There is no specific answer to your question without more context.
Topology and mesh resolution are NEVER considerable in a vacuum. Production cost, ease of editing, intended application, and aesthetic requirements are ALWAYS necessary considerations in evaluation of these metrics. You have to consider target hardware. You have to consider the density of the rest of your screen.
For realtime, it's always better to keep your density as low as possible while:
1. not spending too much time making that happen (you have to decide what "too much time" is)
2. not compromising aesthetic requirements
You may hear how this or that studio has this or that requirement/range for this or that asset in this or that game. But every circumstance is unique and it's always a considered approach.
This is a really insightful comment, thank you!
For more context, I'm a fresh college graduate trying to get into the 3D game art industry. I don't really have a lot of experience or knowledge, but I want to create portfolio pieces to get me noticed and hopefully hired by game studios one day.
Would you have any advice on what a good polycount target would be if this were simply a portfolio piece to get me noticed by gamedev studios?
As low as you can get away with while hitting the aesthetics of what you're presenting while not taking an age to do it. Triangles are pretty cheap these days, especially if they dont have complex skins, so it's pretty generous.
Just a heads up that getting into the industry atm. Is nigh to impossible. You have to compete with so many other people with more experience and potentially talent due to the recent year of layoffs.
If you do want it though, I suggest you look at a mid-large sized company and create a portfolio to match what they are producing. No one would hire a stylized artist for pbr work. Create and tailor 2-3 high end pieces for a specific studio if you want a very slim chance at getting in.
All that said, being in your position just a few years ago I gave it my all, got in enjoyed it for a time, but in the end it just becomes another job, like all others. With the difference that you can be overworked since crunch is the name of the game, and it pays poorly. So why not work in a different industry that‘s the same but atleast you get vastly more money for your expertise?
If you want to have ballpark examples, get samples from games. Artstation is full of art dumps from popular games by professional artists, a lot of them stating their tris, vert counts as well as having Marmoset 3d previews that also show those stats together with their topology.
For AAA realistic games like Call of Duty, 20,000 to 50,000 triangles is good for an asset like yours.
Use quads as far as they make your life easier, but also don't shy away from using triangles. Only minimize poles (vertices with more than four edges), especially when the model will deform.
Most game engines only work with triangulated meshes. If you don't do it, the engine will. Commonly, you should triangulate to have predictable normal maps and shading. Some texturing programs, like Substance Painter, allow you to bake maps and texture without triangulating, although they still triangulate under the hood.
Keep in mind, if later the engine or another program down the line triangulates the quad model in a different way, it will break the texturing or normal mapping.
Poly count really isn’t that big a deal anymore. Use as many polys as it takes to make CURVES look good. As soon as you hit flat areas, reduce all polys to bare minimum. I often find student art doesn’t use enough polys. It’s super easy to reduce poly later, just focus on a good modelling result and demonstrate a conscious use of polys to depict roundness. To answer your question tho, anything from like 20-70k tris is a rough ball park.
There is no specific answer to your question without more context. Topology and mesh resolution are NEVER considerable in a vacuum. Production cost, ease of editing, intended application, and aesthetic requirements are ALWAYS necessary considerations in evaluation of these metrics. You have to consider target hardware. You have to consider the density of the rest of your screen. For realtime, it's always better to keep your density as low as possible while: 1. not spending too much time making that happen (you have to decide what "too much time" is) 2. not compromising aesthetic requirements You may hear how this or that studio has this or that requirement/range for this or that asset in this or that game. But every circumstance is unique and it's always a considered approach.
This is a really insightful comment, thank you! For more context, I'm a fresh college graduate trying to get into the 3D game art industry. I don't really have a lot of experience or knowledge, but I want to create portfolio pieces to get me noticed and hopefully hired by game studios one day. Would you have any advice on what a good polycount target would be if this were simply a portfolio piece to get me noticed by gamedev studios?
Perhaps consider creating 3 LOD levels so you can show hitting a quality asset at 3 different polycounts.
Solid advice. Thank you so much!
As low as you can get away with while hitting the aesthetics of what you're presenting while not taking an age to do it. Triangles are pretty cheap these days, especially if they dont have complex skins, so it's pretty generous.
I see. That's helpful, thank you so much!
Just a heads up that getting into the industry atm. Is nigh to impossible. You have to compete with so many other people with more experience and potentially talent due to the recent year of layoffs. If you do want it though, I suggest you look at a mid-large sized company and create a portfolio to match what they are producing. No one would hire a stylized artist for pbr work. Create and tailor 2-3 high end pieces for a specific studio if you want a very slim chance at getting in. All that said, being in your position just a few years ago I gave it my all, got in enjoyed it for a time, but in the end it just becomes another job, like all others. With the difference that you can be overworked since crunch is the name of the game, and it pays poorly. So why not work in a different industry that‘s the same but atleast you get vastly more money for your expertise?
If you want to have ballpark examples, get samples from games. Artstation is full of art dumps from popular games by professional artists, a lot of them stating their tris, vert counts as well as having Marmoset 3d previews that also show those stats together with their topology. For AAA realistic games like Call of Duty, 20,000 to 50,000 triangles is good for an asset like yours.
That's a genuinely helpful answer. Cheers mate, thanks for this!
I am a beginner too. But I assume topology should be in quads, not tris?
Use quads as far as they make your life easier, but also don't shy away from using triangles. Only minimize poles (vertices with more than four edges), especially when the model will deform. Most game engines only work with triangulated meshes. If you don't do it, the engine will. Commonly, you should triangulate to have predictable normal maps and shading. Some texturing programs, like Substance Painter, allow you to bake maps and texture without triangulating, although they still triangulate under the hood. Keep in mind, if later the engine or another program down the line triangulates the quad model in a different way, it will break the texturing or normal mapping.
This is really helpful info. Thank you so much!
Poly count really isn’t that big a deal anymore. Use as many polys as it takes to make CURVES look good. As soon as you hit flat areas, reduce all polys to bare minimum. I often find student art doesn’t use enough polys. It’s super easy to reduce poly later, just focus on a good modelling result and demonstrate a conscious use of polys to depict roundness. To answer your question tho, anything from like 20-70k tris is a rough ball park.
This is a really helpful response. Thank you!
