What is the difference between 2D and 3D?

2D and 3D refer to the actual dimensions in a computer's workspace. 2D is 'flat',

using the X & Y (horizontal and vertical) axis', the image has only two dimensions
and if turned to the side becomes a line. 3D adds the 'Z' dimension. This third
dimension allows for rotation and depth. It's essentially the difference between a
painting and a sculpture.

The most familiar form of 2D animations can be found by watching Saturday morning cartoons
with your kids, or even simpler animations every day when you surf the web. It takes on the
forms of advertisements, e-cards, etc. The basic starting point for all animations is a storyboard
that lays out the basic script in a visual format, much like an extra large comic strip.
From that point a rough audio track of the script is created to give animators something to sync
with their drawings. This form of animation uses "vector graphics," meaning that the images are
based upon mathematical equations, rather than by an array of pixels, such as in "raster
graphics."
Although similar in some ways to 2D animations, 3D computer animation is a different process,
as a scene being done in 3D is created long before any actual animation begins. Even in general
terms, most people automatically think 3D when they are speaking or reading about computer
animation, partly due to its flexibility.
What many people do not realize is that the entertainment industry and specifically motion
picture applications, while possibly being the forerunners in advancing technologies, only
account for a fraction of the 3D animations market. Actually, there is very little difference
between computer animation and what is called traditional animation.
The main difference is the tools that are used to create animations, the effort and the price.
Traditional 3D animation was more like claymations, and was done by using stop-motion filming
techniques. Essentially, the true concept of 3D animations did not really catch on until the use of
computers for animation became more cost effective and practical.
Although the entertainment industry is largely responsible for the advances in 3D computer
animation, they make up only a small part of the market that uses 3D animations. Animation
designs sell products; it is also used as a teaching aide because it presents information in a more
understandable way.
Many animations can be created completely on a computer, but depending on the type of
animation desired, such as cartoon animations, there may be the need for some hand-penciling
work to be done.

2D and 3D Animation Basics

• 2D Animation. 2D software uses images called bitmaps that consist of blocks
of color stacked together to make a picture. The limitation is that only one
angle can be seen at any given time.
• 3D Animation. 3D software uses computer-generated lines, surfaces, or solids
to create 3 dimensional models. It is also a more difficult technique to
perfect.
• What It Means. While 3D animation gives a better image, cost and time
constraints make 2D techniques a bit more attractive for most budgets.
3D Software

Free 3D Software
3D Canvas
3dom
Anim8or *Popular*
Art of Illusion
Aztec
Blender *Popular*
Calimax Modeller
DeleD Lite
Equinox3D
GameSpace Light
JTEdit
K-3D
Loq Airou
MakeHuman (pre-alpha version) (New - added 2/2/06)
Maya PLE
Metasequoia LE
Moonlight3D
OpenFX
OpenTeddy
Pretty Poly Editor
Wings3D

3D Software under $100

3D Canvas Plus & Pro
AC3D
Bryce
CharacterFX
DeleD Pro
MilkShape 3D *Popular*
World Creator

3D Software $100 to $1,000

3D Matrix
Amapi Designer
Amorphium Pro
Carrera
Cinema4D
GameSpace
Hash Animation Master
LightWave 3D
Modo
Pixels 3D
Plasma
Poser
Realsoft 3D
Shade
Silo
SketchUp
Softimage|XSI Foundation
Strata 3D
TrueSpace
ZBRUSH

3D Software $1,000 to $4,000

3D Studio Max *Popular*
Electric Image
Houdini Select
Houdini Escape
Maya Complete *Popular*
Rhino3D
Softimage|XSI Essentials

3D Software over $4,000

Houdini Master
Maya Unlimited *Popular*
Softimage|XSI Advanced

2D Software

Free 2D Software
ArtRage
CinePaint
GraphicsGale
ImageForge
Paint.NET (New - added 2/8/06)
PhotoPlus Freeware
Pixia
The Gimp *Popular*
Ultimate Paint

2D Software under $100

Corel DRAW Essentials
Digital Image Pro
GraphicsGale
ImageForge Pro
Lview Pro
OpenCanvas
Paint Shop Pro *Popular*
PhotoFiltre
Photogenics
PhotoImpact
PhotoPlus
Photoshop Elements
PhotoStudio
PhotoSuite
Pixel32
ProMotion
Texture Maker

2D Software over $100

Alias Sketchbook Pro (New - added 2/2/06)
Deep Paint 2D
Illustrator
Mirage
Painter
Photoshop *Popular*

The Discrete Cosine Transform

Introduction
The discrete cosine transform (DCT) helps separate the image into parts (or spectral sub-bands)
of differing importance (with respect to the image's visual quality). The DCT is similar to the
discrete Fourier transform: it transforms a signal or image from the spatial domain to the
frequency domain. With an input image, A, the coefficients for the output "image," B, are:

The input image is N2 pixels wide by N1 pixels high; A(i,j) is the intensity of the pixel in row i
and column j; B(k1,k2) is the DCT coefficient in row k1 and column k2 of the DCT matrix. All
DCT multiplications are real. This lowers the number of required multiplications, as compared to
the discrete Fourier transform. The DCT input is an 8 by 8 array of integers. This array contains
each pixel's gray scale level; 8 bit pixels have levels from 0 to 255. The output array of DCT
coefficients contains integers; these can range from -1024 to 1023. For most images, much of the
signal energy lies at low frequencies; these appear in the upper left corner of the DCT. The lower
right values represent higher frequencies, and are often small - small enough to be neglected with
little visible distortion.

Chapter 27: Data Compression

Run-Length Encoding

Data files frequently contain the same character repeated many times in a row. For example, text
files use multiple spaces to separate sentences, indent paragraphs, format tables & charts, etc.
Digitized signals can also have runs of the same value, indicating that the signal is not changing.
For instance, an image of the nighttime sky would contain long runs of the character or
characters representing the black background. Likewise, digitized music might have a long run
of zeros between songs. Run-length encoding is a simple method of compressing these types of
files.
Figure 27-1 illustrates run-length encoding for a data sequence having frequent runs of zeros.
Each time a zero is encountered in the input data, two values are written to the output file. The
first of these values is a zero, a flag to indicate that run-length compression is beginning. The
second value is the number of zeros in the run. If the average run-length is longer than two,
compression will take place. On the other hand, many single zeros in the data can make the
encoded file larger than the original.
Many different run-length schemes have been developed. For example, the input data can be
treated as individual bytes, or groups of bytes that represent something more elaborate, such as
floating point numbers. Run-length encoding can be used on only one of the characters (as with
the zero above), several of the characters, or all of the characters.
A good example of a generalized run-length scheme is PackBits, created for Macintosh users.
Each byte (eight bits) from the input file is replaced by nine bits in the compressed file. The
added ninth bit is interpreted as the sign of the number. That is, each character read from the
input file is between 0 to 255, while each character written to the encoded file is between -255
and 255. To understand how this is used, consider the input file: 1,2,3,4,2,2,2,2,4, and the
compressed file generated by the PackBits algorithm: 1,2,3,4,2,-3,4. The compression program
simply transfers each number from the input file to the compressed file, with the exception of the
run: 2,2,2,2. This is represented in the compressed file by the two numbers: 2,-3. The first
number ("2") indicates what character the run consists of. The second number ("-3") indicates the
number of characters in the run, found by taking the absolute value and adding one. For instance,
4,-2 means 4,4,4; 21,-4 means 21,21,21,21,21, etc.
An inconvenience with PackBits is that the nine bits must be reformatted into the standard eight
bit bytes used in computer storage and transmission. A useful modification to this scheme can be
made when the input is restricted to be ASCII text. As shown in Table 27-2, each ASCII
character is usually stored as a full byte (eight bits), but really only uses seven of the bits to
identify the character. In other words, the values 127 through 255 are not defined with any
standardized meaning, and do not need to be stored or transmitted. This allows the eighth bit to
indicate if run-length encoding is in progress.