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I was wonder is there a way to knock down poly counts? (If you have a high poly model)

I'm mainly talking about MilkShape, but I also do have 3D Canvas Pro, Blender, TrueSpace 7.6 and Wings 3D.



On that note, which do you recommend for a true beginner in modeling?

I've tried them all, I find MilkShape's interface fairly clear cut and easy to understand .... but I wish it had a sculpting tool, or at least a editable 3D perspective. (Because I'm having a heck of a time manipulating faces and verts and they never end up looking even remotely like I want LOL)

I've tried the ZBrush trial version, I think its fairly easy, but can anyone tell me why the models created in ZBrush cant be used in a game? I know they have high poly counts, but if you initially create a model in ZBrush, knock down the polys (if thats possible) and import it into MilkShape and do everything else in there, then wouldnt that work?

Because I always thought a poly is a poly and that there is no difference, or is that incorrect?

3DCanvas has a tool called REDUCE OBJECT FACES AND POINTS which does just what you need. Just load it into 3DCanvas, reduce the polys using this tool and export it, then load it into milkshape.

As far as what modeling program to use, I only own 3DCanvas and that is the only program I use to model and it has not failed me yet, so I would recommend 3DCanvas, but, I haven't used other programs so I cannot compare it to others. Perhaps you should just stick to whats easier for you.

I would strongly dis advise using any Reduce Poly tools. Not only does it make the model sloppy, but you can manually reduce it with better quality and less polys.

Yeah I finally got 3D Canvas working on my computer. And I like the features it has and it pretty straight forward for beginners.

I have a question though .... how many polys is good for a game model?

I've seen many posts that mention game models that range from a 1000 polys to 6000.

Sorry for the late bump.

@ Quantum Fusion

The poly count of a model really depends on how you use it. A player model with 10,000 poly is useable, but actually 3000 or less is best. You have to keep in mind that when you put a terrain or buildings on the screen with a high poly count added to the static objects (plants, props, sky, etc), then NPCs and enemies, etc. The higher the poly count of all these things will really start to slow down the frames per second, even when using some kind of culling.

As far as reducing the poly count, I've never seen any program that is very good at it, including max.