Blender: Massive files?

[Kuraikiba]

Okay, earlier, I was working on a model. It was a modder's resource kind of thing.

 

So, my computer was struggling to make it at one point. I mean, it's just a sawn off shottie, but just by the time a small amount of barrel decoration was made, the .blend file was at a rather shocking 204 MB. Is there any reason why the file could have been so huge, and would it shrink significantly if made into .nif format?

 

Moreover, why is the poly count so high? I'm maybe 2% done with the gun, and it's at like... 3 million+ faces, 3 million+ vertices. I mean, I really don't want my comp to blow up.

[alonsomartinez]

Send me the file, I can take a look at it.

[Kuraikiba]

Alright then. Here you go.

 

http://www.filefactory.com/file/cda11be/n/Ultra_Hi_Resolution_Shotgun.blend

[LHammonds]

Wouldn't this be a much better solution and still yield similar results?

 

EDIT:

 

Attachment removed: Ultra Hi Resolution Shotgun.zip

[Kuraikiba]

Oh, thanks. That would work great. Course, doesn't matter, as I can't rig, add physics, or UV/UW Map to save my life.

[LHammonds]

Judging by the name, I assume you are trying to make a shotgun?

 

You don't need to rig much of anything unless you are doing clothing / armor. Even then, much of it is done via copy scripts and then you just fine-tune rather than weight-painting from scratch (eeeewwww).

 

UV mapping is not too bad. You just need to practice. In this case, it would be best if you UV mapped the 1st ring and THEN duplicated...thus not needing to UV wrap each one. However, all rings would share identical texturing and thus look identical. A single "scratch" effect to the texture would magically look like all rings are scratched in the exact same way. So if you needed to "mix it up" then you could slightly alter each ring's UV to cover different areas of the texture and / or rotate them a bit so none of them match perfectly. There are all kinds of things you can do...but it just takes practice. It also helps if you practice / learn on objects that are not part of your main or real projects. Learning on throw-away objects allows you more freedom to experiment.

 

If you are interested in modeling, go for it and learn to overcome each obstacle one at a time (not collectively at the same time). So if need to sharpen your skills on UV mapping, focus on that for a while and read up on UV mapping as much as you can and watch as many video tutorials that you can find. If you treat it like cramming for an exam and trying to stay focused on learning that one thing for a solid week, you'll be surprised at how much better you be at it when you are done. Once you feel as though you have gained enough skill points in that area, jump onto the next thing you need to learn.

 

Also keep in mind that these kinds of things are a continual learning thing...every few months you'll look back on the work you did in the past and realize you can do so much better now than back when you thought you had it down pat.

 

It is an awesome feeling seeing how you progress over time. Just be sure to keep a photo gallery and model archive of stuff you've done over time so you can go back to it and check out how much more you know now.

 

LHammonds

[alonsomartinez]

Okay, earlier, I was working on a model. It was a modder's resource kind of thing.

 

So, my computer was struggling to make it at one point. I mean, it's just a sawn off shottie, but just by the time a small amount of barrel decoration was made, the .blend file was at a rather shocking 204 MB. Is there any reason why the file could have been so huge, and would it shrink significantly if made into .nif format?

 

Moreover, why is the poly count so high? I'm maybe 2% done with the gun, and it's at like... 3 million+ faces, 3 million+ vertices. I mean, I really don't want my comp to blow up.

 

I took a look at it and I think I know what your problem is. Judging from the fact that there was a ton of lamps/cameras I think you duplicated your mesh. Using append, I saw two torus's listed. I loaded them both up and they are the same exact thing. I also saw the poly count of the torus and it was at 1.5 million. Delete one and that will cut your poly count in half.

Also, why is it that high? How many subsurfs or multires did you apply. i think you should read through the Blender Noob to Pro guide before continuing this model.

Edited August 2, 2011 by alonsomartinez

[LHammonds]

Alonso, when he created each torus, he specified the maximum size (256) for the segments. It created an insanely complex model which wouldn't even be practical for renders let alone game usage.

 

The torus I created used mainly the default settings. I then turned on "Set Smooth" and they look VERY similar to the extreme version originally used.

 

To create a torus, click SPACE --> Add --> Mesh --> Torus (Python script)

 

LHammonds

[alonsomartinez]

Alonso, when he created each torus, he specified the maximum size (256) for the segments. It created an insanely complex model which wouldn't even be practical for renders let alone game usage.

 

The torus I created used mainly the default settings. I then turned on "Set Smooth" and they look VERY similar to the extreme version originally used.

 

To create a torus, click SPACE --> Add --> Mesh --> Torus (Python script)

 

LHammonds

 

 

Heh, never even saw that option.

 

What explains the 15 lamps and cameras then...? http://www.thenexusforums.com/public/style_emoticons/dark/blink.gif

 

Edit: It seems you did the same for the cylinder. The default cylinder is 66 verts and yours is 1000..?

Edited August 2, 2011 by alonsomartinez

[LHammonds]

What explains the 15 lamps and cameras then...?

Newbie not knowing what it does I guess. However, the amount of lamps and cameras did not cause the massive 200 MB size...the torus did.

 

Edit: It seems you did the same for the cylinder. The default cylinder is 66 verts and yours is 1000..?

The default on mine (2.49b) is:

 

Major Radius: 1.00

Minor Radius: 0.25

Major Segments: 48

Minor Segments: 16

 

This yields a donut that has 768 verts.

 

The one I uploaded used 50 major segments which yielded an 800 vert donut.

 

In Blender 2.57, adding a default torus yields a 576 vert donut.