Poly Counts

[Mystified Explorer]

I am currently trying to make an environment I modelled for a class project compatable for Uru. Unfortunately, as it was just modelling, we were required to model alot of detail (which could otherwise be simulated through texturing). As a result, the environment has a high poly count. So I was just wondering if there's any particular number range I should be aiming for when it comes to overall age poly counts in Uru? I want to find a good balance between performance and detail if possible. My current overall environment poly count is about 90,000 faces, thought this can come down more since there's still some extra stuff I'm gonna remove. However I am hoping to expand on the environment I have to make it larger. Can anyone give some useful pointers for handling overall poly counts in Uru to maximise performance while not having to do away with too much detail?

Thanks!

[Aloys]

There's no simple answer to this unfortunately, it'll all depend on how your scene is setup, if you'll see all your polygons at the same time or if you environment is made up of several distinct areas etc..
But to give you a more precise number Relto has much more than 100,000 polygons, and you can see them all at once without problems. So with the polycount of 90,000 that you have right now you should be fine. Then depending on how much you intend to extend your scene you may need to lower it..
Keep in mind though that with performance polycount is not everything, textures and shaders counts too. But as far as polygon goes, as long as you stay under the 150,000 mark you're safe.

[andylegate]

Just keep the following in mind too:

Keep each object below 8,000 on the poly count, or the plugin will not export your Age, it will give you an error instead.

If you think/know that your Age is going to have performance issues due to a high poly count, consider using Visregions (softvolumes) to "hide" things that normally would not be visable to the player depending on where they are.

For example, I've been expanding serene, and I have 3 major visregions now set up. When you first link in, only the first area is visable to the player, so the 2nd outside area and the inside of the Inn are NOT rendered while you are in the first area. As you go down the secluded path, you exit the fist area, it no longer is drawn, but the 2nd outside area becomes visable (but the inside of the Inn is still not drawn either}. Once you get inside the Inn, both the outside regions are no longer rendered.

This helps performace of the Age dramatically. And it's not really that hard to do either. Of course this takes some planning too, you don't want thing to suddenly pop in and out of existance where the avatar can see that happening.

For how to use Visregions to do this, take a look here:

Visregions Unlocked