Design Nomenclature / Digital Model Making
LOD
Also called level of detail, LODs, LOD chain
This entry has not been translated yet and is shown in English.
A set of alternative representations of one asset at decreasing complexity, swapped by screen coverage or distance so the renderer spends detail where it can be seen. Authored deliberately, since silhouette and material must survive the switch. The transition is the hard part — a visible pop is a failed LOD.
In practice
“LOD it” usually means run automatic decimation, which is only acceptable for background geometry. LOD0 is the full-detail asset, not a reduction of one.
Not to be confused with
- DecimateReducing triangle count by collapsing edges in order of how little each collapse changes the surface, usually by a quadric error metric. Silhouette is preserved; layout is not. The output is an irregular triangle soup that deforms badly and unwraps worse — correct for a static prop, wrong for anything that moves.
- RetopologyBuilding a new, deliberately laid-out mesh over an existing surface, by hand or with guided automation. The goal is not fewer polygons; it is edge flow that deforms correctly, loops that follow the anatomy or the feature lines, and a quad-dominant cage that subdivides cleanly. Detail returns by baking.