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trying to animate highpoly mesh about 1 million polygons even slower when I try to apply physics like softbodies is there a way around this?seems like I really got to lower the polygons in order to run smooth.

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    $\begingroup$ Are you aware of the technique of generating a normalmap from a highpoly model and applying it to a lowpoly version of the same model? $\endgroup$
    – Leo Ervin
    Jun 18, 2016 at 10:43
  • $\begingroup$ Looks like you'll have to retopologize your model to make the topology less dense and then bake normals from the high poly model to the low poly one. Search for RETOPOLOGY and BAKING NORMALS tags. $\endgroup$
    – Paul Gonet
    Jun 18, 2016 at 12:25

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You may retopologize your model and then bake normals from the high poly model to the low poly one. This will save all the details but the geometry won't be as dense, so it will be more animation friendly.
enter image description here

First you have to retopologize your high poly model (take a look at these answers: How to easily make mesh retopology? and How to convert from high poly to low poly). There are two models pictured below. The high poly one with a very dense geometry on the left and low poly one with a simple retopologized geometry on the right. With your retopologized model you'll be able to bake the details from the high poly model to the low poly one. enter image description here

Here's how to do it. First unwrap your low poly mesh and create a new texture with the desired parameters. enter image description here

Next select (with the RMB) the high poly model, then select the low poly one. enter image description here

Go to Render data header and under Bake panel change the mode to Normals, check the Selected to Active checkbox, then press the Bake button. After Blender finishes baking save the image to your computer. enter image description here

Now give your low poly model a material, go to Texture header, open your previously saved image and set the settings as pictured below. enter image description here

To see the normal map in action change the viewport shading type to Rendered and set the GLSL option in the Shading panel of Properties Shelf (N). enter image description here

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  • $\begingroup$ I showed the normal map baking in Blender Render engine. If you want to do it in Cycles engine please check out this topic: blender.stackexchange.com/questions/55680/… $\endgroup$
    – Paul Gonet
    Jun 18, 2016 at 22:15
  • $\begingroup$ now I have a better understanding thank you for taking the time and explaining it. $\endgroup$
    – smax
    Jun 19, 2016 at 0:46

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