Anatomyofa3DModel

ByJustinSlick,3d.about.com

3DModelsareoneoftheessentialbuildingblocksof3Dcomputer
graphics.Withoutthemtherewouldbenocomputeranimationno
ToyStory,noWallE,nobiggreenogre.
There'dbeno3Dgaming,whichmeanswenevergottoexplore
HyruleinOcarinaofTime,andMasterChiefwasneveronHalo.
There'dbenoTransformersmovies(atleastthewayweknowthem
today),andcarcommercialscouldn'tpossiblylookanythinglikethis
one.
Everyobject,character,andenvironmentineverycomputer
animatedmovieor3Dvideogameiscomprisedof3Dmodels.Soyes,
they'reprettyimportantintheworldofCG.

Whatisa3DModel?
A3DModelisamathematicalrepresentationofanythree
dimensionalobject(realorimagined)ina3Dsoftwareenvironment.
Unlikea2Dimage,3Dmodelscanbeviewedinspecializedsoftware
suitesfromanyangle,andcanbescaled,rotated,orfreelymodified.
Theprocessofcreatingandshapinga3Dmodelisknownas3d
modeling.

Typesof3DModels
Therearetwoprimarytypesof3Dmodelsthatareusedinthefilm&
gamesindustry,themostapparentdifferencesbeingintheway
they'recreatedandmanipulated(therearedifferencesinthe
underlyingmathaswell,butthat'slessimportanttotheenduser).
1.NURBSSurface:ANonuniformrationalBspline,orNURBS
surfaceisasmoothsurfacemodelcreatedthroughtheuseof
Beziercurves(likea3DversionofthetheMSPaintpentool).To
formaNURBSsurface,theartistdrawstwoormorecurvesin
3Dspace,whichcanbemanipulatedbymovinghandlescalled
controlvertices(CVs)alongthex,y,orzaxis.
Thesoftwareapplicationinterpolatesthespacebetweencurves
andcreatesasmoothmeshbetweenthem.NURBSsurfaceshave
thehighestlevelofmathematicalprecision,andaretherefore
mostcommonlyusedinmodelingforengineeringand
automotivedesign.
2.PolygonalModel:Polygonalmodelsor"meshes"asthey're
oftencalled,arethemostcommonformof3Dmodelfoundin
theanimation,film,andgamesindustry,andthey'llbethekind
thatwe'llfocusonfortherestofthearticle.
Polygonalmodelsareverysimilartothegeometricshapesyou
probablylearnedaboutinmiddleschool.Justlikeabasic
geometriccube,3Dpolygonalmodelsarecomprisedoffaces,
edges,andvertices.

Infact,mostcomplex3Dmodelsstartasasimplegeometric
shape,likeacube,sphere,orcylinder.Thesebasic3Dshapesare
calledobjectprimitives.Theprimitivescanthenbemodeled,
shaped,andmanipulatedintowhateverobjecttheartististrying
tocreate(asmuchaswe'dliketogointodetail,we'llcoverthe
processof3Dmodelinginaseparatearticle).
Thecomponentsofapolygonalmodel:
Faces:Thedefiningcharacteristicofapolygonalmodelis
that(unlikeNURBSSurfaces)polygonalmeshesarefaceted,
meaningthesurfaceofthe3Dmodeliscomprisedof
hundredsorthousandsofgeometricfaces.
Ingoodmodeling,polgonsareeitherfoursided(quadsthe
normincharacter/organicmodeling)orthreesided(tris
usedmorecommonlyingamemodeling).Goodmodelers
striveforefficiencyandorganization,tryingtokeeppolygon
countsaslowaspossiblefortheintendedshape.
Thenumberofpolygonsinamesh,iscalledthepoly
count,whilepolygondensityiscalledresolution.Thebest
3Dmodelshavehighresolutionwheremoredetailis
requiredlikeacharacter'shandsorface,andlow
resolutioninlowdetailregionsofthemesh.Typically,the
highertheoverallresolutionofamodel,thesmootheritwill
appearinafinalrender.Lowerresolutionmesheslookboxy
(rememberMario64?).

Edges:Anedgeisanypointonthesurfaceofa3Dmodel
wheretwopolygonalfacesmeet.

Vertices:Thepointofintersectionbetweenthreeormore
edgesiscalledavertex(pl.vertices).Manipulationof
verticesonthex,y,andzaxes(affectionatelyreferredtoas
"pushingandpullingverts")isthemostcommontechnique
forshapingapolygonalmeshintoit'sfinalshapein
traditionalmodelingpackageslikeMaya,3DsMax,etc.
(Techniquesarevery,verydifferentinsculpting
applicationslikeZBrushorMudbox.)
There'sonemorecomponentof3Dmodelsthatneedstobe
addressed:

TexturesandShaders:
Withouttexturesandshaders,a3Dmodelwouldn'tlooklikemuch.
Infact,youwouldn'tbeabletoseeitatall.Althoughtexturesand
shadershavenothingdodowiththeoverallshapeofa3Dmodel,
theyhaveeverythingtodowithit'svisualappearance.
Shaders:Ashaderisasetofinstructionsappliedtoa3Dmodel
thatletsthecomputerknowhowitshouldbedisplayed.
Althoughshadingnetworkscanbecodedmanually,most3D
softwarepackageshavetoolsthatallowtheartisttotweak
shaderparameterswithgreatease.Usingthesetools,theartist
cancontrolthewaythesurfaceofthemodelinteractswithlight,
includingopacity,reflectivity,specularhighlight(glossiness),

anddozensofothers.

Textures:Texturesalsocontributegreatlytoamodel'svisual
appearance.Texturesaretwodimensionalimagefilesthatcan
bemappedontothemodel's3Dsurfacethroughaprocess
knownastexturemapping.Texturescanrangeincomplexity
fromsimpleflatcolortexturesuptocompletelyphotorealistic
surfacedetail.
Texturingandshadingareanimportantaspectofthecomputer
graphicspipeline,andbecominggoodatwritingshadernetworksor
developingtexturemapsisaspecialtyinit'sownright.Textureand
shaderartistsarejustasinstrumentalintheoveralllookofafilmor
imageasmodelersoranimators.

Youmadeit!
Hopefullyatthispointyouknowalittlebitmoreabout3Dmodels
andtheirprimarycharacteristics.Attheircore,3Dmodelsarejust
complexgeometricshapeswithhundredsoflittlepolygonalfaces.
While,it'sundoubtedlyfuntoreadabout3Dmodels,it'sevenmore
excitingtomakethemyourself.
Ifyouthinkthatsound'slikesomethingyou'dbeinterestedin,beon
thelookoutinthenextcoupledaysforourtwopartseriesHowTo
BeginMaking3D.

Checkoutourotherbeginnerarticles:Thisarticleisthe
secondinournewbeginnerseriesmeanttoeasenewcomers
intotheworldof3D.Ifyoumissedthefirstarticleandare
interestedinanexpandedexplanationoftheterm"3D"asit
pertainstofilm,gamesandcomputergraphics,checkitout
afterthejump:3DDefined>>
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