what is the max amount of polygons

[mikeandike22]

what is the max amount of polygons that the hl2 engine can support,this is including the hands on gun models.

 

[Hazar]

more than you need or should use

 

[Some0ne]

somewhere around 10000 i think. but yeah, a limit you shouldnt get near.

 

[mikeandike22]

alright thx, i was worried cuz my guns were already nearing 2500 and i didnt have the hands or nething done yet.

 

[MonkOnFire]

I'm having a lot of problems concerning polycounts. I model the most basic things and I get really high polycounts. I will post wireframes soon so hopefully people can help me out.

 

[Sir Phoenixx]

Here's a few things you can look into to reduce polygons...

1. When making an object by creating a box/cylinder/etc. and giving it a number of segments to form the object, make sure you combine all segments that aren't needed to keep the shape of the object, and make sure you combine any polygons that are excess and aren't needed to keep the object's shape.

For example, say you create a box with several vertical segments along it's length to create a curved surface on the top, while the bottom and sides are flat. You'd delete all of the polygons on the bottom, and create one using only the vertices of the four corners (converting about 10-20 triangles to only 2), and delete all of the polygons on the sides and create a polygon on either side using only the top vertices, and the bottom two vertices on each side. (remember to delete the left over not used vertices) Et Cetera...

2. When you create a cylindrical objects like barrels, scopes, etc., only create them with enough sides to give the illusion that they're round, for barrels on rifles or other weapons where the barrel is seen, 8, or 12 sides depending on how wide and close to the view the barrel is, is more then enough. For barrels that are small and you can't see them, like on handguns, 8 is more then enough, but 6 would suffice. Scopes, and larger cylindrical objects, or objects that are closer to the view, would need more to look round, 12-16 sides, depending on size is enough.

3. If a detail on a weapon is small enough to be done in the texture and/or normal/bump mapping, then it should be done there and not in the model. Stuff like tiny grooves on the sides of handgun slides, the grooves/bumps on grips, and flush screw heads could be done in the texture and normal/bump mapping with almost no noticeable visual difference. Stuff like most buttons, switches, dials, bolts, deep & wide grooves, etc. should be done in the model since they stick out and are obvious.

 

[NonStopableForce]

Performance and Budgets

HL2 Polycounts:

Soldiers: 4682
Police: 3852
Resistance: 4976
Zombie: 4290
Helicopter: 6415
Strider: 6444
Alyx: 8323

There are no fixed rules in determining how many polygons you use in your model, or how much texture resolution you’ll use in your materials. There are upper limits of engine capability, (25,000 polygons/model and 2048 texture size) but these aren’t usually going to be what you’re shooting for. You’ll need to consider how many of the character, vehicle, or prop you’re making will be on screen. If you’d like dozens of them on screen at any given time, you’ll have a different budget than if you’d only like to see one of them ever on screen at a time. With humanoid characters, especially for multiplayer use, you shouldn’t need to go over 4000 polygons to get a character that has enough detail to accurately describe the form, bend properly at the joints, and have enough edges to light properly. Of course you can have more than that, but with normal mapping, and high res textures, you shouldn’t really need to. One good thing about working in XSI is that you can keep your model as quads and have clearly organized edges (edge loops) that define the shape, with this sort of a model, it is easy to add and dissolve edges, especially since the UV coordinates are preserved and you can easily re-envelope your mesh with saved vertex weights. Discreet levels of detail are supported in the Source engine and can drastically improve scene rendering speed.

Found this here

-NSF

 

[Sanada]

There is really no limit on how many polygons you can use but that don't mean you should use as many as you want. A TNT2 card will can only handle a fraction of what a modern day card can. So in general, that's the limitation.

It's always good to use the least amount you possibly can with the detail level you want and optimise the best you can.