Tris / vert count for tree asset?

Development Asset Creation
1

OK, I know this has been asked before. First question, should I be looking at my tris or my verts when I’m modeling? I know on my current tree my tris is doubled my verts. Second question, how many tris / verts are to many for say a big oak tree (no leaves/twigs)? How many tris / verts are to many for the leaves? I browsed the marketplace and found some trees has around 8,000 - 14,000 “vert” count and another had 8,000 - 14,000 “tri” count. I’m not sure if those numbers include the leaves/twigs. I would like to make my tree fuller and up my leaves/twigs count ,but will my vert/ tri count start getting to high?

Here is what my current tree looks like.

tree = verts 5,498 / tris 10,458
twigs/leaves = verts 4,500 / tris 4,800
tree plus the twigs/leaves = verts 9,998 / tris 15,258

2

Unreal has now built-in the simplygon tool for poly reduction. You can use it in the LODs section of the static mesh browser to reduce youre polys to whatever count fits youre project.

3

As i have understood that Simplygon is history now and Unreal has native solution out of box for LODs.

4

I would use a system like Speedtree, it’s pretty cheap and has built-in features for level of detail based on distance.

5

i’ll check it out. Right now, I’m using a pretty neat addon for blender for making my trees.

6

With Speedtree you can either buy some pre-designed trees outright or you can subscribe to the software for a very low fee that will allow you to make your own trees (you can continue to use whatever trees you make with the software if you cancel your subscription, you just can’t make any more)