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Question by Disaster · Aug 10, 2010 at 03:51 PM · shaderoptimization

Parallax bumped vs more verts

Hi,

I'm creating the following asset for my game:

http://www.starstructuresmc.com/images/conex-blue.jpg

The side of the crate has indention and would obviously take a far few vertices.

I tried using bump maps and heightmaps to achieve a similar effect and it looks reasonable. I did this by using a parallax bumped specular shader.

I was wondering, would it actually be faster / more performant to use a simple specular shader without a bump map and model the asset to feature the indents or is it quicker just to use a parallax like I have done?

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Answer by Daniel-Brauer · Aug 10, 2010 at 09:04 PM

This really depends on your target hardware. Parallax bump mapping is expensive on older and integrated video chipsets. Adding more polygons can be relatively cheap, depending on the object.

However, you also have to consider the fact that Unity will scale back your shaders automatically on cards that don't support them, whereas you have to handle geometry LOD yourself.

As with all questions about performance, the best answer is to test representative scenes on your target hardware.

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Answer by Julian-Glenn · Aug 10, 2010 at 07:18 PM

Less Vertices are always better.

Use a High Poly modelling technique. Then use the high poly cage to create the Normal map projection.

Here is a Max example:

http://cg.tutsplus.com/tutorials/autodesk-3ds-max/how-to-bake-a-flawless-normal-map-in-3ds-max/

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avatar image Eric5h5 · Aug 10, 2010 at 07:30 PM 1
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Fewer vertices are not always better. $$anonymous$$odern cards can handle a huge number of polygons; up to a point, if the choice is between more polygons or a complex shader, it can be better to go with more polygons. What that point is, exactly, depends.

avatar image Julian-Glenn · Aug 10, 2010 at 10:46 PM 0
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@Eric5h5: you are correct, Sir :)

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