Railworks America

Hi,
I have made few 3dtrees for my route and i am satisfied with the result. But before i go on making any more, i need to make sure if the polycount of my 3d tree model is reasonable. I plan to keep my 3d tree models between 300-700 polygons. Is this ok or not. Currently all my models are under 600 poly. Some suggestions please.

300-700 polys is absolutely OK. If you really want to do your users a favor, add a second LOD, just a flat billboard version of the tree, that pops into view at 200 meters. To make the billboard, I just photograph my tree in my CAD program ( Blender in my case ). Downsize the image to something small, eg 128x128 and use it to texture the billboard.

Make sure that you're counting triangles and not just the faces of the polys. The model appears to be higher than 600 polys (tris).

wacampbell wrote:300-700 polys is absolutely OK. If you really want to do your users a favor, add a second LOD, just a flat billboard version of the tree, that pops into view at 200 meters. To make the billboard, I just photograph my tree in my CAD program ( Blender in my case ). Downsize the image to something small, eg 128x128 and use it to texture the billboard.

Thanks for the tip, will surely use it.

Hack wrote:Make sure that you're counting triangles and not just the faces of the polys. The model appears to be higher than 600 polys (tris).

I am not very clear on the concept of poly and tris. I know that tris are 3 sided poly, but a poly has more than 3 sides and provides more editing options. And i always work on "Editable Poly" mode. Although technically n sided poly are also triangles..but they don't show up in poly mode..but if i convert the same model to mesh mode(3ds max) the poly count slightly increases.
Also, i have been having an issue with stuttering while using my models, i guess it might be related to the above mentioned topic. My laptop runs the default route smoothly but the route i am making stutters quite a bit even in less dense areas. Does this have to do with LODs or is there problem with my 3d model.

Oh, i forgot to mention, the 3d trees are still under 600 poly. Even in mesh mode

aksingha wrote:

wacampbell wrote:Also, i have been having an issue with stuttering while using my models

How many models are you using on a tile? And are you using them as individual models or in Asset Blocks?

If you are trying to achieve a very dense look over a large area, I would suggest having two versions of each tree:

- one in full 3D with LODs. This one is used only near the tracks ( eg < 100 meters ) and at points of interest.

- a second very low poly version that consists of just the Billboard LOD. Use this one in Asset Blocks to fill the distance.

wacampbell wrote:How many models are you using on a tile? And are you using them as individual models or in Asset Blocks?

I am using individual models, usually 3-5 in a group as near track objects. If i use the irregular asset block, the number of trees/foliage is not the same as the numbers i enter..If i enter say 10000, then only 5 or 6 of them appear. Is this how it works? Shouldn't it show 1000 trees if i enter 1000.
For the faraway objects i will be using asset block with 2d view facing trees, with few 3d trees in between.

aksingha wrote:

wacampbell wrote:If i enter say 10000, then only 5 or 6 of them appear. Is this how it works?

The value you enter, eg 10000, is the number of trees per square kilometer. This converts to .01 tree per square meter. So if your asset block covers 500 square meters ( eg 10 x 50 meters ) , you will get 5 trees.

Thanks for the info.

You can always convert back to editable poly to gain access to the features you need. Mesh gives you additional geometry tools to play with, plus it gives you an accurate count on tris.

Sorry for bumping this thread!

First of, nice trees. You've got talent there!

Secondly, what is the convention about poly counts? Do we count tri's (logical, as game engines care about triangles), or the polygons? My tri counts are generally double the poly count, so that's kinda a difference you see...

@ Hack, no need to convert to edit mesh to get tri counts, 3ds will display an accurate tri count in the viewport statistics for edit polys :) It even takes into account the modifier stack.

TrabantDeLuxe wrote:@ Hack, no need to convert to edit mesh to get tri counts, 3ds will display an accurate tri count in the viewport statistics for edit polys :) It even takes into account the modifier stack.

Thanks - I had forgotten about this, as I use Max r9 and never set it up to view statistics and usually use mesh anyway.