Task 5 - 3D Development Software

Blender is used mainly for animation, photorealistic rendering, and fast modelling. It is non profit and free to use. It is used in game creation mostly. Blender has many features to help with modelling and animations such as: UV unwrapping, texturing, raster graphics editing, rigging and skinning, fluid and smoke simulation, and particle simulation. 

Lightwave is used mostly for rendering static images and short clips. It has been recently ised in the most recent James Bond film, Skyfall. Lightwave has been used in over 60 films, over 50 television shows, and over 50 video games. Lightwave also has dynamic physics systems for supporting hard and soft body motion, deformation, constraints, and motorisations, along with numerous other features. It also has hypervoxels, material shaders, nodes, and scripting. 

SketchUp is used mainly for 3D modelling in industries such as architecture and engineering along with use in films and games. SketchUp has been used in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. SketchUp is now owned by Trimble Navigation which is a mapping, surveying, and navigation equipment company. There is also an open online source of models for users to use for their own creations. 

3D Studio Max is used to help create 3D images, games, and movies. It has been used in films such as: Alice in Wonderland and games such as: Assassins Creed. It is also used a lot in the architecture industry as there is a plugin for it. 3D Studio Max now has many new features such as: shaders (ambient occlusion and subsurface scattering), dynamic simulation, particle systems, and radiosity. It includes a lot more as well. 

Cinema 4D is used for animating, modelling, and rendering. It has been used in films like: Ironman, and Prometheus. It was first created in the early 90s and the first three versions were solely for use on Amiga computers. However, after Commodore went into bankruptcy, Cinema 4D began being compatible with normal computers. 

Maya is used to create animations and models. It uses the natural laws of physics to create real, life-like animations. It has been used in things like: simulations, films, and rendered animations. Maya is very good at using natural elements such as: smoke or water and can create very realistic expressions and gestures for the models.

Task 1 - Applications of 3D

3D in media

When making a media 3D, you're essentially changing the way people are perceiving it. 3D is used to make thing s pop out and appear more realistically. There are different ways of doing this and there are different reasons why it is done. 3D is created by changing the way we perceive the image, rather than creating a film in an entirely different way with different technology, although newer technology is involved, they aren't done completely different to other 2D films,  

3D in films

In the film industry, 3D is usually used to make a film seem more impressive. Many films today use it but few manage to do it well. The most famous and successful movie created with 3D would be Avatar and not many can live up to the standard that James Cameron set the bar at. 3D was originally used to change how the viewer felt during the movie and to create more of an effect, but nowadays it’s used more in a way to make the movie impressive and a lot of audiences seem to think that the movie is far better if it’s in 3D. I believe the film industry still has the chance to make 3D something great and there are still plenty of concepts to make it better, however at the moment Hollywood is overusing it and sticking it on to any crappy idea they can get their hands on. There are several different methods to creating a 3D movie, the older popular method was by combining the movie with a red filtered verison and a blue filtered version, the audience would then were glasses with a red left lense and a blue right lense. Each eye sees from a different direction/angle, and when the glasses are on, the left eye would only see the red filtered version and the right eye would only see the blue filtered version, your sight would not fuse and you would watch the film from two different angles at the same time, thus making appear to pop out.

 3D in gaming 
 
The gaming industry began using 3D back in the early 90s. This wasn’t the 3D used to pop characters out of the screen, it was more in the depth of field sense. Video games have only fairly recently transitioned into the more modern sense, however no games to my knowledge have managed to do it well. A lot of games have the option of 3D already built in and all that is required is a 3D monitor and 3D glasses. There are quite a few reasons as to why 3D hasn’t been successful in gaming and they are because: not everybody have the items required to run a game in 3D, games have to be downgraded a bit to be able to run the 3D aspect smoothly, and because the experience is very uncomfortable. 3D is not only uncomfortable in gaming but it is film watching as well, it leaves the player/viewer feeling nauseated and if they’re not used to wearing glasses, they will feel uncomfortable after using them for extended periods of time. Originally, virtually every game was in 2D; there was no depth of field and you could only see a flat character from above or from the side on your screen. It wasn't until the early 90's when the character in a game would look anything like a normal human at all. It isn't hard to notice the evolution of some characters from decades old series, such as Super Mario Bros. or The Legend of Zelda. The dictionary definition of 'three-dimensional- is: "having or appearing to have length, breadth, and depth". This type of 3D doesn't require glasses or special monitors, only the right kind of software and technology to create a three-dimensional model. One game which uses 3D is Hitman: Absolution. Instead of 3D, many 3D video games are referred to as 'stereoscopic' as they use two images next to each other  to create an image which 'pops' out. below is an example of how Hitman: Absolution looks when viewed in stereoscopic mode without the 3D glasses required. As you can see, there are two images right next to each other, you can tell by the increased amount of red and blue around certain objects. 

3D in television

3D is used very little in television because it’s just not worth it. A 3D TV costs several hundred pounds and is only really used for watching stuff in 3D, everything else they can do can be done on a cheaper, normal TV. Even if you can afford a 3D TV, there are very few shows and channels which show stuff in 3D anyway. Sky has recently abolished the 3D segment of their company after 5 years of air time. Sky was one of the few media companies who attempted to improve the 3D format and improve it for normal television but deemed unsuccessful in the end. Along with the film industry, I believe there is still room for success in the 3D side of television/film but it just shouldn’t be overused and should be left to the few ideas it could actually work in. There aren't many TV shows in 3D, a lot of those that are, are documentaries. An example is Flying Monsters 3D with David Attenborough. Derren Brown, the psychological illusionist also aired a one-off special episode in 3D. 


3D in medicine

3D printing is used quite often in today's medical world. 3D printers allow medical experts to print a variety of useful equipment, tools, prosthetics, and many other useful things. the advantage of using 3D printing other the traditional means of creation is mainly the cost. 3D printing is a lot cheaper and makes medical equipment more accessible in poverty stricken countries. 3D can also be used for creating functional organs for patients, instead of a donated one which may be given to someone else. These are usually done for temporary jobs, and the patients are given actual organs at a later date. An example is a 3D printed heart. 

Task 4 - Mesh Construction

 Mesh Construction

A primitive is a pre-built shape which can be used for modelling. Primitives are made to save time and they can all be edited and changed from their original form by adding sub-divisions and changing each individual section. Sub-divisions can be used to make a model more detailed and complex as you can change sole sections of a specific model/object, this can be used to create facial features such as: ears, noses, eyes, mouths, etc. as you can change the depth and the how much the sections extrude.


In my example in the images to the right, I started by creating a simple cube and then extruding random sections/sub-divisions of it, by doing this, I created an unspeakable atrocity of which I cannot even describe. Because I wasn't very experienced with sub-divisions and this was my first time experimenting with them, all I did was mess around with each one and extruding them to random heights in order to make the weirdest looking object I could. I didn't really add any other objects, the main reason being because I didn't really get around to doing it. After extruding every section of my cube, I began to extrude separate sections of those extrusions.

Box modelling is using a primitive to create the basic shape of your final model. The shape would then be sculpted to create what you want the model to be.