Simviation Forums

Does anyone know of the polygon limits of fs9?  I am modifying a 3ds max 5 tutorial airplane (that looks like a cessna 402).  The aircraft itself is roughly 8000 polys.  But my landing gear is roughly the same amount.  I know I'm going to have to redo the gear.  But I have no idea how many polys are too many.  Any help will e appreciated.

8000?  Pah, no worries.  :-)

My models are usually around 40-50,000 polys and my Micro turbine helicopter  at www.hovercontrol.com  is over 70,000!

Dunno how I got away with that one as it is still reasonably frame rate-friendly.

I set my personal limit (and am constantly trying to get WAY below it) at 50,000 polys with VC.

Kevin Bryan
Unreal Aviation

Thanks, I thought that it might not work.  The only game engine that i've worked with is no one lives forever.  Poly counts in that had to be very low.  

On landing gear - remember that a smoothed 8 sided tube is indistiguishable from a smooth 32-sided tube, especiually if it is inside another (as in compressing gear).

I am of the minimalist theory - enough polygons to fool the eye.

I'm slowly coming around to that.
Looking at some of my early renders was a bit of an eye opener.  Nuts with rounded heads, washers with 36 sides etc.


Kev

Sorry for my ignorance but how do I find out the amount of polygons in a file in 3ds max?

Open the Utilities panel. You will see a button called "More". Select it then look in the list for "Polygon Counter" choose it and hit Open.

FSEdge

Ok thanks, err would 464668 be breaking any boundries?

Ok thanks, err would 464668 be breaking any boundries?

*Hiccup*!  That's a helluva lot of polys.  I don't think FS will run that without a good five minutes of loading time.  Have you tried it yet?

Ok thanks, err would 464668 be breaking any boundries?

Is this the poly count for the A-10? If so, you might want to consider building another one and chalk this one up to a useful learning exercise. Shoot for a count of 50K. You can use the Polygon Counter to budget you as your work progresses.

I have been in touch today with a couple members from the user group we talked about via email. Were going to take a look at it next Wednesday night, but from the feed back I've gotten back on it isn't promising.

I hate to tell you to start over. I know how long it takes a project to come together, but sometimes it's a necessary evil.

FSEdge

Ok It sounds as though I will have to start over, or I could remover the weaponry. Apart from a glitch with the tail section it runs fine without those.

That's a rotten shame having to start over (BTDTGGTS) but try removing surplus bits first.  Also, if it will compile then it will probably run OK....  I have also found using 'Optimize' quite useful too.


Kev

After a little bit of work I have been able to dispose of 300000 polygons with hardly any loss of quality. I am currently at about 100000 and can keep going I think, although it does run fine in fs.

That sounds hopeful.  :-)


Kev