Newbie question

[Paintstrippin]

Hi people, i was just wondering how much is too much? ive looked at some of the pre-made models that are floating about and they are mostly around 2-3k patches... mine usually end up with around 10k patches ive noticed a little lag... does it matter how many patches my models contain if i can deal with the lag?

[HomeSlice]

If you can deal with the lag, it probably doesn't matter ... that much. However, in every case, except for a small number of exceptions, 10K patches are not only unnecessary, but will bite you in the butt when you try to rig and animate the model. If a model really needs that many patches, it is usually a landscape, a large machine, or a building. In those types of models, it is standard practice to divide the model up into "pre-fab" pieces and assemble them in an Action or a Choreography.

[photoman]

The only use 10k+ patch models have are for terrains. (I've made some models that have 30k patches, near crashed my system to render shaded ) You can use 2-3k patch models for pretty much anything else. If you are looking for details use bump and displacement maps.

 

Photomans

[Rodney]

There are ways to reduce the amount of lag even with huge meshes as well.

Often its not the splines but whats added to them that slows you down.

For instance, the size of decals.

Toggle your real time resolution lower if you can. (Page Up/Page Down)

 

There is also the use of proxy models to consider when animating.

These temporarily substitutions replace large files with small files until final rendering or when the larger file is needed.

This practice is pretty standard in the industry.

If you can use proxy images or prerendered backgrounds that can help as well.

 

Similar to proxy images is adding model instances/shortcuts in a Chor or Action (Holmes has mentioned that)

Say you have elements of your model that repeat over and over again.

Add the same model multiple times in a Choreography and translate or scale each one into place.

Changing the original model then changes all the instances automatically.

If you need to change them separately you can do that in via Chor Action.

 

There is always a temptation to turn all options on just because we can.

Particles, reflections and shadows are examples of this in rendering.

Extra Plugins take up resources as well.

Its better to turn the extras off when you can.

 

In modeling it pays to keep your splines continuous and the model as simple as you can.

A question to ask is... 'Do you really need all those splines to define the geometry'?

If not save the old model... delete the extra splines... and press on.

[heyvern]

If you check the history of modeling with most long time users of AM you will find the patch count got smaller as time goes by. This is not a rule of course, just a personal observation. I remember my first successful "face" model that had phonemes and poses etc... good grief it had WAY too many patches and was a torturous dog to work with (it was 10 years ago of course). It turned out great but was just too dense if I look at it now. As time goes by you learn to be more sparse and efficient with the number of patches. You would be SHOCKED at how few splines are really needed to define even modestly detailed models.

 

To avoid that "learning curve" try starting now to use as few patches as possible to get what you need. If you are doing "mechanical" style models study the primitives that come with AM (or, I suppose you download them now with the web subscription). Those primitives are a treasure trove of minimalistic mesh construction guidelines for anything mechanical in nature.

 

I still tend to go overboard with patch count sometimes. I remember spending hours upon hours on a metal hinge for a contest image... huge patch count... every edge beveled... each part a separate mesh that moved like a real hinge... and in the final image the hinge WAS NOT IN VIEW. Keep that in mind as well. If it isn't seen much it doesn't have to have a lot of detail in the mesh.

 

Decals, bumps, displacement maps, can all help "hide" low patch counts very effectively.

 

-vern