Polygon count problem

[Artificial Gloom]

Hello,

 

I have just created a stool in 3ds Max 2013, and exported it using the built-in Autodesk Collada exporter.

 

This is my first mesh creation and for a basic item the polygon count is huge, weighing in at 15,088 triangles.  However, in the Second Life upload window the count initiallly exceeded 52,000, which had me completely confused.  After reading a few posts relating to known issues I realised that having multiple materials in my scene was causing the count to balloon.  I assigned just one material to all and tried to upload again.  This improved matters, but the polygon count is still huge - exactly double the number of polygons in the scene, telling me there are 30,176 triangles.

 

I have tried the OpenCOLLADA exporter but I believe 3ds Max 2013 is not yet supported.  Although the polygon count in the upload window is correct (15,088), my UV maps don't save correctly, so the mesh cannot be textured.

 

I'm not sure whether the information above provides the detail required to identify what my issue is, I just thought I'd ask the question and hope that help is out there.

 

Thank you for reading,

 

Artificial.

[Kwakkelde Kwak]

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Artificial Gloom wrote:

but the polygon count is still huge - exactly double the number of polygons in the scene

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In 3ds max you probably have a polygon count. A polygon (as the name says) can have multiple sides, anything from 3 up to infinite. I bet you have built the stool in quads. Every quad is two triangles, so that explains the double count.

You can have 3ds max count in triangles as well. Click the little + in the upper left corner of your viewport, select "configure viewports" then open the statistics tab. Uncheck "polygon count" and check "triangle count". I always check "total + selection" instead of just "total".

EDIT... Missed the second part of your post. Don't use the open Collada exporter. It does exactly what you experience, which is messing up the UV layout. The native exporter you used is the one that works. No idea why the opencollada gives you a different number for triangles, could you post a picture of your viewport with the stats?

[Artificial Gloom]

Thank you for your reply.  

I checked this and it is definitely counting the triangles.  As said before, in the OpenCOLLADA exporter, the number of triangles is correct, but the UV maps won't save.

[Kwakkelde Kwak]

I've never had any problems like that, not the problem with multiple materials as well. What version of the exporter are you using? I use 2013.2, version .0 and .1 have some serious issues with SL, or the other way around.

[Artificial Gloom]

I was using 2, but I just noticed that a v3 has just been released.  I'm going to download it now and give it a try.  I will let you know... fingers crossed.

 

It will be something simple that I am, or am not doing.

[Artificial Gloom]

I updated the exporter to 2013.3 and still the same issue.  I guess it's back to the drawing board.  I will figure this out.... somehow.

 

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

[Kwakkelde Kwak]

What happens if you import the dae file back into 3ds max? If it imports as 30k, the problem is probably in max. If it imports as 15k, the problem might just be SL.

btw, why is the polycount so high in the first place? you should be able to make such a stool for a couple of 100 triangles. Remember SL is a realtime environment, not a static scene.

I'll be the first to admit your stool looks better, but can you justify the 15k? It's pretty close.

[Artificial Gloom]

I imported it back and it's still 15k.

 

I'm just learning, I have no previous experience with this and the reason it's so many polygons is that I may have used a smooth modifier far too many times, instead of getting the same results through efficient modeling.  This object was just a first 'project' to get me familiar with 3ds Max.

[Kwakkelde Kwak]

As I said, the stool looks good Don't worry about that for now if you're just learning things.

 

The problem doesn't seem to be in 3ds max then, unless it doesn't interpret the file like SL does. I'm out of ideas I'm afraid, not that I had that many.... Did you try a different viewer to see if it behaves better?

It's hard to tell what it could be without having a look at the 3ds max model or at the dae file.

Anyway, good luck, I'm sure it's something simple both you and I are overlooking.

[Leviathan Flux]

I have seen this happen using Maya, particularly when using multiple materials and was fixed by exporting as FBX and then using an FBX converter to convert to DAE to upload.  Hope that helps.

[Artificial Gloom]

Worked a charm.  Thank you very much for your help!!