Myths of modelling
polygon
I'm a newbie, and have been confused on a couple points I've read on here lately.
1. Meshes do not have to be all quads. Wat?
2. Tri count doesn't matter anymore with next-generation gen, it's mostly texture size that matters now. This true?
Does anyone else have similar issues they need cleared up? Would love to have an up to date list.
1. Meshes do not have to be all quads. Wat?
2. Tri count doesn't matter anymore with next-generation gen, it's mostly texture size that matters now. This true?
Does anyone else have similar issues they need cleared up? Would love to have an up to date list.
Replies
2, like anything in life. moderation is key. Use the budget wisely. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Use common sense.
One way to clarify this point would be for you to list the reasons why you think that they should be. This would make the source of the confusion/misconception easy to identify.
I'd venture to guess that this is caused by hearing something like "non-quads don't divide well",which depends on context, and "non-quads are not good for rigging", which highly depends on context too. People tend to take these two completely unrelated statements ... misunderstand them both ... and then cook up a random absolute rule that doesn't apply to anything
Game meshes are not sub divided so using triangles where you need them makes modeling much faster. Using maps to represent detail means the most important considerations are polygon direction (in the case of quads), the silhouette of the model and how it deforms when animated. Most of the resolution is concentrated on parts where the edge of the model is most apparent to the viewer/player and that depends on how close it is or where it is in the scene plus what it must do (in the case of a character's face for instance). You wouldn't plaster a model full of polys just because you can. Making a model that has polys where you need them and less where you don't makes modelling, uving and rigging faster. An efficient and well planned model is much more fun to work with then a dense mesh that holds a lot of unnecessary geometry.
Cheerio
Some specialized tasks specifically require quads to work such as the Follow Active Quad operation in Blenders UV tools.
Generally speaking it is usually a good idea to keep a model mostly quads for these reasons.
Just remember that more is not better, having an all quad mesh is not necessarily better than having a mesh with some triangles and n-gons.
http://polycount.com/discussion/157205/how-u-model-dem-shapes-image-ripped
2. Somewhat? From what I understand, the consoles/pcs are indeed powerful enough that you shouldn't worry about every excessive tri in your mesh, but there are still draw calls and such and the performance doesn't hingeson tri count alone. If we're talking about videogames, then tech artist/director can tell you exactly how much tris the project can afford for one thing or another. Or just look at tri counts of things in existing games and you'll get a relatively good idea of how much is alright.
2. In general, I would get into the mindset of adding geometry only where it is needed. Just because the new systems can handle more doesn't mean that efficient modelling is no longer required. It still all counts, whether in rendering or memory footprint. Towards the tail end of a project when things are being optimised the last thing a project needs is a lot of inefficient models that need fixing up, or something else being dropped instead.
So, when you add details, make sure they count. Always consider how the object will be seen in game and build accordingly. If adding a few more loops to a curve makes no difference in game then take them out.
Also, adding too much can visually impact the model in a negative way. When textures move into the distance, the mips will reduce the high frequency noise. The same can't be said for the model, unless the LOD chain kicks in. Too much geometry in a small space will cause a lot of flickering as the polys end up too small for the pixels on screen. Antialiasing can help here but that impacts rendering performance.
I think this is a skill that doesn't get enough attention these days. A lot of students are coming into the industry creating really high poly work and are unable to simplify that efficiently. Challenging yourself to do more with less will always be a good thing.
Modern consoles usually run out of memory before they see any framerate impact from high vert-count models.
Starting with a cube and building your mesh out from it along with edge extrusion (The way I learned) used to be the standard way to make characters before zbrush became the heavy lifting tool that it is today.
Considering that he's talking from a character artist perspective, if you're doing props/environments your still modeling in many of the same ways.
I think the whole "people don't know how to make efficient topo these days" thing is bigger problem for the character art side of things currently then the prop/environment side. Not saying that higher polycounts haven't spoiled everyone a bit, just that I think you see the issue pop up more for character artist.