I have downloaded various free 3d models from around the web, some are nice but they have too high a polygon count. Could someone please describe or point me towards the methods of polygon reduction? A link to a tutorial/automated tool would be greatly appreciated as well. BTW, I use wings3d, zmodeler, anim8tor... anything free. Thanks in advance for any help.

http://www.geocities.com/elimar48/tutorials/redcuce/tutorial.html
This tutorial is for anim8or

Thanks for the link eedok, do you have anymore? Maybe some that aren't necessarily for wings3d or anim8tor... but could be generalized to any modeller supporting a certain feature.

There's one that might do in my Tutorials and Download thread...under Low-Poly Modeling...called Optimizing Models.

It's for 3DSMax, but it seems like basic stuff that could likely be applied to other programs.