeholder.

    Does someone know how to use vertex colors with Cinema4D? Is it even possible?

    low_poly_rpg.jpg
    It looks just like those RPG characters on DS games, but there are many optimizations you should do. 581 tris are too much for a model like this, since there are often more than four on the screen. Try to follow those generic rules:

    - Legs and arms are usually 3-sided.
    - Hair, eyes and mouth are textured directly on the head, and olny bangs are modeled as a separated geometry (like the back of the dress).
    - Hands and feets are like small pyramidal blocks.
    - The body (from shoulders to pelvis) is often an unique block without horizontal edges, since there won't be the need to bend it.
    - No vertex painting: everything is done with texture (usually 128x128 pixels).

    All this optimization should bring your model to around 250 tris. I'm going to make a sample character for testing purposals, I'll post it when it's ready. :)

    PS: I don't use C4D, so I can't help you with vertex painting!
  • Lionx_Dagger
    Mr_Drayton wrote: »
    I'm going to make a sample character for testing purposals, I'll post it when it's ready. :)
    i did to
    tho it don't look as good as original :p
    26887a2a09.png
    tris:178
    ver:105

    and idk how it would act with armature X.x
  • Aranoth
    Mr_Drayton wrote:
    - Legs and arms are usually 3-sided.
    - Hair, eyes and mouth are textured directly on the head, and olny bangs are modeled as a separated geometry (like the back of the dress).
    - Hands and feets are like small pyramidal blocks.
    - The body (from shoulders to pelvis) is often an unique block without horizontal edges, since there won't be the need to bend it.
    - No vertex painting: everything is done with texture (usually 128x128 pixels).

    All this optimization should bring your model to around 250 tris. I'm going to make a sample character for testing purposals, I'll post it when it's ready. :)
    Actually I'm going for the DS style but not the specs: this is a test for a PC project.

    I'm a lone programmer trying to make good looking models with minimum effort :)
    If I want to use such models in a real RPG, I have to find a way to make a lot of them easily and quickly.

    That's why I prefer avoiding unwrapping and texturing by using vertex colors instead. And that's why I'm not really concerned with optimization.

    Anyway, thanks for your tips, and I'm looking forward to see your model!

    ...
    Nice to see your take on it :D
    It's looking good for such a low amount of triangles, but I think your colors are too saturated, especially the skin and hair.
  • MadcoreTom
    Cool Mustang Harmalarm, in fact everything here is so good! :thumbup:

    Here's an attempt at a low poly toilet, weighing in at 144 tris, and a 32x32 texture (my smallest one yet)
    ToiletLowPoly2.png

    Modeled in blender in an hour and a half (including distractions).

    Let me know what you think!
  • MattQ86
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    MattQ86 polycounter lvl 15
    Good job but it's missing a toilet paper roll and a low poly turd.
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