Quote - I'm sorry, but NOBODY needs a 2 million polygon model. The people at ILM, Pixar, and WETA studios don't use models with millions of polygons: they use displacement mapping and textures to get details onto their models. And, in contrast to the massive V3 textures sold here, movie studios commonly use textures no bigger than 512x512 pixels. Even though they have huge render farms, no studio uses textures maps that are 4000x4000 pixels in size.
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I read one of the titanic models was 2.5 million,I wouldn't be surpirsed if the Poseidon was around the same...hi-res geometry is used all the time in film.if a shot needs it.

texture maps can get as high as 8k for a figure,or as low 1k..that's entirely dependant on how close up your subject will be rendered.4k is certainly not unheard of

Davy jones(from the recent pirates sequel) has 10 texture maps in the head alone,including high res displace,spec etc

& displacement isn't always the best way to go for high detail..Spiderman1 used it on the buildings & it worked great..for Spiderman2 they needed characters to interact with the buildings..so high res models were made..bricks,groutlines,cracks..all were modelled in..then plastered with high res textures

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