Polycount Question

[IronWhim]

Hey everyone,

 

I've been modeling for quite a while now, but I'm new to doing anything with Oblivion. I'm mostly a Maya guy but can get by just fine in Blender (mostly because I use an obj that I exported from Maya :biggrin: ) But there's one thing I need to know to really do much in Oblivion. What sorts of poly counts are we looking at to build characters and weapons for the game? If someone could let me know, that'd be great.

 

Thanks!

[thePhilanthropy]

I think the absolute limit for a nif is 65536 (2^16). But it's unlikely any model you make will have more than that.

 

I can only guess.

Weapons should have a relatively small polycount. They are mostly static, so a polycount of 500 would be a desirable maximum. You can of course go higher, but it's almost always unnecessary. Most weapons in vanilla probably have something around 200-300, maybe even less.

 

Armor can be anything. Really depends on what kind of armor. Full body armor maybe around 3000-5000 at maximum. Skin-tight body-suits should have around as many as the used body. If it's just a pair of boots, 300+ is ok.

 

Bodies are different, becaues they ought to transform as smoothly as possible (noone wants to see sharp edges). So, a high polycount is desirable. Shouldn't be less than 10k, better even 20k, and if it doesn't involve any problems, Oblivion can even handle 25-30k.

 

Most stuff can be simulated with normalmaps, though. Minor details don't have to be modelled.

 

Apart from that, it's always a good idea to minimize polycount if it doesn't have a visual impact.

 

Check out this page: http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index...Portal:Modeling

 

And happy modding! :D

[IronWhim]

Thanks! 20k is nicely in my favorite polycount range. I actually do 3D & 2D for a living, and I've build MUCH higher than that for work, but I've also built for really low res for an MMO. I'll post stuff when I have updates, if people are interested.

[Vagrant0]

My general rule of thumb with poly counts is based on what it is you are doing, and how many instances of that object there will ever be. Although the game makes use of instancing when multiple of the same mesh are being displayed, there are some cases where this doesn't always get factored, such as the same weapon being both on the ground and being wielded. There is however a limit to how much resource saving can be done with repetitive elements, especially with statics.

 

For weapons, it's best to try and stick below 1500 tris if the weapon will used by more than just the player, 2500 if there will only ever be one instance of the weapon.

 

For armors, it's a bit more tricky since the body mesh alone can be well over 10000 tris. Best suggestion here is to try to do as much detail as you can with the normal map, and simply as much as you can out of the mesh. Don't do anything crazy detailed, and you shouldn't have too many problems. Again, if it is going to be used in many places within the same scene (armor for town guards, guild members, ect), you should try to make it as simple as possible. As most of the clothing and armor mods are geared around just the player and companions,you can still do some nice detail work without affecting performance too badly.

 

For statics, it gets a bit more tricky;

 

For things smaller than a person, you want to try for less than 2000 tris unless that object is one of a kind, is in a fairly simple room, and really needs that extra detail.

 

For objects that are about the size of a house or small building, you want to shoot for less than 14000 tris.

 

For repetitive elements, like walls, fences, sidewalks, and other things that you'll have several dozen in one area, you should try for less than 2000-6000 tris based on how many instances you will have.

 

For exceptionally large statics done in pieces, you'll want to aim for less than 50000 tris total between all pieces of that static group. However, you should try to aim for around 30000 or less if possible. For large statics, most of your detail could likely be done with normal maps, or the object is so large that any fine detail is likely not to be seen.

 

For _far.nif objects, you should simplify as much as possible, shooting for as close to 2000 tris or less as you can get. You may even want to use some new textures for these so that you can fake some details (painted on doorways, windows, ect).

[IronWhim]

By way of example, I have this sword, which is 1200 polys.

 

http://www.brianwatson3d.com/KhaladJhir/images/movieImages/kjsword01.jpg

 

That sounds well within the limits. It's got several maps on it, all of which are 512 x 1024. That should work, yes?

[simonp92]

the easiest way is to import a vannila nif and look at the poly count of that paticular nif.

[LHammonds]

What he said. ^

[IronWhim]

being new to NIFScope, is there a simple way to see the polycount of an object?

[simonp92]

I dont know if you can see the poly count in nifscope, but you can in blender or 3Ds max

[IronWhim]

That's what I was doing. Was just hoping to shave a step. Thanks, everyone. I'm not sure when I'll be getting this fully together, but I'll try to make it something impressive. I'm starting small, with just a small island to cruise around on, but I'm aiming very, very large.