I’m almost completely finished with a model (just fixing some facial geometry) and as far as poly-count goes, it’s definitely too high for distances, but is reasonable up close. I feel that I can get it a bit lower through optimization of a few hotzones.
I am planning on rigging and animating the model sometime tomorrow or the next day, but before I go through that process:
Would I be able to animate and rig the higher-poly model as a “close-up” model, and then use those same exact animations (After re-doing weight paint) on a “distant” lower-poly model?
If your model has good topology you could use the new decimate modifier and you wouldn’t even have to re-weight paint. It will even try to salvage UVs.
I spent a few weeks making the base mesh for the model so I think that the topology was as optimal as it’s going to get; just wasn’t completely sure if animations would translate well and I didn’t want to lose all of the model work AND my animation work. That’d probably make me cry.