Introduction

3D Modelling is a term used to describe the creation of 3 dimensional objects which exist solely in a digital form. However once a picture (rendering) of a 3D modelled object has been captured, be it as a singular picture or a series of pictures strung together to form an animation; the 3D model can then be transferred into countless forms of media, be it printouts in your local newspaper, adverts on the television or even be an element in an entire animated film. In this article I am anticipating to explain to you in detail what these 3D models are, how they are created and, to an extent, help you realise how often these models are used in the world of today.

How are 3D Models created?

3D Models are made on computers through the utilisation of CAD software. CAD software standing for Computer Aided Design is software programmed to run on any form of personal computer and its purpose is to provide the 3D Modeller a comprehensive user interface that allows them to design, develop and amend their developing 3D Models.

3D Models can be made in two distinctive ways, the first is by creating a primitive object and the second is by creating a polygon mesh. Primitive object modelling is a more user friendly method, allowing the modeller to place down common basic shapes such as boxes, tubes, cylinders, spheres. All of these objects can have their dimensions set just by typing in the corresponding numbers into the dimension boxes. The model is then developed by combining a number of these primitive objects together to form one more complex object, or by selecting corners or sides of these primitive objects to manipulate them into a desired shape. For example a square box can be turned into a pyramid or a triangular slope just by moving the corners.

The second method of modelling; creating a polygon mesh; is a lot more difficult as the convenience of entering dimensions is no longer apparent. To make a model accurate when using this method, a set of scale blueprints must be put into the CAD software for the modeller to work from. The term of polygon mesh means to work with lines, computers make objects by connecting many shapes which tessellate well, for example most polygons are typically made from 3 to 4 lines- when these polygons are all linked up and tessellate that is what gives the model its final shape, the shape that we see to be solid. When people create models by creating polygon mesh, they have to draw and connect each of these polygon lines. It takes much longer than the first method, but the results are a lot more accurate.

Where do we see these 3D Models?

The best example is in computer games. This is because the entire game is rendered through your computer and thus the objects, despite how real they appear, are all just 3D Models which have been created by people. 3D Models are also seen a lot in TV commercials as it is cheaper to animate a 3D scene than try to reenact it in real life, sometimes it would be nearly impossible to reenact in real life what 3D Models can be animated to do. A final example of where you see 3D Models is in pictures, many new car photos are actually CGI which are so detailed it is impossible to distinguish between the virtual world and reality.

Conclusion

So here we are, I have explained in general terms how 3D Models are made, what they are, and how we can spot them. They really are everywhere and they are getting more lifelike every day. Some renderings are so good now it is almost impossible to distinguish them from reality.