Theory and applications of 3D technology

Introduction
I am going to talk about 3D modelling and the uses for it. 3D modelling is getting more and more popular
this is because technology is advancing and is becoming more available to everyone. Its being used for lots
of different jobs. 3D modelling is the process of mapping out coordinates in a 3D space to create shapes.
There are two types of 3D models. One of them is Solid the other Shell. Solid models are used to define the
volume of 3D models, which may be used in engineering models. The shell type is used to display the
outside layer of the shape which is the surface of the model. Shell modelling is used in video games and also
in film creation. 3D modelling is very important because of its use of angles. Modellers can look around their
models at any angle they wish this is very helpful when creating complicated structures. It is also really
helpful if your models are going into a 3D world, this will help you to texture as well.

Applications of 3D
3D modelling is now used for so many different things, 3D modelling is not just used for games. It is used
for Films, 3D printing, Graphics, Vehicle and product design. This is a very quick way of creating rough
designs for products, some of the products which are designed by 3D include cars, packaging and
electronics. It is a lot cheaper to test designs on computers then make tests. 3D modelling is also used in
types of work you would not expect. For example surgeons would use 3D modelling to show parts of your
body. 3D modelling is also used for test products and replicating the packaging of the products. It can also be
used to test how aerodynamic vehicles are. 3D modelling can also be used for architecture. This is a massive
part in architecture because the buildings cost so much the architects will have to make sure it is all made
correctly before in a computer model.

Displaying 3D polygon animations

When displaying 3D polygon animations you need to use an application to actually display the 3D animation
you have made. Some of these application are Direct3D and OpenGL. The images are examples of shadows
and lighting in 3D environments. The graphics pipeline is very important this requires a 3d object to be
shown on a 2D screen. For it to be able to do this it gathers information on the main control points or the
vertices and then crops the model to show what can actually be seen and not just the one side. Texturing is a
way of adding detail to your models. This allows you to add materials over your models and overlay them on
the surface of your polygons. Every vertex in a polygon is given a texture coordinate, in 2D modelling this is
known as a UV coordinate. A more complicated way of texturing is Multitexturing. Multitexuring is when
you apply more than one texture to a polygon. For example adding a light map to the surface of a polygon.
This would make the polygons glow. You can also add bump mapping to your polygons. This make your
polygons change shape due to your texture. If there were dark indents to a bricks wall then bump mapping
can add this. This is used to make every look more detailed and is usually used on stone walls, but can be
used for anything. The Graphics Pipeline is the different stages of game production. There is many different
stages to the graphics pipeline for example Animation, Lighting, Pre-Production, Shading, texturing and 3D
modelling. It starts with Pre-Production this is all of the planning and research for the game. This would
include storyboards and market research. Games companies always send out some sort of questionnaire to
potential customers. This allows companies like Rockstar to see what people want and how many people
want different types of games. This is a massive part of the games industry and can sometimes depend if
games are produced or not. Need For Speed delayed there new game to be released because they thought that
the research that they had done was telling them it would be more beneficial for the company to release it the
year after. This was mainly due to the release of the new consoles with Sony selling 7 million PlayStation 4s.
Next in the Graphics Pipeline is the 3D modelling this is the main section of the pipeline, this is where the
game comes together. This part would take the longest finish. All of the characters, objects and the
environments would all have been made by this point. Shading and texturing is next this will have the
models come to life. There is many different ways to texture. Most texturing techniques depends on file size.
For example Texture mapping this is a way of adding detailed surface texture to your models .The high
resolution the textures are the more memory it will take up. The next step after that was lighting but I am
going to do shading and lighting together. There is multiple daylight simulators these make a light source in
the sky which represents the sun. The shadows will then all be correct due to the same angles for all

shadows. When the light source moves over the environment the shadows will change. Animation is what
makes the game characters, environment and objects move. This part links in with the Pre-production stage.
The animators would work with the initial storyboards to make sure they stick to the storyline. Rendering is
very time consuming and games companies have to account how long the rendering is going to take. Most
gaming companies work with render farms. These farm are a group of computer which are all connected to
each other and are only used to render. This speeds up the rendering process, because the more computers the
more power and the more power the faster the renders. Rendering Engines are application made to render
games. One of these is the Unreal Engine this engine was used for multiple games some of these include:
Borderlands 2, Chivalry Medieval Warfare, Dishonored, Gears of War and Mass Effect. This was such an
amazing engine it is all most 11 years old. The level of detail can change a lot depending on what game.
Games which have really good graphics prioritise what is rendered the best. Something you can look at close
up would be rendered well where as something in the background would not be so highly finished. Also
games can change what is rendered depending on what you are looking at. This works with different cameras
very well. In Call of Duty games the backgrounds which are out of the map are 2D images which look like
they are 3D from a distance. This is a clever way reducing render time and file size which are both big
constraints of 3D modelling.

Geometric theory
Geometric theory is the way to model objects and or characters inside a gaming world. The image below is a
3D model of a grunt from Amnesia: The Dark Descent, the blue lines around the model is the outlines of the
mesh. The mesh is built up of vertices, these vertices are the individual shapes you can see. You have to start
with a basic mesh which will provide you with the basic shape of the object you are trying to create. A mesh
is created by combining polygons. Polygons are 2D shapes which are built up of three main parts. Vertices,
an edge and a face. In the making of a polygon two vertices are connected by making a link together this is
the first edge. When more vertices are added it creates a triangle polygon which is the simplest type of
polygon. After a triangle polygon has been created you can keep on adding more vertices to then create a
shape called a quad, which is a four edged shape. It will then create more complex shapes such as hexagons
and decagons. This can get quite complicated when animating your characters in the gaming/animation
industry. As the shapes have to also fit the movements of the characters. If the polygons don't fit correctly
then the characters movements will not be fluid. UVW mapping. UVW mapping is a way of adding textures
to complicated shapes. This is what you use when the geometry in the programme cant texture it correctly. It
gives you an outline which you can then transfer into other programmes to make sure the textures are in the
correct place. The lines that UVW mapping gives you act as a net. The outlines of the different parts from
your model on the flat page will keep the same texture in the same place when you transfer the document
from 2D to 3D. Fogging in 3D graphics is used to create the look of distance by simulating fog. The objects
that are further away in your render will appear to be blurred or covered by fog. This makes your render look
more realistic and professional. Fogging was used in the 1990s because the computers did not have a lot of
rendering power so the fogging made rendering quicker. But as the games were not very advanced some
pieces of the polygons would flicker in and out of view. API stands for Application programming interface
this is a set of instructions, tools and protocols for building software applications. A good API creates a set of
building blocks for the programmer to put together. An API can also make the work easier for GUI
programming components. And API is very important when creating games. It can apply new features to
applications and also then help the applications share data. APIs normally come in a form of a library.
Lighting in 3D modelling is just used to make your model as realistic as possible. The closer the light looks
to real light the better it is. The light in the scene also is used to produce shadows. Show make your render
look a lot better. You can change the colours of lights in your 3d environment which is used to created
different feels. And also temperature. Light can be places in different ways some are placed in the sky to
replicate the sun. And others are used to create lamps and other artificial lighting.

Mesh construction
Mesh construction is the process of making objects with polygon meshes, these polygons are all different
forms. Such as vertices, edges, faces, surfaces and polygons. Your main model is created by modifying
primitive shapes to make a rough draft of your final model. The faces in a mesh are normally made of
triangles, these are the most basic polygons. The more basic the polygons the easier it is to render. There are
different types of meshes for example, volumetric meshes are not like other polygons meshes they represent
the surface and volume of a structure. Polygon meshes only represent the surface.

3D development software
3D development software is now getting more and more complicated. These types of programmes are
released all year round and are updated weekly. There is so many different types of software to choose from.
Here is one of the most popular programmes used in the industry:
3Ds Max (Autodesk) 3Ds Max is used in so many different industries such as television, gaming,
architecture and film. Companies often customise it through its SDK or scripting using a Maxscript. It is also
good because it allows people to use third party rendering options such as V-ray, final render and Brazil R/S.
3D development software is normally.

Constraints of 3D modelling
The main constraint of 3D modelling is poly count. This affects 3D real time programs rather than a 3D
animated movie. This is because 3D real time is used in video games. The player can choose where to look
so the polygons render depending on where the player is looking. Where as in 3D movie the movie can be
rendered out and then will have all of the polygons pre-rendered. One of the main ground breaking games for
poly count was crysis. Which was released in 2007. The games was also used to test how powerful your
computer was.
File size is also a constraint of 3D modelling. For video games there is a maximum file size as the games
have to be put on discs. As games are getting more advanced companies are having to put their games on
multiple discs. This is the reason why pc games look better graphically because you can download all of the
information for the game. It does not have to be a certain size. But there is still constraints to file size on pc.
Your pc has to read all of the info so the larger the files the more work your CPU has to do. Games
companies have their own little tricks to reduce files size. Such as changing the render resolution, reducing
the size of the textures and use modifiers like ProOptimizer which reduces the number vertices. The last
constraint of 3D modelling is render time. This is very important to companies. Some companies render
there latest films for years, It takes this long even with render farms. Render farm are a group of computers
just used for rendering. You can't really speed up render time. If you do it will change the whole look of the
project.