Good question, that doesn’t really have an answer. <!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="
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I think everyone will have their own ideas on this one, there isn’t any real dividing line.
A complete figure for example at around 700/900 polys, I would call a very low poly model.
The figures you find in some of the more recent sim/games are around 2000 polys each. Some time ago this would have been classed as a high poly figure but not any more.
As system specs and graphics cards progress so we are able to produce models of higher and higher poly counts that can still be used in demo’s, games etc.
Depending on what you need the model for, I find, controls the poly count.
If you were writing a game /demo with lots of action, say a Quake type game, you would try to keep the poly count as low as possible for all models. If you didn’t you would get a very poor frame rate and jerky animations.
However if you are entering Richards competition
this year, the only real restriction on the poly count is what your system will take.
I find it is important to decide what you are going to use the model for at the outset. In my Port Daniel scene for example, I knew the final poly count would be quite high, so, from the start I kept the poly count as low as I could for each model/item.
It ended up at 78,000 polys but it is still a low poly scene!! <!– s:D –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_biggrin.gif" alt="
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It would have been a disaster if I had not taken this precaution from the outset, and ended up with a scene of say 300,000 polys that I couldn’t use. I would have had to start all over again.
Hope some of this makes sense. Could be an interesting thread you’ve started.
Bazza