Vertex Count versus Face Count

Questions & Answers
1

When concerned about performance, if I were to choose between a low face count and a low vertex count, what should I choose? I have a set of meshes and I don’t know if it is better to apply huge amounts of edge-splitting, nearly dubling all vertices, or instead keeping the mesh smooth-shaded and adding edge-loops near the angles to get the look i want out of smooth-shading (and thus getting way nicer visuals but increasing face count by almost 3 times). So, what do you guys suggest?

Sorry for bad english.

2

There is really no difference. If you are are doing an edge-cut/loop, you are creating vertices and thus faces. If you add faces, you add more vertices. The answer is keep them both low, how low is driven by your requirements, target platform, # of rendered meshes, etc.