Weapons Poly Count

[Instinct]

I'm wondering how many polygons should a weapon such as a rifle or shotgun have for a current gen PC game? I'm throwing together some as general props and was wondering if anyone had some ideas.

[rburke]

really depends on the gun i guess some will not require much others will. Like SPAZ is going to need more than a regular mossberg pump and a hunting shotgun would use even less.
But for a first person view model i would say anywhere from 5-10k polys and for the third person view model like the one the enemy holds or the ones you find on the ground would be much lower like 2500 and with lower res textures.

[Instinct]

Thanks for the info. I put these together in about 2 hours the other night and that's when I realized I needed to figure out my limit. I've included (as you can tell) some of the reference sources as well.

On the middle one I am adding the sidesaddle to the stock as well so that's why the shells are on it.

[indavisual]

Those are looking pretty nice.

[rburke]

those are really nice base models to start with, prob just about right for the 3rd person versions of the guns, i would say definitely make high poly versions of each one meaning the first person view models then also do a super high poly that you can grab normal maps off of etc.

[Instinct]

Great, that's what I was thinking of doing so it's nice to know I am on the right track with it.

[Instinct]

I finally got back to doing some work on the shotguns and finished the standard 870. Changed the clamp on it so that it has a standard barrel clamp instead of the tactical one.

This is, of course, the ultra high poly one with 46,682 tris on it

[rblumenschein]

Ok to be frank the poly count in UT3 for a first person shooter is no more than 4000 polys... I would say check your cylinder make sure that the sides are 10 sided or 8 sided. You can add alot of the detail in a normal map. This is actually what happens most so that the polys can be used for other assets.
The weapon in first person shooters are what people sees the most of but the details lies in the normal map and fx. Get rid of any geo that you aren't going to see ie: the inside of the riffle barrel. No need to waste your poly count on that.
Oh and for a 3rd person shooter the poly count is cut in half.

[Instinct]

Good to know, thanks.

The ultra high poly one is only for generating the normal maps so that is why I'm not concerned about how high the count it.

[Instinct]

The next ultra high one for making normal maps:

The Mesa Tactical Stock

[rburke]

looking good, are you just going to do these shotguns, I have a SKS with a tactical stock, not to mention a bunch of other stuff, if you would be interested in modeling that I got a ton of pictures of it. Also have a m44 mosin nagant, tarus 357 (pretty damn nice) and ruger 10/22 with tactical stock and few other things. So if your interested let me know, i always have trouble finding good pictures of guns to model from.

[Instinct]

Actually I would be interested. I am pretty much a gun nut myself so that would be great.

mark@media-wheel.com

[rburke]

here ya go, i cant find half the pictures, but these ones are good too.
had to host externally too so i could keep the images big.
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/866/201muy.th.jpg (http://img218.imageshack.us/my.php?image=201muy.jpg)http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/5796/202d.th.jpg (http://img44.imageshack.us/my.php?image=202d.jpg)http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/2559/171n.th.jpg (http://img188.imageshack.us/my.php?image=171n.jpg)
http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/3300/176f.th.jpg (http://img188.imageshack.us/my.php?image=176f.jpg)http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/8666/175wsc.th.jpg (http://img140.imageshack.us/my.php?image=175wsc.jpg)http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/598/174p.th.jpg (http://img194.imageshack.us/my.php?image=174p.jpg)http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/3851/173j.th.jpg (http://img41.imageshack.us/my.php?image=173j.jpg)http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/2616/172fxv.th.jpg (http://img192.imageshack.us/my.php?image=172fxv.jpg)

[rburke]

http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/505/177w.th.jpg (http://img192.imageshack.us/my.php?image=177w.jpg)http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/4581/179g.th.jpg (http://img195.imageshack.us/my.php?image=179g.jpg)http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/7871/180hii.th.jpg (http://img3.imageshack.us/my.php?image=180hii.jpg)http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/6488/181hcg.th.jpg (http://img151.imageshack.us/my.php?image=181hcg.jpg)http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/9761/186p.th.jpg (http://img507.imageshack.us/my.php?image=186p.jpg)http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/1052/185qab.th.jpg (http://img5.imageshack.us/my.php?image=185qab.jpg)

[rburke]

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/4568/184c.th.jpg (http://img3.imageshack.us/my.php?image=184c.jpg)http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/9390/183t.th.jpg (http://img134.imageshack.us/my.php?image=183t.jpg)http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/5224/187bro.th.jpg (http://img5.imageshack.us/my.php?image=187bro.jpg)http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/7273/188m.th.jpg (http://img194.imageshack.us/my.php?image=188m.jpg)http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/3853/189pal.th.jpg (http://img23.imageshack.us/my.php?image=189pal.jpg)http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/7931/190tzm.th.jpg (http://img20.imageshack.us/my.php?image=190tzm.jpg)http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/8484/191t.th.jpg (http://img218.imageshack.us/my.php?image=191t.jpg)http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/3983/196j.th.jpg (http://img5.imageshack.us/my.php?image=196j.jpg)

[rburke]

http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/4039/195k.th.jpg (http://img200.imageshack.us/my.php?image=195k.jpg)http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/4122/194j.th.jpg (http://img190.imageshack.us/my.php?image=194j.jpg)http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/207/193f.th.jpg (http://img197.imageshack.us/my.php?image=193f.jpg)http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/1706/192j.th.jpg (http://img134.imageshack.us/my.php?image=192j.jpg)http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/6227/197n.th.jpg (http://img194.imageshack.us/my.php?image=197n.jpg)http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/8618/198k.th.jpg (http://img218.imageshack.us/my.php?image=198k.jpg)http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/8590/200g.th.jpg (http://img218.imageshack.us/my.php?image=200g.jpg)

[rburke]

http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/8667/199e.th.jpg (http://img200.imageshack.us/my.php?image=199e.jpg)http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/2483/178gpw.th.jpg (http://img151.imageshack.us/my.php?image=178gpw.jpg)

[rblumenschein]

Good to know, thanks.

The ultra high poly one is only for generating the normal maps so that is why I'm not concerned about how high the count it.

That is cool. I am kinda an old fashioned girl and use my difuse map to help me make a normal map. I have always been better at creating textures than actually modeling high modeling is great practice though and I think that it makes the normals more realistic. So I have been working on that myself. Kudos to you for going there.

[Instinct]

That is cool. I am kinda an old fashioned girl and use my difuse map to help me make a normal map. I have always been better at creating textures than actually modeling high modeling is great practice though and I think that it makes the normals more realistic. So I have been working on that myself. Kudos to you for going there.

See, I'm the opposite. I suck at texturing (which is why I'm taking Dabu's class this summer) so I've been working with normal maps to help with that weak point.

That, and I'm a detail freak.

[Instinct]

Rburke: Thanks for all the images, I appreciate it.

[rburke]

oh no problem at all, i hope you find them useful. Now i want to go shooting.

[Amad]

I have a quick question on your process for generating super high poly to grab normal maps from...

Are you essentially just solidifying your edge loops with increased loops to define hard/softer corners, then smoothing the objects repeatedly? I'm starting my own assault rifle this week, and this will be my first try and generating something super high-res to negotiate normal maps from.

[rburke]

yeah thats what it looks like hes doing. When i make high poly stuff i do a few things. I either work in sub d proxy mode or just go back and forth checking smoothing. I go in and add edge loops to the edges i want to remain hard. Also when i want a form to remain closer to its low res shape i will try to add an even amount of edge loops over the model. Basically though i just pile them up where i want the edges to remain and remove them where i want them to blend more. You can also use bevels but manually adding the loops tends to work better. They dont always have to be loops either because you high poly can be shit in terms of tessellation. you can add just one edge or have 5 sided stuff as long as when your looking at the high res it looks ok. There are some great examples of doing hard surface stuff on the AI forum section under hard surface and organics Shon gives some good examples of how he models the camera.

[Instinct]

rburke nailed it, that is exactly what I do. I find it easier to use the approximation editor to get everything firmed up and then use smoothing once it all looks right.

After that I just generate the normal map and off I go