2008 BMW M3 Coupe

[nzjimmy2001]

is there an actual definition for low poly?.... i'm not sure there is... if someone knows of one then it'd be great if they could point it out.
anyways i have a friend who is in the car model biz for a living (a VERY good living i am guessing) and he refers to low poly as being "hand smoothed" rather than using turbosmooth for example in max. (turbosmooth adds thousands of polys to your mesh if you didn't realize this) then it just a matter of what your poly limit is to be for whatever platform you are producing your model for. so i see it from his viewpoint and this is why i call my model low poly.

thanks mp5, venom800tt.

[RedStar]

The definition on wikipedia

Low poly is a term used by videogame creators, players and journalists alike to describe a three-dimensional computer generated character or object that appears to be lacking in polygons.

In computer technology, polygons are what designers typically use to create any three-dimensional object that is output to the screen. The polygons are usually triangles. The more triangles that are used to create an object, the more detailed it will appear, but the more computing power it will take to render the object. Because of this, designers of videogames often have to be creative or cut corners with their polygon budget (the number of polygons that can be rendered per frame in a scene). This leads to objects that are often described as being low poly.

Objects that are said to be low poly often appear blocky (such as square heads) and lacking in detail (such as no individual fingers). Objects that are supposed to be circular or spherical are most obviously low poly, as the number of triangles needed to make a circle is high relative to other shapes since they contain no straight lines, and polygons are made of straight lines.

The low poly issue is mostly confined to videogames and other software that the user manipulates in real time, e.g. the parts of a game that are playable. Low poly and polygon budgets are not an issue in, for example, computer-generated imagery effects like Gollum from The Lord of the Rings films or the entirety of Pixar animated films because they are created on large networks of computers called render farms. Each frame can take hours to create, despite the enormous computer power involved. This is why FMV sequences in videogames look so much better than the games themselves.

Low poly is a phrase which is used relative to the time it is released. As computing power inevitably increases, the number of polygons that can be used increases as well. For example, Super Mario 64 would be considered low poly today, but was considered a stunning achievement when it was released in 1996.


Btw I LOVE YOUR CAR MAN!

[nzjimmy2001]

holy sht dude... i asked for that didn't i.... lol... thanks man i'll try to finish reading it now. lol

ok now i've finished and there you have it... there is no actual quantity relating to the term low poly so my car is low poly... i think... just read that thing above and take whatever meaning you want from it.

cheers RS... you are always a man of infinite wisdom. :]

[nzjimmy2001]

ok... been slow progress but i have an update. finished the lights.

[Tonn]

I really like this, what`s the polycount so far? One thing I´m trying to follow when I´m modeling is that circular objects that have smaller radius than some other circular objects should have less/same amount of polies than the bigger ones in their edge loop. What`s the point of making the headlight "tubes " so round if your blinker is more boxier? The headlight look very good but highpoly aswell (but maybe they aren`t, wire or polycount number would help)

[Masakari987]

Really great work so far. It looks like it didn't take you long to get the hang of making a game model.
BTW, are you using a specular material in the viewport to check for flaws with the normals?

[Catlin]

Yeah,great progress looking really nice.Very smooth

[nzjimmy2001]

thanks guys. i appreciate the comments.

@ tonn: i think the lights were 25,000 tris by themselves without the indicator... way too high i know... the cylinder was about 36 sides... that would account for its roundness. still is modelled low poly style tho. (just too high low poly...lol)

@ masakari: well to be honest i started on 2 cars doing low poly before this one... had to can both projects as i got very frustrated and made big mistakes... getting the hang of it now. i use this blue colour coz i find it is very easy to spot bumps / flaws for me... easier than with a highly specular material. but there are no flaws on this one... joking. i can see right now that my indicator needs a little tweak.

@ catlin: cheers mate.

[Silent][Moebius]

the poly count is going to be rediculous when this monster is done i mean this is about 1/3 of the car, not counting the interior

nice job man!

[4yBaK]

agree with ya Silent.. it will be like high poly

[nzjimmy2001]

cheers guys :]

@ Silent][Moebius : yip, the polycount prob is getting a bit high... i agree with ya there. the headlights should be redone really using less sides on my cylinders, etc. i may do that eventually. for the body... it won't be too difficult to do some edge loop removal to knock it back if i really had to. cheers mate.

just to put the M3 poly count in perspective... my high poly challenger as it last stood, no interior, 95% exterior completed is...( i only just checked and it kinda surprised me) a crazy 8,656,616 tris!!
is this a normal figure? i was expecting maybe around the 2 million... but anyhow my point is that a poly figure around say 100,000 - 200,000 tris (ballpark estimate for my M3 when complete) is alot more game friendly. :]

[300zx_9]

Hey man i really like the hood nice attempt, however check the bottom half of the bumper some edges are a little bumpy. If you look at the sharp corner on your intake hole you see a pinch there. Fix it and it'll look lovely as the hood .

[Silent][Moebius]

Originally Posted by nzjimmy2001

just to put the M3 poly count in perspective... my high poly challenger as it last stood, no interior, 95% exterior completed is...( i only just checked and it kinda surprised me) a crazy 8,656,616 tris!!
is this a normal figure? i was expecting maybe around the 2 million... but anyhow my point is that a poly figure around say 100,000 - 200,000 tris (ballpark estimate for my M3 when complete) is alot more game friendly. :]

well if you add a turbosmooth modifier, you add the same amount of polies to each poly you have manually placed i think. to considering the chamfers you need to get sharp lines, the count will of course explode

[nzjimmy2001]

Originally Posted by 300zx_9

Hey man i really like the hood nice attempt, however check the bottom half of the bumper some edges are a little bumpy. If you look at the sharp corner on your intake hole you see a pinch there. Fix it and it'll look lovely as the hood .

can you attach a pic to show me the bumps, and also the pinch so i can fix them? cheers mate.

[nzjimmy2001]

here's a couple of test renders.

[KMyers-MG]

lookin' very nice.

[nzjimmy2001]

thanks KMyers-MG

ok the long weekend has given me some motivation to get some work done on this thing. so i've started on the side and the rim. i'm doing the uk version coz it has cool rims unlike the other version whose rims are a bit plain in my opinion. tris are @ 63,338 total.

oh i also fixed that pinch and the bumpy edges 300zx was talkin about... i think... tooka guess at which bits he meant.

[revelli]

oh, kinda much polies there, but i like that highpoly look
what is your limit count of tris for this model?

[nzjimmy2001]

thanks revelli

i've decided i won't have a poly limit for this coz i've already blown what i thought it would be at to this point. i will just keep building it as i am now and see what happens.

[nzjimmy2001]

rim and indicator or whatever that thing is... is pretty much done.