For really low stuff - DS spec, for example - it might be a trade-off between precious extra polygons or precious lost texture space (and, obviously lighting), depending on the model. Either way, it's a generally accepted technique but it's something you might want to bear in mind.
There are some weird bumps on the high poly for the rear tires along the area that would contact the ground. It looks good but I think you should push the polycount on the low further. All that suspension geometry would look and bake a lot better with more polygons.
You have two UV sets on the object. The default upon creation and the one you made. Maya doesn't like to delete the default. Select the cube>select UV set map11>polygons>Copy Uvs to UVset map1. Delete the not needed UV set.
What do you mean by low-poly exactly? DS/PSP/GP2X low poly? In that case you should even further optimize your mesh, as I can see a lot of wasted polygons (or better ones that will not be visible on such a tiny screen anyways).
Also if you go to the generic browser in the editor you'll see a statistics tab. This will tell you the amount of polygons in an entire level (not the amount displayed). It also has other helpful info like the number of instances of certain assets or the amount of tris for individual assets.
Quick update: I'll be making the candles, coffins, plates and urns next. After that it's set-dressing, lighting and fixing the details (I'll also revisit all the feedback points I've already gotten): @oraeles77 yupp, that's the correct image ;) it's just that many polygons @Ashervisalis thank you!
True , true... some polygons dont affect the silouhette , ill remove them by collapsing some vets... but i have a question ? they should be all triangles ...is it okay if there are some tris and some polys ? And how many edges are supposed to end in one vertex ? 4 ? 5 maybe ?
Use however many you need to get the level of detail you require. From there you can either try using decimation master to reduce the polygon count for Maya, or if you're just looking to make a tiled pattern you might be able to do it in zbrush alone
Hey man, I would probably reduce the amount of polygons on the blade itself and put it in the handle. The handle looks way too facetted compared to the blade imo. About unwrapping the skull, check the attachments. That being said a little bit of stretching should not be an issue. Hope that helped.
try keeping it simple. I see you drawing a lot of polygons without really having any use of them. Maybe you can look around on the internet for some good topology tutorials. Your poly lines should be smooth and following the overall shape of the body.