Why the fuck waste time extruding shit and being in edit mode

>>571496
>letting a computer use shitty generic algorithms to reduce poly count with no regard for topology.
Same reason no one uses booleans for anything serious except mesh destruction for simulating wreckage.
If one day we get some really smart decimator that can generate clean low-poly topology while running edge loops in the most appropriate paths, then by all means go ahead and do what you want.
If one does exist and doesn't require extensive cleanup or reflow, then please show me.

you have to know what you are doing.

if you have a radio with a soundnet you are not gonna decimate all of those 1000 holes. you are just gonna cover it with 1 polygon and bake it.
its not always bad tho

>>571502
Topology matters all of nothing in low poly games

>>571504
this is where you're very wrong.
incorrect topology in a game engine creates horrible physics.
this in turn creates a problem of "unoptimization", better known as "why the fuck does this look like minecraft but i only get 4 fps?!"

proper topo = proper physics = less cpu usage = better gaming experience.

>>571505
most games don't use physics. just animated/scripted events that look like physics is taking place.
good topology does matter. but you have to know why, and not because of the reason you mentioned.

>>571505
Good thing most of the games nowdays have fuck all of physics

>>571496
This looks really horrible.

>>571504
low poly topology is arguably more important for animation in games than anywhere else. if you've got a low poly model that's not divided the right way in certain places then it'll cave in in horrible, horrible ways.

it also helps in the texturing process, but in that case it's more a matter of just "not being bad" than "being good." topology is a big factor in how well your mesh handles normal-based and map-based rendering techniques in general, more so with lower polycount than higher, as well as things like edges with toon cel shading techniques.

furthermore, although it's true it's not that important for actual shape modelling or static models, chances are the newer directx versions are going to change that even for games. i'm not that knowledgeable of their mathematical/algorithmic properties, but i would bet that topology will become extremely important to make your mesh tessellate well when real-time tessellation comes into common use. i'd imagine that meshes will tessellate very differently between any two given topologies, the lower the poly count the bigger the difference.

>>571566
just looked around and there was a relevant thread on the front page which illustrates what i mean in the first line there, too.
>>>571529

>>571508
>>571509
What fucking alternate universe do you guys live in where developers are using animated/scripted events for everything instead of taking the lazy route of flipping Unity or Unreal Engine's physics switch from off to on? Or did you just warp in from 2005?

>>571607
its more about good collision than good topology

Holy fuck the amount of ignorance on display in this thread is truly hilarious.

>>571626
Yeah I'm aware of that, why didn't you lead with that instead of "developers don't use physics"?
There's options for model-accurate collisions now so I don't doubt there are retards switching those on for their horribly performing UE4 games.

>>571820
when you let dead bodies fly then yes.
there is a special collision type that lets the bounds match the topology. but to my knowledge its resource intensive so developer use a box or convex hull for certain objects.

>>571505
You're retarded, collision in games does not depend on the topology of the mesh unless you want to have per-poly collision, in which case you'll get less than 4fps regardless how good your topology is. You use a specific collision mesh for it, which is super fast to do as it's usually just some basic shape with some extrudes.

>>571508
>>571509
And you're retarded too. Most games have a lot of collision, doesn't have to be precise collision for most things but most character controllers rely on the physics collisions to determine a lot of shit. How the character controls in your environment is one of the if not the most important part of a game.

>>571508
gravity, collision, and momentum are physics driven

>>571827
>>571828
You look like Blender users to me.

physics is vertex derived.
yes you make a simple shape for the 3d object you're faking physics for.
still physics.