Just a short question: how do you determine when to use alpha maps and when to model something? It's a more easily answered question for next-gen models, but I'm often in doubt with the lowpoly models as are now seen aplenty in the contest section. A lot of people use alpha maps to save polygons, but from what I've…
Yes, things like triggers are a fine use of polys unless this is a DS game or something. But in that case it's probably not even important to be able to see through the trigger guard anyway. Alpha is often saved for intricate foliage (ferns etc.), hair, and other intricate details that would cost far too many polys to…