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LOW-POLY ART

polycounter lvl 19
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hawken polycounter lvl 19
This is the sweet spot for your low-poly models. Post 'em if you've got 'em!

Low-poly hasn't really been a requirement in the games industry for a long while now. This thread is for low-poly art style appreciation, so please take note of these rough guidelines:
  • Keep models under 1,000 triangles.
  • Scenes are fine, if all models are low poly.
Some dedicated low-poly modelling tools now exist that make this art style a lot easier to produce; Crocotile3D & Blockbench

Here's a handy list of ways to make your art look right in mainstream 3D software: Low-Poly Art Style Guide

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  • TheDoomedDane
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    300Tri * R35 Tanks

    6anZfND.gif
  • Xelioth
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    Bit of what I'm working on for a personal game project

    Lux_1-28-15.png
  • Wendy de Boer
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    Wendy de Boer interpolator
    Cute stuff, Xelioth! What kind of game are you making?
  • Xelioth
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    Cute stuff, Xelioth! What kind of game are you making?
    Zelda-styled dungeon crawler with a series of twists thrown in to make it less generic than just that.

    I'm taking some cues from Zelda, Kirby, and Nox for the mechanics, and trying a few things with narrative design based on a few years of researching into that field. Hoping for the best. Plan to have a trailer by end of April.
  • Wendy de Boer
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    Wendy de Boer interpolator
    Sounds good, looking forward to that! :)
  • DEElekgolo
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    DEElekgolo interpolator
  • farmerfren
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    hi guys im interested in low poly modelling and this is my attempt at making a low poly model using blender. Is there any way to improve my modelling? what are the general rules of thumb and is there any online tutorials that i can look at? (i have been looking at Peter's massive blender tutorial and XRG81 weapon tutorial on youtube)
    i just started using blender a few days ago and this is the first model i made. I'm still struggling with the interface and options.

    8d029b79c9eea04d9919e38e6b403e6a.jpg
  • Yelle
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    Yelle triangle
    You could start with trying to reduce the amount of edge loops on flat areas. I see a lot of optimisation that can be done for your model. Take some cues from low-poly wireframes posted on polycount or pinterest or other sites.
  • Sanislov
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    Sanislov polycounter lvl 9
    I like them really!! :) Have you got more?
    300Tri * R35 Tanks

    6anZfND.gif
  • Tekneek
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    (Wrong sub, will rectify)
  • shrogg
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    shrogg polycounter lvl 12
    Teeny gross spores
    KdPAihr.png
  • farmerfren
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    ec24f4d17f3f56dc8c60ec02f7c53a08.jpg

    learning to use turntables
  • farmerfren
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    Yelle wrote: »
    You could start with trying to reduce the amount of edge loops on flat areas. I see a lot of optimisation that can be done for your model. Take some cues from low-poly wireframes posted on polycount or pinterest or other sites.

    thanks for the advice i will try my best

    and quick question i cant seem to change the colour of the background in render window in Blender for my current model, but when i create a new file it seems to work properly. and nothing i try seems to work.. has anyone encountered this problem?
  • [SF]Three9
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    Nazareno wrote: »
    - @jucarave, That's a good start.

    - Little model of my gamecube and my memory card.

    fDRkRra.jpg?1

    this is so crisp and legit
  • pigart
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    pigart polycounter lvl 6
    Finished this little dagger yesterday ;)

    D0S3PFg.jpg

    I also recorded the process of making it and uploaded the video here

    [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYS4liBSntU[/ame]
  • Nakaroo
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    Nakaroo polycounter lvl 3
    Lots of neat stuff here! =D
  • DGB
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    DGB polycounter lvl 7
    executioner_render_unity.jpg

    minstrel_unity_render.jpg

    First attempt at 100% hand-painted characters.
  • L4TF2
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    L4TF2 polycounter lvl 2
    Image might be big.
    I tried to model and texture a wolf. The textures are laughable... but the model seems ok to me.



    wolf_by_l4_tf2-d8g9chz.png
  • SeveOJ
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    DGB wrote: »
    executioner_render_unity.jpg

    minstrel_unity_render.jpg

    First attempt at 100% hand-painted characters.

    Man, I love these! Super easy to read.
  • eldradglam
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    Mood of the time

    832083mood.jpg
  • Thousand
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    Thousand polycounter lvl 9
    eldradglam wrote: »
    Mood of the time

    832083mood.jpg

    polycountpolice :poly118: this is more than 1000 tris, isn´t it?
  • eldradglam
  • roboy
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    roboy polycounter lvl 11
    Looks pretty cool eldradglam - how're you creating the topology? from scratch or something like meshlab?
  • derugin.s
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    derugin.s polycounter lvl 7
    Belarusian National library SPEED MODEL 405 tris
    diffuse 256x256 pix
    manual rotation https://skfb.ly/CMSX

    FrQW7YT.jpg

    zPCpYGf.gif


    [sketchfab]13ff584790854d8386f5235216084e6c[/sketchfab]

    http://youtu.be/GsWcZRbn9cw
  • Thomas Doig
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    Thomas Doig polycounter lvl 5
    @ DEElekgolo

    That's awesome! what was the tri count and texture etc?
  • eldradglam
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    @roboy

    with decilation master inside zbrsuh with a low value ;)
  • DEElekgolo
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    DEElekgolo interpolator
    @ DEElekgolo

    That's awesome! what was the tri count and texture etc?
    Final tri-count is 959 for everything!
    I use four separate textures. The only textures I really had to break from the central "atlas" were the images that tiled in both directions(probably should have merged the street and concrete with the rest of the atlas but didn't want it to get too "long"...)
    8U4ELz7.png
  • Thomas Doig
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    Thomas Doig polycounter lvl 5
    Final tri-count is 959 for everything!
    I use four separate textures. The only textures I really had to break from the central "atlas" were the images that tiled in both directions(probably should have merged the street and concrete with the rest of the atlas but didn't want it to get too "long"...)
    And I take it those are the actual texture sizes? a total texture size of 256*256?
    *shrug*I'm confused as to what the blue, green and yellow parts are though
  • DEElekgolo
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    DEElekgolo interpolator
    Just color coding the different individual textures. That's 64x256,32x32,32x32,32x128.
  • Thomas Doig
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    Thomas Doig polycounter lvl 5
    Ok now I understand

    thank you.
  • *Sebastian
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    *Sebastian polycounter lvl 8
    Hi guys. This is my first post on Polycount.
    I would like to make a halloween graveyard and this pumpkin is a part of it.
    Hope u guys like it and pls show me some criticism.

    Thx
    tumblr_njogm9LkE11unfsa4o1_1280.png
    K%C3%BCrbis_02.png?_subject_uid=386697572&w=AAAw0c3dirV_YYHK0v_FyCBIvoOnFtR4MWJLJ_EtBmVhfg
  • mcunha98
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    mcunha98 polycounter lvl 7
    Texture in progress
    dragaorazo2.png
  • Thomas Doig
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    Thomas Doig polycounter lvl 5
    mcunha98,
    :)looks cool, but this thread is for 1000 tri's and under.
  • Amatobahn
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    Amatobahn polycounter lvl 7
    Mobile games now can and have reached to 2k triangle meshes. On professional stuff I've worked on we've even encroached 4k meshes. I know there's the limit in this thread but I think there's some leeway we can give. :)
  • IceWolve
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    IceWolve polycounter lvl 18
    ^ I don't think its more about what low end gaming can handle, but just an art/form style of the low poly design.
  • Bombshell
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    Bombshell polycounter lvl 10
    @IceWolve, as technology advances Low Poly as a term changes, it is a relative term to the lower end of interactive display hardware, which at the moment happens to be mobile platforms.
    I feel the distinction is thin, the discussion has come up many times, as far as I'm concerned if the model describes a relatively high amount of detail in a lower detailed model, I'd forgive being a few hundred triangles out.
  • Sweetangel0467
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    Sweetangel0467 polycounter lvl 10
    This is just my opinion, but I believe that dragon to be low poly enough for this thread. We've had talks like this in the past.. I posted art around 1.5k as well and then there was no issue.. soo yeah :)
  • iansudol
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    400 tri characters using 64x64 diffuse.
    crits or thoughts?
    4sw7YiB.jpg
    oeCFACN.jpg
    0qlQrLT.jpg
  • willy-wilson
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    willy-wilson polycounter lvl 8
  • Sweetangel0467
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    Sweetangel0467 polycounter lvl 10
    xrg wrote: »
    Here's a dagger I made in Blender for a tutorial series.

    1TuRy1Tl.jpg

    I'd really like to thank you for your videos.
    You're "moon-like"-spikes could've probably benefited from some sharp edge highlights I believe :)
  • Denny
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    Denny polycounter lvl 14
    Amatobahn wrote: »
    Mobile games now can and have reached to 2k triangle meshes. On professional stuff I've worked on we've even encroached 4k meshes. I know there's the limit in this thread but I think there's some leeway we can give. :)
    IceWolve wrote: »
    ^ I don't think its more about what low end gaming can handle, but just an art/form style of the low poly design.
    Bombshell wrote: »
    @IceWolve, as technology advances Low Poly as a term changes, it is a relative term to the lower end of interactive display hardware, which at the moment happens to be mobile platforms.
    I feel the distinction is thin, the discussion has come up many times, as far as I'm concerned if the model describes a relatively high amount of detail in a lower detailed model, I'd forgive being a few hundred triangles out.

    The nature of these comments can completely change depending on how we look at things. Just because a system can push a certain polycount, does not mean that artists should fill up the quota just because they can. There is still a need to understand how to use polygons efficiently, so there is room for the hardware to calculate other things.

    Level of Detail is still relevant. Being able to simplify characters to the absolute minimum while still making it look good is an underestimated artform. Just because it is possible to push 2-4k polygons on a character, does not mean one should do so. The less polygons you push on your characters, the more room you have for other things. As an example, you can multiply the number of characters you can show at the same time. It could mean the difference of 10 vs 100 characters on screen, without looking any worse to the end user.

    It is also easy to forget other aspects of a game that oneself is not working on. Is it really necessary to push every single polygon on characters when there is environment art, complex AI, audio, particle effects and plenty more that need room to perform?

    Then, not to forget, more polygons does not always mean better results. This is especially true when it comes to skeletal deformation. There are plenty of examples on the Polycount wiki that shows when more polygons are worse.

    I don't think this thread should start increasing its limits because hardware allows it. Having limits while creating art is a good exercise that allows a lot of growth. It's like the painter who can make a beautiful piece of art with just a few strokes.

    Just food for thought.
  • Sweetangel0467
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    Sweetangel0467 polycounter lvl 10
    Denny wrote: »
    The nature of these comments can completely change depending on how we look at things. Just because a system can push a certain polycount, does not mean that artists should fill up the quota just because they can. There is still a need to understand how to use polygons efficiently, so there is room for the hardware to calculate other things.

    Level of Detail is still relevant. Being able to simplify characters to the absolute minimum while still making it look good is an underestimated artform. Just because it is possible to push 2-4k polygons on a character, does not mean one should do so. The less polygons you push on your characters, the more room you have for other things. As an example, you can multiply the number of characters you can show at the same time. It could mean the difference of 10 vs 100 characters on screen, without looking any worse to the end user.

    It is also easy to forget other aspects of a game that oneself is not working on. Is it really necessary to push every single polygon on characters when there is environment art, complex AI, audio, particle effects and plenty more that need room to perform?

    Then, not to forget, more polygons does not always mean better results. This is especially true when it comes to skeletal deformation. There are plenty of examples on the Polycount wiki that shows when more polygons are worse.

    I don't think this thread should start increasing its limits because hardware allows it. Having limits while creating art is a good exercise that allows a lot of growth. It's like the painter who can make a beautiful piece of art with just a few strokes.

    Just food for thought.


    I completely understand your point of view. Changing the polycount also slightly changed the artform that is made with less.

    In the case of that dragon though I think it's a good low poly character that might need some optimization.

    What it comes down to (for me at least) is not nitpicking on a 1.5k mesh when the limit is 1k.
    If it bothers people, why not give feedback on how to make it more optimized? (this is directed towards all the people here in general)
  • Snader
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    Snader polycounter lvl 15
    Also consider this; the xbox 360 can push ~300 million tris and 8 gigatexels per second and 240 gflops. The iPad 4 could do 125 million (textured) triangles, 2 gigatexels and 75 gflops, all roughly a third of what a 360 could churn out. This was in 2012, and thus I have no trouble believing that the latest generation iPad has performance on par or possibly even beyond that of an xbox 360.

    Are we to consider games like GTA5, Color Duty and Far Cry 4 as being... low-poly? I don't think so.

    Personally, I wouldn't really categorize the dragon as LP either. It doesn't use a whole lot, no, but it's still not efficiently modeled. It's just an okay looking model. It also depends a lot on the in-game context. If this were a screen filling boss, like in SotC then yeah 1.5k is low. But for a run of the mill model, maybe even pet-sized or a low level MMO mob? Not really.

    The way I see it there are two main perspectives, and both inform what should be posted here. Aesthetical and technical lowpoly-ism. Things like eldradglam's dude, or That Dragon Cancer embrace the appeal of digital minimalism, even though they're actually using quite a bunch of triangles. Technical is just about 'does it have few polygons' disregarding texture spec and so on; it's both about technical limits of a system and about being 'technically correct'.

    IMO, if you're going for aesthetics you can have a bit of leeway posting here, but if you're intent on following the technical limitations you should also follow the technical limit of 1000 tris.
  • Odow
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    Odow polycounter lvl 8
    It would be really nice to have a thread about this. With all platform, split between characters, props, creature, building, trees, overall environment. Anything that can be instructive. We learn nothing at my school about budget, for any platform, nor in general. I would loved to learn about it by professional of polycount.
  • Sweetangel0467
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    Sweetangel0467 polycounter lvl 10
    We didn't really learn polybudgets in my school either.. but you just have to figure it out really :D look up other people's works and such, rip some meshes from older games and dissect them. :) there is already a thread on the newest console rendering level of budgets..
    Every item is so diverse on budget, it's REALLY hard to say there is a specific guideline to these things. The most important thing you have to keep in mind is size in game, size on screen and silhouette readability.
  • Alexastor
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    Alexastor polycounter lvl 4
    Snader wrote: »
    IMO, if you're going for aesthetics you can have a bit of leeway posting here, but if you're intent on following the technical limitations you should also follow the technical limit of 1000 tris.
    A mesh of a huge castle that is 2000 tris is probably still a lot more "lowpoly" (as it will fill a much larger part of the screen) than one of the the numerous sword and dagger meshes with around 500-1000 tris that appear on this thread frequently.

    The limitation to sub 1000 triangle models should be a general direction, not a rule that has to be abided in all circumstances.
  • ceriux
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    ceriux polycounter lvl 10
    iansudol wrote: »
    400 tri characters using 64x64 diffuse.
    crits or thoughts?


    hey i think those look awesome! great work. the light line on the back of links head is a bit weird. but otherwise real cool.
  • Yelle
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    Yelle triangle
  • L4TF2
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    L4TF2 polycounter lvl 2
    Tried to make a character model in the style from the late 2000s Nintendo 64. Think I did pretty good.

    characer_model_by_l4_tf2-d8hbv43.png
  • Uberren
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    Uberren polycounter lvl 11
    A bird I made for my electrical pole scene
    300 tris
    Xs9TxA5.png
    y0G3uNb.png
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