Level of detail: Difference between revisions

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'''Level of Detail''' ('''LOD'''). To reduce the number of polygons that need to be rendered, the [[Source]] engine will render lower-quality models if the model is very far away. If it moves closer to the player's point of view, it will change to a higher-quality model, with more polygons and more textures. As it continues to come closer, it will gain more detail until it reaches perfect quality.
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The advantage of using '''LOD''' is obvious: Objects that are far away, where they cannot show much detail anyways, will not use up nearly as many memory and processing resources for the player. In extreme cases, they may not even be rendered at all. It is up to the developer then, to decide how many levels of quality are appropriate for a model, and at what distances they should be "activated" at. For example, in [[Half-Life 2]], the G-man character model had five different models.
'''Level of Detail''' ('''LOD''') is the principle of storing low-detail versions of an asset in memory and switching to them when the object is distant. This reduces the amount of processing required at the cost of increased memory size.


== Disadvantages ==
Care should be taken to ensure that the player does not notice the "pop" between LODs.
Carefully consider the view distances of any models making use of levels of detail in a map.
If, for example, the player is staring at the model when the level of detail changes it can be distracting.


== See also ==
== LOD in Source ==
*[[LOD Models]]
 
*[[Func_lod]]
* [[LOD Models]] / <code>[[$lod]]</code>
*[[MIP Mapping]] is a similar method applied to ''brush textures'', whereas LOD is applied to ''models''.
* [[MIP Mapping]]
* [[func_lod]] (fades out, not really LOD)


[[Category:Glossary]]
[[Category:Glossary]]

Revision as of 07:51, 10 August 2011

Template:Otherlang2

Level of Detail (LOD) is the principle of storing low-detail versions of an asset in memory and switching to them when the object is distant. This reduces the amount of processing required at the cost of increased memory size.

Care should be taken to ensure that the player does not notice the "pop" between LODs.

LOD in Source

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