The mid-poly workflow

The mid-poly workflow builds each hard-surface asset as one mesh with real bevels on its edges, shaded with weighted (custom) normals, and textured with shared tiling materials, trim sheets and decals. There is no separate high poly and usually no unique bake. Its main advantage, in the words of one lead artist: "we do not build the same mesh twice – high poly and low poly" (80 Level: Creating Assets Within the Mid-Poly Workflow…).

#What "mid" means

The mesh sits between a classic low poly (minimal, with detail baked into a normal map) and a high poly (dense, smooth, only used for baking). It carries real, low-segment bevels on every visible edge, so it has more triangles than a low poly. But it needs no support loops and is far lighter than a high poly. Patscheider describes it as one detailed model instead of separate high and low meshes, relying on bevels and weighted normals (ArtStation blog: Quarry Bank Mill 3D #08 The mid-poly workflow).

Detail is split three ways:

Shape and edges: in the geometry.
Material and wear: in tiling materials shared across many assets (see tileable materials).
Small details such as panel lines, bolts and labels: from trim sheets, decals and mesh decals.

A practice piece that uses all three layers: 13,456 triangles with real bevels and weighted normals, a 1024 px trim tile, small 1024 px bakes for a few parts, and 512 px decals. Switch to wireframe in Sketchfab's model inspector to see how the bevels are built into the mesh itself.kumabeer, via Sketchfab Always load external media on this site

Two pipelines. High-to-low: high poly, low poly with unique UVs, bake normal, AO and curvature, texture one unique set. Mid-poly: one mesh with real bevels, weighted normals, reusable UVs, shared materials and decals; the first two boxes are highlighted. — Mid-poly moves detail out of per-asset textures and into geometry plus shared textures.Diagram by the handbook author

#Why studios use it

Scale. On Star Citizen, a ship was "simply far too big to be custom baked and still retain decent texture resolution", so the team used edge loops, custom vertex normals, tiling textures and decals (Polycount forum: Star Citizen...The Gladiator...ART DUMP). A unique bake spreads one texture over the whole object; tiling textures keep their density however large the object is (see texel density).

Iteration. Angelic's team says geometry changes and feedback no longer mean re-making low and high poly meshes and re-baking, leaving more time for materials (80 Level: Creating Assets Within the Mid-Poly Workflow…). Patscheider makes the same point about easier iteration (ArtStation blog: Quarry Bank Mill 3D #08 The mid-poly workflow).

UV freedom. With no unique normal map, you do not have to split UVs at every hard edge. Angelic gets more connected UV shells "as we don't have to split every 90° angle in a mesh", which means less padding and higher texel density (80 Level: Creating Assets Within the Mid-Poly Workflow…).

Reuse. The same trim sheet and tiling materials texture a whole kit. That fits modular kits well (ArtStation blog: Quarry Bank Mill 3D #08 The mid-poly workflow).

#Budgets

Mid-poly assets cost more triangles than baked low polys because every visible edge is bevelled. One Polycount reply warns that a weighted-normal mesh "may ouput high triangle counts" depending on complexity, and suggests culling hidden faces and optimising topology (Polycount forum: Weighted Normals (Mid Poly) Workflow…). None of the studio sources gives standard triangle targets. Set your own per asset class with your team, and check them with polygon and triangle budgets and level of detail in mind.

What you save is texture memory and unique bakes. A trim sheet and a handful of tiling materials can serve dozens of assets.

A small prop the artist describes as "Middle Poly with Weighted Normals", made in 3ds Max with a 2048 px texture set plus a separate 128 px set for bolt decals. At about 3,200 faces it shows that mid-poly does not have to mean heavy; inspect the wireframe to see where the triangles went.inuhitman, via Sketchfab Always load external media on this site

Chris Sweetwood built this dresser from one simple trim sheet, then reused the same sheet for tables, nightstands and other furniture. Look at how each drawer front and moulding is mapped to a strip of the same texture.Chris Sweetwood, via Sketchfab Always load external media on this site

#Who uses it

#Pros and cons vs. high-to-low

	Mid-poly	High-to-low
Meshes to build	One	Two (plus cage)
Changing the shape	Edit and re-export	Edit both, re-bake
Edge quality up close	Real geometry, no texture pixels	Limited by normal map resolution (ArtStation blog)
Triangle count	Higher	Lower
Texture memory	Shared materials and trims	Unique set per asset
Unique detail (dents, sculpted damage)	Hard; needs decals or extra geometry	Easy: it is in the bake
Best for	Large and modular assets (ArtStation blog)	Small hero props, varied materials, organic shapes

Different viewsIs "mid-poly" a distinct workflow?

Just modeling with a new name: Polycount's poopipe calls mid-poly a buzzword. The idea of modeling detail and using tiling textures and decals instead of unique bakes predates the term: "we just called it modelling back then" (Polycount forum: I need some advice).

The term means different things: Matthew Murchison uses "mid-poly" for a low poly with a good silhouette plus a baked high poly, and calls the bevel-and-custom-normal approach something else, citing Star Citizen as its model (ArtStation blog: Leveraging Multiple Workflows). On Polycount, scgstudio defines it as "aiming to bypass normal map to generate overall shape of the model" (Polycount forum: There's a thing I dont quite get about…).

A distinct production strategy: Angelic and Patscheider treat it as a clear choice with its own trade-offs (80 Level: Creating Assets Within the Mid-Poly Workflow…; ArtStation blog: Quarry Bank Mill 3D #08 The mid-poly workflow).

In practice: when someone says "mid-poly", ask whether they mean "bevelled mesh with weighted normals and no unique bake". That is how this handbook uses the term.

#Further reading and watching

Creating Assets Within the Mid-Poly Workflow in UE5

A studio lead's reasoning and pipeline. Intermediate. Free.

ArticleIntermediateFree

Quarry Bank Mill 3D blog

Posts #07 and #08 cover a Blender modifier stack and when mid-poly suits an asset better than high-low. Beginner to intermediate. Free.

ArticleBeginnerIntermediateFree

The Ultimate Trim: Texturing Techniques of Sunset Overdrive

GDC 2015 talk on trim-based texturing at open-world scale. Intermediate. GDC Vault.

TalkIntermediate

The 'ultimate trim' technique from Sunset Overdrive (Polycount)

Artists try to reproduce the technique and run into practical problems: seams, padding and vertex normals. Advanced. Free.

ForumAdvancedFree

Star Citizen...The Gladiator...ART DUMP (Polycount)

A developer answers questions about bevels, custom normals and decals on a ship. Intermediate. Free.

ForumIntermediateFree