Also checkout Tim Simpson over on Polygon Academy a ton of stuff in there, I think you'll find helpful as well https://www.artstation.com/pixelmasher/blog https://www.youtube.com/c/polygonacademy
Don't use a double-sided shader, duplicate and flip the polygons manually before bending the normals. More about why: http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Foliage#Vertex_Normals
Yea the parts squeezing the copper. Everything seems to have enough polygons except them. The raised screws actually look to be raised inset holes in the reference pictures.
Update: Sun. May 19, 2019: Retopo'd the cape, skinned, rigged, and posed the character. Added the black outline. The character model itself is around 30K polygons.
Think of it as the same thing as Level Of Detail on polygon models. As you get further away from the object, its quality is reduced by a certain (specific or automatic) amount.
Started working on rough stand in models based on concepts. Tried out Zbrush's new polygon modeling tools and FBX export. Layout objects in Unreal Engine.
You really seem to have gone overboard with the number of cap segments in the floor. I can't see anything on either deck that needs any additional polygons.
is there a way to switch back from proxy to mesh for all the proxies and with respct to their original location ? i switched to another pc that can handle some extra polygons
You could apply a displacement map for the chesterfield and convert it to polygons. I use the viewport 2.0 in Maya but I think that you can do it in Modo aswell.
I think it is, as long as you do it on one polygon at a time. The normals for the faces at the far left in your example don't seem to be pointing along their face normals.