Class 12: How 3D Computer Graphics Work.

 

We had to watch this YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfV-4CKj3PQ&feature=youtu.be ) to get a better understanding of how 3D graphics work.  The speaker talks about how 3D graphics require two main building blocks, Polygons and vertices. Vertices are points anywhere in 3D space. He mentions that basic polygons use multiple triangles. Every 3D model is made of polygons.  It’s a bunch of triangles linked together.  The very core of 3D modeling uses the software to create models out of triangles. This image was created by Zoltan Mikosi who created a 3d model.  You can see the vertices draw out on the model.  I thought this was a great example. 

 A major important concept is the lighting aspect of 3D modeling.  In the 1990s, a lot of 3D games didn’t use lighting. Lighting plays a key role in two effects that gives the appearance of weight and solidity of objects.   With lighting comes Normal Vectors.  Normal vectors are lines perpendicular to polygons.    You can use normal vectors to determine where the surface is aimed towards the light.  This is an example of texturing and lighting.  This is a photo of cowboy boots located on http://www.irenainks.com/ .  I thought this portrayed the lighting and texture very well.

3D geometry are 3D objects you can see or touch.  They can also be measured by the length, width and height.  A room that you are currently walking into possesses 3D geometry.  Vertex points describe the corners of intersections of geometric shapes.  The vertex of an angle is the point where tow rays begin and meet. It’s a corner point of a polygon or any other higher-dimensional polytope formed by intersection of edges and faces.  Below is an example of a 3D drawling of a three-dimensional chess variant.  I thought this was pretty cool.

Adding detail would be possible if it wasn’t for texture mapping.  Texture mapping is a method for adding detail, surface texture or color to a 3D model. We had to do an assignment like this in the beginning of the year.  This tool is applied to the surface of a shape or polygon.  Shading is another huge aspect of 3D modeling.  Shading gives the model depth perception in 3D models by varying the levels of darkness.      I thought this was a great example of how crucial shading is in 3D modeling. Without shading, there would be no depth to the picture. 

This is Class 12: How 3D Computer Graphics Work. It is a final exercise from the Immersive Education course that I am taking at Boston College. The course is called Discovering Computer Graphics. For details, visit the immersive BC portal at http://ImmersiveEducation.org/@/bc