Triangulating the Game: Exploring Tris and Vertices in 3D Graphics

 What are Tris?

In Unity, “tris” is a shorthand term for triangles, the fundamental building blocks of 3D models in game development and computer graphics. A triangle is a flat, 2-dimensional shape with three sides and three corners (also called vertices). Triangles are used extensively in 3D graphics because they are simple and efficient to render by graphics processing units (GPUs) and can be used to create complex 3D shapes by connecting them.
In Unity, tris are used to define the shape and structure of 3D models. Each triangle is defined by three vertices, which are points in 3D space that determine the location and shape of the triangle. By connecting these triangles in various configurations, complex 3D shapes can be created. Unity provides several tools and features to help game developers work with this, including the ability to create and edit 3D models, apply textures and materials to models, and manipulate models’ vertices to create deformations and animations.

What are Vertices?

In Unity, vertices are the points in 3D space that define the position, shape, and orientation of the corners of a 3D model. Vertices are also known as “vertex points” or simply “verts”.
Each vertex has three coordinates (x, y, and z) that specify its position in 3D space. By connecting these vertices with edges, Unity creates the triangles that form the surface of a 3D model. The position of each vertex determines the shape of the model, and changing the position of a vertex can alter the shape of the model.
Vertices are used extensively in 3D graphics and game development to create complex shapes and animations. In Unity, game developers can manipulate vertices to create animations, deformations, and other effects on 3D models. For example, a game developer could use vertex manipulation to create the effect of a character’s hair blowing in the wind, or to simulate the movement of water in a river. Additionally, Unity provides a number of tools and features to help game developers work with vertices, such as the ability to manipulate vertices using scripts, apply textures and materials to models, and create animations using keyframes.

Stability of game depending on tris and vertices:

The stability of a game can be impacted by the number of tris and vertices used in the game’s 3D models.
Generally speaking, the more tris and vertices a 3D model has, the more processing power is required to render it. If a game has many high-detail 3D models with a large number of tris and vertices, this can put a strain on the player’s computer or console, causing the game to run slowly or even crash.
However, simply reducing the number of tris and vertices in a 3D model is not always the best solution to improve game stability. Removing too many tris and vertices can result in a loss of detail and a decrease in the visual quality of the game. Additionally, reducing the number of tris and vertices too much can result in visible artifacts and distortion, such as jagged edges and unrealistic textures.
Therefore, game developers need to strike a balance between visual quality and game stability when working with tris and vertices in 3D graphics. This often involves optimizing 3D models to reduce the number of tris and vertices without sacrificing too much visual quality. Additionally, game developers may use techniques such as LOD (Level of Detail) to automatically adjust the level of detail of 3D models based on the distance from the camera, which can improve game performance without sacrificing visual quality.

Batching in unity:

Batching in Unity is a technique used to improve game performance by reducing the number of draw calls made to the graphics processing unit (GPU). A draw call is a command that tells the GPU to draw a specific set of polygons, such as the triangles that make up a 3D model, on the screen.
When a game has many 3D models with different materials and shaders, each of these models requires a separate draw call to be rendered on the screen. This can lead to a huge number of draw calls, which can be inefficient and slow down the game’s performance.
Batching solves this problem by grouping together similar 3D models with the same material and shader into a single draw call. This reduces the number of draw calls needed to render the scene and improves game performance.
Unity provides several types of batching, including static batching and dynamic batching. Static batching groups together static objects that do not move, while dynamic batching groups together dynamic objects that move or change shape. Additionally, Unity also supports GPU instancing, which is a technique used to draw multiple instances of the same 3D model with different transformations in a single draw call, further improving game performance.
Overall, batching is an important technique for improving game performance in Unity, and game developers should carefully consider how to optimize their game’s use of batching to achieve the best possible performance.

Types of Batching in Unity:

There are several types of batching in Unity that game developers can use to optimize their games for better performance:

1. Static Batching: Static batching groups together static objects that do not move, such as terrain or buildings, into a single mesh. This reduces the number of draw calls needed to render the scene, as the static objects are now treated as a single object.
2. Dynamic Batching: Dynamic batching groups together dynamic objects that move or change shape, such as characters or vehicles, into a single mesh. This is done at runtime and requires more processing power than static batching, but it can still help to reduce the number of draw calls needed to render the scene.
3. GPU Instancing: GPU instancing is a technique used to draw multiple instances of the same 3D model with different transformations in a single draw call. This is useful for objects that have the same material and shader but are positioned differently, such as grass or trees.
4. Texture Atlasing: Texture atlasing is a technique used to combine multiple textures into a single texture atlas, which can reduce the number of texture lookups and improve performance.
5. Lightmap Baking: Lightmap baking is a technique used to precompute lighting information for static objects in a scene and store it in a texture called a lightmap. This can improve performance by reducing the amount of lighting calculations that need to be done at runtime.

Overall, batching is an important technique for optimizing game performance in Unity, and game developers should carefully consider which type of batching is appropriate for their game depending on the type of objects in the scene and the overall performance requirements.

Role of Batching in Tris and Vertices:

Batching can have a significant impact on the number of tris and vertices in a game scene. By reducing the number of draw calls needed to render the scene, batching can help to reduce the overall number of tris and vertices that need to be processed by the graphics processing unit (GPU).
When using batching in Unity, objects with similar properties such as materials and shaders are combined into a single mesh, which reduces the number of draw calls needed to render the scene. This can result in a significant reduction in the number of tris and vertices that need to be processed by the GPU, which can lead to improved game performance.
For example, consider a game scene that contains multiple instances of a tree object with 10,000 tris and 5,000 vertices each. Without batching, each tree would require a separate draw call, resulting in a total of 100 draw calls for 10 trees. With static batching, however, all 10 trees could be combined into a single mesh, resulting in a single draw call and a significant reduction in the total number of tris and vertices processed by the GPU.
Similarly, dynamic batching can be used to reduce the number of tris and vertices in a scene by combining dynamic objects with similar properties into a single mesh at runtime. This can be useful for objects that move or change shape, such as characters or vehicles.
Overall, batching can be a powerful tool for reducing the number of tris and vertices processed by the GPU and improving game performance. Game developers should carefully consider their use of batching in conjunction with their 3D models and other optimization techniques to achieve the best possible performance.

For details, see http://bleedingedge.studio/