Simviation Forums

Not sure if this is the right forum, but damn the torpedoes.

Is there a way to determine the number of polygons in an AC?

What is a reasonable number of polygons that will not impact FPS?

How does one add polygons to an AC?

Edit: Doing some research, I found that the AC (AI King Air C90B made flyable) has approximately 2700 polygons.

Not sure of how many will affect your sim, but it's going to be based on your computer, not the sim itself.  The better the computer, the better a high poly plane will render.

To create poly's, which program are you working in?  Is it Max or FSDS?  I don't know about FSDS, but in Max, you select the object, go to polygon mode, right click to bring the quad-menu up, then select 'Create Polygons.'  After that, you just start clicking on the vertices to trace out the poly you want in a circular motion and it will appear once you click on the first vertex you selected for the second time.

Clear as mud? 

Crystal clear!

I agree with "The better the computer, the better a high poly plane will render." I know the King Air B300 is chock full of polygons as it drags along while in flight on my PC.

I'm not using any program at the moment. I was curious of how polygons are dealt with in terms of making an AC (AI and regular AC).

Thanks for the response

I was curious of how polygons are dealt with in terms of making an AC (AI and regular AC).

Every shape you see in the sim is made up of polygons, which are flat 2D shapes. The more polys used to make a given shape, the harder a computer has to work to display it.

So how do we take a bunch of flat 2D shapes and create 3D objects?

A good analogy would be to think of a round cross-section fuselage as being made with a bunch of Popsicle sticks glued together along the edges.

If the sticks are very narrow the fuselage will look round (user aircraft). However, if you make each individual stick wider you can use a lot less for the same diameter (AI). This will be noticeable when viewed up close, but make it easier for the computer to display them.

This is all done at the modeling stage, as end user we really have no control over it. Except in the decision of what addons we want to use.

Hope this helps,
Joe

In the theme of a picture says a thousand words, this is what the FS9 Aerosoft Beaver looks like to the computer.

Compare how many polys it takes to make the round engine cowl to how few it takes to make the flat sides of the fuselage.

regards,
Joe

If you are working on an AI or FS9 model then low-poly is important. If you are modeling an FSX plane then poly count is not the problem it used to be. Many FSX models coming out now are way over 100k on the poly count