[WIP] "Lochinvar" Clyde puffer

[kapuhy]

Originally Posted by gap

Talking about small details, I have a small problem that maybe you or kapuhy can help me with.
From the plan I have used as template, and from several pictures I have seen, it seems that puffers had most of their rudder chain running in the open all the way from boat's wheel to the stern. As you can see from the screenshot below, the chain was not running straight but it formed several angles.
I have tried modelling it as an almost flat geometry with a transparent, seamless chain texture. This is a trick I used for keeping acceptably low the poly count of other models, but in this case it didn't work. Due to the prominent position of that chain on to its changes of orientation, having it as a 2D texture looks really odd.

For the moment I have opted for a 3D chain. I simplified each chain link as much as possible; it is composed of just 18 vertices and 36 triangles, but there are many of those links, and in total the chain accounts for 2,232 vertices and 4,464 faces. A bit too much for a small detail like that.

Do you guys have any better idea on how I could make that chain to look nice and natural while keeping its poly count under decent limits? Yes, I know, I could scrap it all, and very few naval fans would notice its absence, but being stubborn realism fanatic that I am, I can resolve to adopt such a drastic solution

Lowest possible polycount for 3D chain I came up with was this (12 vertices/24 triangles per link):



Other than that, only thing I could think of is leave hanging part of chain as 3D and make the part that is running in the narrow "trench" 2d.

EDIT: Or, make links a bit larger than they should be - not totally realistic but hardly noticeable and it will allow you to cover the distance with fewer links. Also, make sure parts of chain that are not visible (mainly concerning the "trench" part) are removed.

In general, when I was modeling my ships I still didn't know if I will be able to import them as .gr2, so I set the polycount of Taihosan (nice looking .dat ship of circa 15k polys) as "alarm limit" - if any of my ships was reaching that, I'd start to cut details without mercy. Now with gr2 you have LOD model for larger distances so you can afford some more details. According to vdr1981, PB4Y plane model (160k triangles, aka two Queen Mary's) doesn't cause significant lag so the engine apparently can take it.