Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Take a look at the cylinders in
Figure 5.3
. Do you see a difference? The one on the right
has a very slight bump in it. This is a
shallow angle
, and it adds so insignificantly to the
shape of the geometry that no one would miss it if it were gone.
FIGURE 5.3
Two cylinders
We now know what to look for—unnecessary polygons and shallow angles—so let's move
on and begin optimizing our character model.
Finding the Polygon Count
Beforewebeginoptimizing,let'sfirstlookathowmanypolygonsourmodelcurrentlyhas.
Load in the last file you saved, Kila_Complete.mb. You first need to convert the geometry
to triangles in order to get an accurate reading.
1.
Select everything by dragging over the entire character in the view panel; then go
to Polygons > Triangulate. The model will now be built from triangular polygons
only.
2.
To show the polygon count, go to Display > Heads Up Display > Poly Count. The
polygon statistics (
Figure 5.4
) will be displayed in the upper-left corner of your
view, although depending on your resolution setting these could even take up more
space.
