Hey there, I was just wondering, how many models of the main characters should there be? I mean this as: Should there be a low poly model for game play, medium poly model for ingame cutscenes, then a high poly model one for prerendered cutscenes. OR Should I have a low poly model for gameplay, then just have a high poly model and only have prerendered cutscenes? Im just curious as to how other people go about it, and what they think is the best option? Also for the low poly model, would I need to model the mouth and eye features and animate them, or just use textures? Cheers, James

What kind of computer do you expect people to be playing your game on? A modern computer can handle a medium or medium-high poly main character for gameplay. Personally I find it preferable to use the same model for both play and plot because it doesn't break immersion the way changing models might. But a high-budget game or a 3D animator who is a truly talented artist can get better effects from prerendered cutscenes.

Quote: Original post by spiderninja
Im just curious as to how other people go about it, and what they think is the best option?

A lot of artists these days model UBER high poly models first in programs like Mudbox or ZBrush which are sculpting programs that work in millions of polygons. After that, they use retopology tools, or other techniques to create a lower polygon model. Then they bake a normal map texture to retain most of the detail.

In that case, you get the super high polygon model for free anyways.

Then depending on the complexity of your scenes, and on screen character count, you may have a series of progressively lower polygon models for an LOD system.