Class 12: How 3D Computer Graphics Work

This YouTube video that we just watched explains how 3D graphics work.  The video itself was only five minutes, but taught the basics about the shapes, and the importance of lighting while making a 3D graphic.  It’s interesting to see how these two aspects are used the way they are because I never thought that lighting and shapes could be the basic elements to 3D graphics. I enjoyed the video because it was succinct, and to the point about two elements only. This video address a few other topics as well such as: 3D Geometry, Vertex points, Vertices, Vector, Polygon, Polygonal mesh (also know as a "polygon mesh"), Normal, Lighting, Shading, and Texture map.

The first thing that he talks about is shapes.  The main shape for creating 3D graphics is a triangle.  You can see that in the images below.  I never thought about what shape would be the most commonly 3D graphic building block, and I also never thought there would only be one.  I imagined that circles and squares would also be shapes used to create these objects.  The 3D image showing all the triangles is very impressive because you really need to think about the angles of the triangles, and what parts need to be sticking out more than another part.

The second part of the video focuses on lighting.  Lighting is very important to 3D graphics, and he explains why.  He says that lighting is important to get just right and lighting has developed in 3D graphics because it changes the way the object appears.  In addition to lighting, they need normal’s.  Lighting normal’s in 3D programs are altered depending on the object, and they change automatically.  When the light is behind the object, the object appears dark, but when it is in lighting, it changes the effect of how the object looks to us, and perhaps appears more “3D”.

This video was interesting and packed with information.  As I’m learning from this course, there are so many different aspects to creating a 3D virtual world, let alone a 3D graphic itself.  I imagine that software has been developed greatly over the recent years to help developers design these 3D objects and graphics.  Certainly in video games and 3D movies/TV’s, I have seen an enormous growth.  It’ll be interesting to see what 3D graphics grow into in the near future.