When creating a 3D model for use in a real-time renderer you should consider the number of polygons used in the scene. Each triangle that exists in the scene adds to the filesize and requires processing by the renderer. Thus if you optimise the polygon count of your model, this will increase the speed of the renderer and lower the filesize. Scenes of up to 15,000 polygons are generally acceptable in Blaze 3D. You will notice that more complex scenes, for example those originating from a CAD package, will be slower.
Both bump maps and alpha lighting allow you to save polygons. Using these methods mean you do not need to model small features or separate parts of the model for lighting.
If you use Boolean operations while modelling, be sure to clean the mesh up afterwards. These operations have a tendency of leaving many unnecessary vertices which will produce extra polygons when the model is triangulated. |
