An Introduction to 3D: Recreating the World Inside Your Computer, or Not - Blender Foundations: The Essential Guide to Learning Blender 2.6 - page 3

Figure 1.1 A scene created from polygons.
top. If we were trying to reproduce this image in 3D, we would save ourselves a lot of trouble by model-
ing a simple box with a triangular top ( Figure 1.4 ).
Obviously, if this same building were the main subject of the image, shown close up, its form in the image
would be drastically different, and we would model it differently ( Figure 1.5 ). In fact, depending on the
image we are trying to achieve, we might only create a model of a portion of the building. If the image
consisted of a close-up shot of the exterior of the building, we might choose to only model that part of
the building that shows on camera.
In 3D, models that are made of polygons are our forms. They tell us what we are looking at. As a final
example, take a look at the scene project for this topic, without any texturing or lighting. It is only the
forms, yet we know immediately what everything is. Clearly, though, none of this stuff is real, could be
mistaken for real, or is even believable. That's because believability comes not from form, but from surfac-
ing and lighting.