Hey there Kerragan,

if you smooth a poly model, providing you dont delete it's history, you can switch between the low and the high poly through the channel box. It is possible then to animate with the low poly and switch to the high poly when you come to rendering. it is also possible to connect the smooth node to a controller via set driven keys to make it easier to switch between resolutions.

Right Click And Save the link (7.5Meg) for a little tutorial on how to make the switch.

(apologies for the low volume by the way, my mic is knackered!)

IMPORTANT

One thing that I forgot to mention in the tutorial is how important it is that you don't delete the history of the model once you have smoothed it unless you are at level 0. If you do, you will be stuck with the model in high resolution.

I hope it helps,

Mat.