Environments
created in 3D are generally used for video games and film. They are expensive
to create so they aren’t really used in TV series unless they have large
budgets. They are also risky to use as if they don’t look real they will stand
out and look especially bad.
Successful
usage of 3D environments are therefore seen most in video games, or films
created fully in CGI (computer generated images) where the environment won’t
contrast with the actors.
In video
games 3D environments are used in most games which are 3 dimensional, where the
player can move in 3 dimensions. There are some cases where the game has 2D
gameplay, but the environment is 3D, with foreground and background.
3D games can
be created in game engines such as Unity or Unreal Engine. These kind of
programs are the best things to use when creating 3D games. They offer the
developers lots of options such as importing assets created in other 3D
applications, and quickly testing the game during development.
3D assets
can be created in programs such as Blender, or Maya, which are also used for
other development projects as well as video games. With these programs it is
easy to create an environment by modelling a variety of objects. For example,
when creating a city environment a developer can create a few sections of a
building and rearrange them, or combine them with other buildings to make a
wide range of unique looking areas in the city.
Entire
environments could be created in these programs and imported into game engines
however this wouldn’t allow for easy editing, and the file size would be very
large, so it would take a long time to load the file to actually edit anything
in the first place.
3D Models
3D applications can be used in medicine for things
such as 3D printing. A model can be printed and then used as a basis for
creating new body parts, such as 3D printing a bone to instantly replace a
damaged one. Printing equipment is also common as it makes getting equipment,
which might normally be hard to create, easy.
Some people have had the top half
of their skulls replaced by perfectly fitting 3D printed ones. This makes 3D
models useful for important physical purposes such as saving lives. The
downside to this is that it may contradict the views of some religious beliefs,
and those people who refuse to use the technology can’t benefit from it.
3D Product Design
This image shows how engineers can use 3D modelling
software. The engineer here is designing a car and how it functions. A mistake
here which isn't found could end up causing a person driving this car to have a
crash, or have to spend lots of money repairing a problem which isn't their
fault. Therefore it is important to properly design a product in 3D before
creating it.
3D
in TV
3D in TV was used after it was introduced to film,
however it was never used as much as regular TV since viewers had to constantly
wear 3D glasses, and the price of 3D TVs was much higher than a regular TV.
There are other kinds of 3D techniques such as
stereoscopic, multi-view, or 2D+depth.
3D
in film
In James Cameron’s avatar 3D environments are used
throughout the film to generate an alien world. The actors wear green suits
which can be used like green screens to create the alien characters in CGI.
There is also the kind of 3D which appears to move out
of the screen, which usually needs the viewer to wear 3D glasses. This is done
by moving the red colour slightly to the side of the image, and when combined
with 3D glasses the image’s colour is corrected but also appears to come out of
the screen.
As an example which I made of an image of Crash
Bandicoot:
3D
on the web
There is a project called Web3D aimed at fully
displaying websites and allowing navigation of them in 3D. Now, Web3D is a term
used to describe all interactive 3D content shown through web browsers by
embedding the content into web pages html. Modern web pages using 3D are
normally powered by WebGL, but it isn’t used much.
This website has a 3D representation of the human
body, it can be moved around in 3D space and interacted with to learn about
anatomy.
3D
in games
In the games industry 3D is used to create worlds where the player
can move in 3 dimensions. This is for reasons such as immersion, as life is
also in 3 dimensions, or for creating certain game play experiences and
mechanics.
This is a 3D model for a character in a game, it looks realistic
in game compared to a 2D character. 3D games with historic characters like this
are useful in experiencing the past in a more realistic way than a 2D game
would be.
Games can also be 3D by using 2D sprites in a certain way, such as
in the original doom. This method is called 2.5D, it is different to 3D because
there is no z axis to move through depth.
3D
in education
3D can help education because it adds more detail to
the topic being learnt. For example when learning anatomy, architecture,
chemical reactions, etc. the students can interact with the 3D models and learn
about them by interacting with them. For example they can test out building
structures inside a simulation or observe a chemical reaction on the molecular
level.
3D printing can also be used for teaching as models
can be created and given to students for quick iterations of 3D development in
a variety of classes such as engineering, architecture, or art.
3D
architectural walkthroughs
A building with a complex pattern like this would need a lot of
testing to make sure it is structurally safe and viable to be built. Testing it
in a 3D virtual environment would be perfect to test this and plan out how it
would be built.
They can also be useful for engineers in a similar way, as testing
can be done in a 3D environment, and perfect sizes can be measured before being
3D printed to maintain the perfect measurements. Without these applications
mistakes are much more likely because of human error. Depending on what is
being made this could be dangerous without virtual testing.