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3 Dimensional Chat / Ultra-Low Poly Humans

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PirateJohn
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Posted: 24th Aug 2011 04:13
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Anybody know a good resource for free ultra-low poly human models (as in fewer than 500 polys per character)? I'm trying to assemble a crowd scene and want to try to keep the entire crowd below about 50,000 polys. To do that I've been trying to find a diverse set of the lowest poly models possible and deleting pretty much their entire back half so they are about 300 polys, then not placing the camera anywhere behind the crowd line.

Alternately, does anyone know a better way of assembling a crowd? The arena I'm building will likely have room for a couple thousand spectators if I were to use a 3D model for all of them.
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Travis Gatlin
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Posted: 24th Aug 2011 04:25
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Well, that's why you use LODs, also, will this crowd ever be close up?

My Mind is very odd, it can memorize hundreds of commands, memorize 2 dictionary's worth of words, and make detailed 3D models. Yet my mind has trouble with the most simple calculations.
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PirateJohn
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Posted: 24th Aug 2011 04:26
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Well, they're only ten meters from the action, so yeah, they'll definitely be seen quite a bit anytime the camera isn't focused on the target.
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Travis Gatlin
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Posted: 24th Aug 2011 04:43
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Well ok, then yes, LODs will definitely be your answer, that or Imposters (an image of the model textured on a flat plane) If you are making it in DBP, then there's some LOD commands already there. If you want imposters, there's an addon for DBP on this site which will do this for you.

My Mind is very odd, it can memorize hundreds of commands, memorize 2 dictionary's worth of words, and make detailed 3D models. Yet my mind has trouble with the most simple calculations.
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PirateJohn
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Posted: 24th Aug 2011 04:44
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Ah, okay, I'll try those then.
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PirateJohn
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Posted: 24th Aug 2011 09:03
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Just did a little more reading. Thanks a ton for the help!

I have seen games that use the flat plane for spectators, and I've never liked the look of it. It ends up looking pretty obvious.

But I may be able to get away with polys of about 20 or so for some models if they're pretty far away, especially since I just calculated the size of my arena and it can hold 2800 people... I think I'll make a whole row of people be a single object and manipulate them that way.

So I guess in the end I'll have to make my own models...

But I did pay an homage to TGC by using their "punk" model as a spectator -- she'll be sitting front row on the right corner.
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Travis Gatlin
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Posted: 25th Aug 2011 00:29
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Haha, you don't have to make the models too low, the computer won't have to render all of them at once, only a section at a time. If your arena can hold 2800 people, i believe you could get about 50 polys maybe?

My Mind is very odd, it can memorize hundreds of commands, memorize 2 dictionary's worth of words, and make detailed 3D models. Yet my mind has trouble with the most simple calculations.
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PirateJohn
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Posted: 25th Aug 2011 01:55
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I managed to do it in 16 polys and 24 vertices.

And the seating is all lumped together, so it's conceivable that the entire crowd could be viewed at once. After all, there's no seating downrange...

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Travis Gatlin
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Posted: 25th Aug 2011 05:45
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ooh... umm, looking at that, it looks as if flat planes will do a better job at it than that, more efficient too.

My Mind is very odd, it can memorize hundreds of commands, memorize 2 dictionary's worth of words, and make detailed 3D models. Yet my mind has trouble with the most simple calculations.
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PirateJohn
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Posted: 25th Aug 2011 20:45 Edited at: 25th Aug 2011 20:49
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Actually, from a distance it looks better like this because the people keep their shape when the camera is turned. Of course, up close it wouldn't work but I don't plan to let the camera get that close to these polys.

Plus, since it's bleacher seating, you'll not see much below their chest anyway.
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chafari
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Posted: 25th Aug 2011 22:55
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You had better to use plains as travis gatlin says, or pehaps sprite.

Cheers.

I'm not a grumpy grandpa
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baconboy2
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Posted: 25th Aug 2011 23:57
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I don't know, perhaps you could come to some sort of middle ground with this.

You could have the actual models in the lower seats (nearer the arena floor), but use planes for the spectators that are higher up.
It all really depends how close the camera will get to the top rows.

I appreciate that using planes throughout is good for the frame count, but I agree with PirateJohn - it looks incredibly tacky when you see the very obvious planes that some older games use (though having said that, some newer games I played recently have used this technique, and although they did a better job, it was still clearly a plane, and still looked shabby

If you have the low poly models at the front, then gradually make them lower and lower, until you get planes at the very top.

That's my two pennies worth, anyhow

Tristan

Boomerang Studios Website -http://boomerang-studios.webs.com
Multiverse: the Free MMO Creation Platform - http://www.mulutiverse.net
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baconboy2
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Posted: 26th Aug 2011 00:02
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One thing I forgot to mention - I'm actually working on a Roman-era game at the moment, and at some point I'm going to need to create an arena environment for players to both participate in the fights, and to sit and watch them (employing a similar idea to the Arena in The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, except the only reason you'll be fighting is if the player has been put into slavery, as a result of being captured as a deserter)

The problem I will have to address, is both the crowd from the fighter's point of view, and that of the spectator. What I'll probably do is load a different crowd setup for each client according to whether they're a fighter, or a spectator - that's the beauty of MMOs!

Boomerang Studios Website -http://boomerang-studios.webs.com
Multiverse: the Free MMO Creation Platform - http://www.mulutiverse.net
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Travis Gatlin
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Posted: 26th Aug 2011 00:04
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baconboy's right, make them a bit more detailed at the bottom but put planes on towards the top. Now, next problem, actually placing them efficiently in DBP... lol

My Mind is very odd, it can memorize hundreds of commands, memorize 2 dictionary's worth of words, and make detailed 3D models. Yet my mind has trouble with the most simple calculations.
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Quik
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Posted: 26th Aug 2011 00:39
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boxes, minecraft ish would in all due honesty work better than what you had there =/

and for the record, I am a man.

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PirateJohn
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Posted: 26th Aug 2011 02:30
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Yeah, I have already realized quickly how difficult it is to get the crowd to load efficiently, but I had an idea already. Since all the rows are the same size, I am going to make the crowd .x files be an entire row complete with preloaded textures. I'll probably make about twenty or thirty total and when the computer loads the .x files, it will randomly pick one for each row. That way, they load quickly and instead of 2800 objects, I only have about 200.
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JLMoondog
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Posted: 26th Aug 2011 20:26 Edited at: 26th Aug 2011 20:26
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I suggest looking at this plugin:
http://www.thegamecreators.com/?m=view_product&id=2293

It'll do everything for you, and effectively. I had nearly 5k+ objects on screen, animated and moving at 300fps.

http://www.jlmoondog.com/
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Pincho Paxton
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Posted: 26th Aug 2011 21:14 Edited at: 26th Aug 2011 21:15
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Dark Imposters rotates 3D images in 2D so that you can walk around people. It's a clever trick.

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Travis Gatlin
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Posted: 27th Aug 2011 00:08
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Do what josh says ^_^ Dark imposters was what i was talking about earlier! It does a great job of simulating 3D objects in a 2D form. If i was using DBP to make my game, that would be a must-have for any 3D game. that i would ever make.

My Mind is very odd, it can memorize hundreds of commands, memorize 2 dictionary's worth of words, and make detailed 3D models. Yet my mind has trouble with the most simple calculations.
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