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About this tool
Turn GPU triangle throughput and a target frame rate into per-asset triangle budgets, LOD chains and buffer memory.
The Low Poly Budget Planner converts a measured geometry throughput and a frame-rate target into the number of triangles you can draw in one frame, using triangles = throughput x geometry share of the frame / target fps. It then splits that budget across asset classes with largest-remainder apportionment, derives a per-instance count, builds a halving LOD chain and estimates vertex and index buffer memory from a 24-byte vertex layout. It is aimed at 3D artists and technical artists agreeing a poly-count spec before modelling starts.
Open Low Poly Budget Planner on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Enter the values you already know.
Fine-tune the options to match your scenario.
Read the result and use it in your planning or reporting.
Every number traces back to how many milliseconds of the frame geometry may use.
Largest-remainder apportionment means the class totals equal the frame budget exactly.
Buffer size uses Euler's V = F/2 + 2 plus a seam duplication factor and the real index width.
There is no fixed number — it depends on how much of the frame that character is allowed to own. Divide your per-frame triangle budget by the share you assign to characters and by how many are visible at once; on a 100 million tris/second device at 60 fps with half the frame given to geometry, the whole scene budget is about 833,000 triangles.
Multiply the geometry throughput you measured on the target device by the fraction of the frame geometry may use, then divide by the target frame rate. At 60 fps the whole frame is 16.67 ms, so a 50% geometry share leaves roughly 8.33 ms for pushing triangles.
For a closed triangulated surface Euler's formula gives V = F/2 + 2, so a 10,000-triangle mesh has about 5,002 topological vertices. The GPU sees more because UV seams and hard edges split vertices — a factor of roughly 1.3 to 1.6 is common, and once the mesh needs 65,536 vertices the index buffer doubles from 16-bit to 32-bit.
Halving the triangle count at each level (100%, 50%, 25%, 12.5%) is the default most engine LOD groups ship with and is what this planner shows. Aggressive scatter assets such as foliage often drop faster or switch to impostors, while silhouettes that stay close to camera need gentler steps.
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