I’m curious, can a subsurface be used on a game model? In edit mode the model I’m making soesnt have too many vertices and edges, and when I switch it to object mode and add subsurfaces to it, the model smoothens out, but when switching back to edit mode I get the same vertices that were there before, but they are wrapped against the model.
Does this mean I can add subsurfaces to a game character and still have a low polycount?
Thanks.
Modifiers can be used in games as of version 2.49 but the modifier is “applied” to the model before the game is started, so you end up with a high poly model. The subsurf modifier is great for creating realistic high poly models but you should probably never use it in games.
Much depends on how you define “low.” I’ve done some work on a facial expression model used in the game engine that looks great with subsurf in the BGE, and it doesn’t slow things down appreciably when played on a fast machine. But it’s the only model in the “game” so the total scene polycount is relatively low. For a character moving in a game environment populated with other meshes, it would probably be too much.
If you model your base character mesh to optimize the polycount and keep it reasonably low, adding subsurf may not push the effective count too high to use in the BGE, and can bring substantial benefits to the model’s appearance in terms of smoothing low-poly silhouettes. Best way to tell if can be done practicably is to try a test model.
Tessellation is included in OGL 4.0 support, that’s what you’re wanting. It’s also in DX 11.
It basicly (being real simple) subserfs the model in RT in the video card so it looks a lot nicer.
ATI had a version of it called Truform in their DX8 series card. They ditched it because it was only for ATI cards & very few games supported it.
So, in theory, since you have access to the Blender code you can add support. 