Reality and the world of 3D - Part 00

Introduction

In a fantasy book I read long ago, a mage was required to produce a visual spectacle of warriors attacking a fortified keep in order to lure the occupants out. The mage argued for a small squad of warriors he could simply visually duplicate, rather than build the entire illusion from scratch. His point was that reality carries its own conviction, and it is much simpler to duplicate a real image than build the whole thing from the ground up. Having done some artwork in 3D, I now agree with that assessment.

In this little series, I'm going to talk about reality and 3D illusions we create, both real and imaginary. That sounds like a contradiction, doesn't it? An “imaginary illusion” may sound like a contradiction in terms, but all will become clear in time. Keep in mind, though, that 3D computer graphics are merely attempts at reproducing reality. First up, I think, an initial definition of terms is in order.

Terms:

1. 3D - 3 dimensional, having width, height and depth
2. 3D software - software capable of configuring and outputing 3D scenes, consisting of a number of objects and/or characters. In my artwork, I use Poser, Vue and Bryce. Each has its strengths and weaknesses, and is used for different things.
3. 2D - 2 dimensional, having width and height, but no depth - in 2D, depth has to be simulated manually by the artist using converging lines and other techniques.
4. 2D software - software capable of creating images using only height and width; these can be bitmap painting applications like Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro, or they can be sophisticated 2D animation tools like Flash.
5. Animation - the act of making multiple still images appear to show motion; animation can be accomplished by manually painting all the frames by hand, or with computer assistance.
6. Live Animation - dynamic animation that changes in real time in response to computer users, ie games.
7. Static Animation - animation that is pre-programmed by the artist, ie movies like Final Fantasy.

These should be enough to get us going. In the following sections, these terms, and others, will be expanded as I discuss reality and how it relates to the world of 3D computer art. Please stay tuned.