number of quads on high_level LOD avatar mesh

[guY Ralior]

What would be a fair number of quads for the high_level LOD to contain? I am looking for what would not be the staunchest low number giving full leeway to the server, but more a middle number that would be fair for allowing to detail your avatar with what you want but not going overboard such that you are taxing the server at ever moment.

[Gaia Clary]

The default SL avatar contains about 7200 triangles.

I was able to make a MakeHuman Avatar with 9000 Triangles which looked much more detailed compared to the SL avatar.

And i have checked that i can reduce the MakeHuman avatar down to roughly 5400 triangles with keeping a reasonable good shape (the head, hands and feet where not reduced):

So i would say (for human models only!) anything below 10000 triangles should be ok, 7500 should be good, and below 5000 should be exellent. Bit this is my personal opinion.

BTW i know that some people can make even lower poly avatars with very good shapes. So the variance is quite high...

[guY Ralior]

I was thinking 5000 quads would be a nice middle ground top, it's real easy to go above but the need is just not there. On a human avatar (btw your feet are great ) for sure 2500-3000 will be enough its seems the ears is the only place it gets a little dense for their size but for us furry brethren the need for a few more quads in the paw areas and maybe some for the head and ears to get some detail is needed. 

And if you were wanting to do something like and aged person with wrinkles and such you should still be able to get away with the  5000 give or take a few depending on if how far you needed to see the wrinkles where close weren't covering.

I guess that leaves us with how many quads for a total outfit and hair??.........hmmm that one will be a debate I'm sure once the main grid gets mesh

[Medhue Simoni]

Just yesterday, I was rigging a low poly avatar. I'm going to use this as my model for creating mesh attachments that move with your body. 1 kind of major thing that I noticed, is that hip joints and butt area need a few more verts to have enough to bend the avatar's legs without it stretching too far and looking really bad. So, some extra care here might be something to note. Shoulders can also use an extra set of verts, well most joints that bend alot like knees and elbows too.

[Marielle Caerndow]

Just don't get confused with counting. A "quad" would mean a 4-sided polygon, thus it would be 2 Triangles. 

Just have to pay attention myself when working in 3dsMax. There are different "Polgon counts". Some count polygons (where a polygon can consist of unlimited number of triangles..) and the 'right' counters that cound the triangles.

[guY Ralior]

Wow there is a place in the program where it will tell me how many "quads" = faces (which could be N-gons too, F-2=t)  = 2 triangles?? Man and I have been hating the tedious task of always recounting after adding a few new loops I'm gonna spend some time today and find that!!! It will be a real life saver

[Marielle Caerndow]

Not sure what program you mean...SL's importer counts triangles (because they are what matters for the render engine).

If you refer to 3dsMax, you'd have to configure the viewport statistics to show the triangle-count. (It shows quads by default, get activated by pressing the'7').