Scenery Question

[Guest VideoAce]

Hi all,I'm in the process of modeling my first scenery object and would like to know if there is a set of guidelines to use in regards to the number of polys in scenery objects? My concern is that I'm might be getting a little to detailed in model.Also is there a way to determine how many ploys I have in a object within gmax?Thanks,Bill

[Guest C17Chief]

Not sure on what an acceptable number is either since I'm working on my first one too.. but I noticed when you export using the makemdl.exe program, and you check "keep files" in the options tab.. you get .asm files, which you can open with notepad, and at the top it tells you how many polys there are.Hopefully that is the right way to do it, I just noticed it today when I was messing with the ramp lighting in the .asm file.

[arno 1]

In the file menu of GMax there is also an entry called project properties or so, that will give you an overview of the amount of polygons in each part.

[Guest VideoAce]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the assistance.Bill

[LuisFelizTirado 33]

Hello Bill,The following images are from the preceding version of gMax (what can I say? too lazy to download 40 MB!), but unless things have radically changed, they should still be valid.Notice the "hammer" icon. Please click on it:http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/60074.jpgThen, select the counter:http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/60075.jpgThe counter can remain displayed as long as you want. Select an object to see the polygon count:http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/60076.jpgBest regards.Luis

[arno 1]

Nice Luis, didn't know that approach yet. GMax is too complex, you can do almost everything in more then one way :D.

[Guest VideoAce]

Awesome find Luis, thank you.Bill

[Guest C17Chief]

So that still kinda leaves me wondering though.. what is an acceptable amount of polys for say a small/medium/large airport? I want to know if I've gone way overboard with my scenery or not.

[arno 1]

It depends a bit on the shape of the objects I guess. If you have a lot of round objects the count will go up. I think for the terminal of a big airport around 20000 polygons would be acceptable (that is what I was able to achieve).For a small airport you would be thinking about a maximum of 100 or 200 polygons per building I guess. I never count the entire airport, as each object is made seperate.

[bob.bernstein 0]

Funny, I've been designing scenery for years but I never stopped to ask this question.Sure you want to think about minimuzing polys thruout, and I do...I always delete the bottom of a building, and use 10 sides instead of 18 for cylinders, and use boxes instead of cylinders when I can...stuff like that.But setting a budget...no...I just design until frames start to come down. Then I stop.Perhaps that would work better for you, than attempting to know a theoretical limit.Bob Bernstein