Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
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Drawing onscreen characters: 3D computer graphics
software
If solid modeling grew up among engineers, surface modeling design software
grew up in the midst of animators and illustrators. Surface modeling software
originated in the land of entertainment—the cartoon, movie, and video game
industries. Today scientists use 3D modeling software to create models of
DNA structures or chemical compounds. Architects and landscapers create
beautifully detailed models to sell their design projects to potential clients.
If a computer needs x, y, and z location coordinates to keep track of an
object's shape, how does it manage to capture the details of an animated
character or a complicated molecule? Surface modeling captures the world by
digitally “wrapping” shapes in a virtual ishing net made of regular polygonal
geometries. Sometimes called polygonal modeling , each polygonal shape that
makes up the virtual ishing net corresponds to a data point on a theoreti-
cal grid.
Each data point is stored by the design software so the designer can work
with it. Most 3D models today are built from triangular surface mesh because
it's quick and a computer can render this information easily. However, no mat-
ter how inely detailed a coating of curved shapes, the triangles are ultimately
planar, not curved.
The upside of surface modeling software is that it's great for depicting the
variety that's present in our universe. Surface modeling software can depict
beautiful detailed imaginary worlds in movies and video games. Unburdened
by the limited set of block and spherical primitives, and with its emphasis on
showing surface-level action rather than how machine parts it together, sur-
face modeling software is a graphic designer's blank slate. It's a starting point
upon which an artist can ill in more details such as surface shine, textures,
realistic-looking skin and hair, and wilderness.
 
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