[Nico]

well, a thing I've learned the hard way, and is probably rule number one when making a mesh: optimize!
and optimize again, and again, and that's not enough, so optimize again!
never wondered why all those profesional meshes, when seen as wireframes, looked so clean, with polys as almost perfect quads?
it's not to make a pretty wireframe
most of the time I spend on my meshes is to clean them, remove useless polys, weld vertices, turn edges, weld other vertices, etc etc. it's long, it's boring, but it HAS to be done if you plan to do anything more than a stupid still render of your mesh alone, on a grey bakground. Well, the other option is to make both you and your computer bear useless slowdowns, memory  access, etc etc.

[Stryke 9]

Mmm hmm. Have you SEEN generic-program optimization?

It actually does look pretty cool. RDS gets these freaky hexagonal polys everywhere, makes the meshes look like big honeycombs. But you'd best forget about any kind of fidelity for most meshes, unless you've got a LOT of luck or are doing it manually.

Like I said. MAX.

[beatspete]

Christ almighty! I'm scared of that thing. That really is awesome Styxx...    
My computer would be mince if i tried anything half as detailed... my brain and general health wouldnt be doing to good either.

[J.F.K.]

Holy toledo, that thing's got a lot of detail.

[Nico]

Originally posted by Stryke 9
doing it manually.

here's your answer

[Stryke 9]

Pleh. Well, fine for you if you want to manually pick out a hundred specific vertices and delete them, no mistakes, in under a week. I've got another idea of a good time.

[HeX]

Personally I just use a standard shape with minimal faces and add faces as I need them by dividing up existing ones. Start with a cube, divide it up as you go, the end result is a render with exactly as many faces as is minimally needed for the end result.

It's really easy now that I've learned the ways of Convert To Editable Poly and Slice Field.

[Stryke 9]

I do that to a certain degree too, but there are complex shapes like handgrips where you just can't resist saving a decade or two and using booleans, and then you just get all sorts of trouble. Never mind that one cube ain't gonna do much for heavy greebling.

[HeX]

Heavy greebling no that's true. But it does work for keeping poly counts down on the basic shapes.

Handgrips...well you could make them by taking a basic shape and moving vertex's around until it's the shape you want followed by a meshsmooth if needed. But I do see how taking a shortcut can be tempting.

[HeX]

As a note though I don't do much HEAVY greeble work. I may start on one high-detail project tho since Styxx has taught me some stuff.

[J.F.K.]

You guys seem really experienced at all this, do you do it professionally?

[Stryke 9]

Well, there's the rub, then. I don't think I've done a model under 100k since this summer, and most of them are, while not generally as good, closer to Styxx's model here than the average mesh, in functionality (doors, etc. I remember a frigate with a poseable crane built in a while back) as well as polycount.

[HeX]

Originally posted by J.F.K.
You guys seem really experienced at all this, do you do it professionally?

Me no. I do this as a hobby. I put together a model whenever I feel like it and am "inspired".

This for example I did in a few hours just because I wanted a new background for my computer:

http://dimensionalwisp.com/heximage/WIP/IPCV09.jpg

The ship is the Sun Tzu launching drop pods. There are more pics in that directory but mostly just WIP shots (the earlier ones being without the details added later).

[Stryke 9]

Professionally? Not unless you wanna give me some money.

[J.F.K.]

Well, I mean, prety much all of this conversation is flying over my head (what's greebling?). And that ship up there looks pretty damn good to me... even if it's not textured.

[HeX]

Originally posted by J.F.K.
Well, I mean, prety much all of this conversation is flying over my head (what's greebling?). And that ship up there looks pretty damn good to me... even if it's not textured.

Greebles....ah...best way to explain this...ever see a Star Destroyer in Star Wars? Along the side where you have all those protrusions and pieces sticking out seemingly randomly for detail? Greebles.

Which ship by the way? Mine's textured tho it's a placeholder, Styxx's....well it's hard to say...maybe that's the look he wants.

[Nico]

Originally posted by Stryke 9
I do that to a certain degree too, but there are complex shapes like handgrips where you just can't resist saving a decade or two and using booleans, and then you just get all sorts of trouble. Never mind that one cube ain't gonna do much for heavy greebling.

handgrips? well, unless I'm misunderstanding what it means, why do you need that to connect to anything? intersection is A1 SUPAR, as they say.

[J.F.K.]

Originally posted by HeX
Greebles....ah...best way to explain this...ever see a Star Destroyer in Star Wars? Along the side where you have all those protrusions and pieces sticking out seemingly randomly for detail? Greebles.

Which ship by the way? Mine's textured tho it's a placeholder, Styxx's....well it's hard to say...maybe that's the look he wants.

So it's like, all that hull detailing stuff? I think I get it. Funny name.

I meant Styxx's ship, but yours is good too... especially for one you made just because you wanted a new background.

[Stryke 9]

Venom:

[Nico]

yeah. well why would you boolean that to the body of the gun? that's useless polys for nothing. just place it right.
if you REALLY want it in one part, then before the boolean, shapemerge a quad around the area where the handgrip will connect.
1) boolean is much less likely to mess up
2) that makes a much smaller part of the mesh to deal with the boolean
2) since the area affected by the boolean is much smaller, it's much more easy to clean it up.

that's something I always do ( save when I boolean a box, obviously ), and it works great.