This is wrapping up the model on the whole, getting the poly count to what I want it to be and to make this thing as high quality as possible within the confines of it's requirements.
Now, we'll start from the start. Back to the head. :)
Basically it's a case of playing around with the vertices to cut them down. By using Target Weld I weld the vertices one by one in order to take them down. The head is a place I want a lot of the detail so as to use it for various purposes. Machinema for example, and of course cool taunts, and the Impersonator tool (if I go that far). So I didn't take too many away from here.
I ended up with 3974 Polys (after taking out the original reference planes)
I also moved the lower neck area to be overlapped more by the torso piece.
Next is the original arm. I could take a bit from here as the forearm disn't really need the middle set of polys, and the main detail is the bicep bulge, which isn't needed at the rear of the arm. So I cut out those polys.
The hand I couldn't do much with except move around a little to suit the reference pose that little bit more. The Reference pose is the pose that you use when applying the biped. Basically it is the position that gives you the best access to the model.
After that was done, we are left with 3936.
Looking at the outer cloak and chest area I couldn't really get rid of any there either. So onto the legs. First I hide the main element so that I can see them easily. There is a Hide button in the element modify panel.
So onto the pants. Here I could cut a lot of the polys down the middle as the coat covers much of that area and it won't really be seen that easily. So I either grabbed the vertices, scaled them along the one axis to make it flat then welded them, or used Target Weld to join the vertices I could.
I also moved the top of the legs to suit the join at the coat too as otherwise there is a chance of the user seeing inside the empty area...and that's bad. I also tweaked the proportions a little as it was looking a little wrong. It was simply a matter of selecting the legs and scaling them up, and then tweaking the vertices as I needed.
The Polycount after that was 3856. And that's the main model done
To the Torso we go!
I could cut quite a few around here. The inner grooves in the back area didn't need to have the edges down the middle. There were a lot of polys on the front and top area that I could get rid of as the lines were very close to straight anyway...so I could get rid of them without losing anything. I could also get rid of some of the polys on the inside, the ones you only see the very edge of as it overlaps the rest of the body. The internal area doesn't have to be neat as you never see it.
I also overlapped the two exhaust pipes going into the backpack to save a few polys there.
3798 Polys and counting...
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The arm I was trying to get as low poly as I could as I was going along due to it's detail...although I managed to weld a big, whopping TWO together. So my finished model comes to a total of...
3794 Polys!!!!
Now that's reasonable in my mind. Especially due to the nature of the things I want to do with it and also where I see computers as being nowadays (and I'm always a sucker for quality over quantity). So there you have it. Weaver in all his unmapped, untextured, unrigged, unanimated, unimported glory :) This image links to large images of the character for you to look over and study at your convenience.
And here is an .avi in DivX format so you can look around him as an object. Just click on the image around.
