Having done some 3D modelling (strictly hobby based though) the usual process is:
Model the thing you're doing up to the detail level you want it for your game
start baking normals/lighting/bumpmaps/textures and optimize it for lower polycount
Actually being able to completely skip the second step is... huge.
Now you can completely choose the detail level of a 3d model and don't need to worry how your level of detail or polycount negatively affects the rendertime.
It makes the process faster.
Having done some 3D modelling (strictly hobby based though) the usual process is:
Actually being able to completely skip the second step is... huge.
Now you can completely choose the detail level of a 3d model and don't need to worry how your level of detail or polycount negatively affects the rendertime.