1. Applications of 3D

3D is used in many different industries such as the education, engineering and architecture industries. But it is primarily used within the vast industry of video games. In gaming it is used to create 3D models of things that would be seen or even played with in the game. That means things from characters all the way down to a random object in the background that you may not even interact with at all. 3D "dumb" solids are created in a way similar to manipulations of real world objects (not often used today). Basic three-dimensional geometric forms (prisms, cylinders, spheres, and so on) have solid volumes added or subtracted from them, as if assembling or cutting real-world objects. Two-dimensional projected views can easily be generated from the models. These models are used in the gaming industry because when placed in a 3D game, the player will be able to go around the object and see the entire object, compared to a 2D version of something where the player will only be able to see the front or back.

The education sector is an industry which can link with many other industries by teaching people how to model in 3D and give them the skills which could be transferred to the industry in which the person learning goes into. This is commonly used in the video games industry or the architect industry due to these 2 industries using 3D the most and relying on people to model things in 3D for them. Many universities and colleges offer a course(s) which is primarily based on 3D modelling.

3D in Medical Industry

Scientists, hospital staff and patients benefit from the use of systems that present information in understandable formats by using a unique combination of 3D technology, science, and software engineering. 3D CT imaging in human medicine is mainstream and used in numerous applications such as vascular studies, cardiac imaging, virtual endoscopy, and presurgical planning. 3D imaging in veterinary medicine is far less common. This is likely because of the fact that newer CT machines are necessary to generate diagnostic images and the applications for 3D CT are different.

As well as the medicine industry using 3D models the science sector uses them as highly detailed models of chemical compounds. In recent decades the earth science community has started to construct 3D geological models as a standard practice. This has helped the development of science due to professionals now being able to look around compounds and learn much more about them, compared to the limited amount of things they could see when using 2D or just simple images of the compound. They now have the freedom to look completely around it and explore, much more than they could do before the introduction of 3D models in science and medicine. 

3D in Engineering Industry

The engineering community uses 3D as designs of new devices, vehicles and structures as well as a host of other uses. 3D modelling has come a long way in the last few years, bringing new uses for 3D vehicle modelling and speeding up developments. The entry of more professional experts and new and improved 3D modelling software programs has made 3D vehicle and engineering modelling more accessible and affordable for entrepreneurs and businesses from small to large, further fuelling and enabling the development of new vehicles, parts, manufacturing processes, safety measures and business ideas. In fact without fast and effective 3D engineering modelling we would not being enjoying many of the great vehicles and features that we now use every day. This not only applies to family cars but racing vehicles, recreational vehicles, commercial and private aircraft, marine craft and the safety of military vehicles. 3D modelling can be and is used to create things from a simple mock up of the vehicles design all the way to engineering vital pieces such as the gearbox and engine to go inside the vehicle. Every single part of engineering on anything can now be modelled in 3D and then transferred straight to the vehicle.  

3D in Product Design

Professional 3D modelling for product design has come on huge leaps and bounds in recent years. New technology and more professional experts have made 3D product design modelling more affordable and accessible to most companies out there, of all sizes, therefore opening up this industry vastly. In fact without the current usage of 3D modelling we not be enjoying many of the great products we now use on a daily basis. This is anything from household items to tech gadgets and new cars but many economies of the world would not be enjoying the high quality of life that we currently enjoy. This is addition to the lack of jobs that there would be without 3D modelling. Around you right now, almost everything you see was probably developed from 3D product design modelling at some point. In short, without 3D modelling we would not have the amount of jobs and the variety of industries we see today. Overall, 3D modelling is used in mostly all parts of the product design industry and can be used to design anything from the newest piece of technology, like a new apple product, to something as vintage as an antique teapot made to sell for the Queen’s anniversary.

3D in Architecture
The architecture industry uses 3D modelling to demonstrate proposed buildings and landscapes through Architectural Models. Digital architecture uses computer modelling, programming, simulation and imaging to create both virtual forms and physical structures. 3D modelling is vital in most architectural designs due to the fact that without them.

3D Fly-Through of Kitchen:

3D in Video Games, Movies and Animation

3D computer graphics software is used to make computer-generated imagery for movies, etc. Recent availability of CGI software and increased computer speeds has allowed companies to create huge feature length films which have made millions of pounds. All made from 3D models and CGI animation. An example of a film that uses just 3D models and CGI is Disney’s Toy Story films.

The first revolutionary use of 3D imagery in a movie was in Jurassic Park released in 1993, almost all of the dinosaurs were created in using 3D CGI and shown in the live-action scenes of the movie.

3d imagery is now currently used in multiple blockbuster films. It is often used or characters, explosions or Special Effects. For example Marvel's The Avengers used a lot of 3D animation to create characters and effects such as explosions and fight scenes.




3D in Games

3D Monster Maze was the first ever game released on a commercial games machine that was in 3D. It was developed by Malcolm Evans in 1981 for the Sinclair ZX81 platform. The game awarded points for each step the player took without getting caught by the Tyrannosaurus Rex that hunted them in the 16 by 16 cell, randomly generated maze.

Transition to 3D

The fifth generation is most noted for the rise of fully 3D games. While there were games prior that had used three dimensional environments, such as Virtua Racing and Star Fox. 

It was in this era that many game designers began to move traditionally 2D and pseudo-3D genres into full 3D. Super Mario 64 on the N64, Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon on the PlayStation and Nights into Dreams... on the Saturn, are prime examples of this trend. Their 3D environments were widely marketed and they steered the industry's focus away from side-scrolling and rail-style titles, as well as opening doors to more complex games and genres. Games like GoldenEye 007, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time or Virtua Fighter were nothing like shoot-em-ups, RPGs or fighting games before them. 3D became the main focus in this era as well as a slow decline of cartridges in favor of CDs, which allowed much greater storage capacity than what was previously possible.

The ever-increasing download speeds capable through wireless and mobile networks and the developments made in the field of motion/gesture control, mean that 3D technology will have a big part to play in the ways in which games are played and displayed.

3D in Animation

Pixar's Tin Toy

Tin Toy is a 1988 American computer-animated short film produced by Pixar and directed by John Lasseter. The short film, which runs five minutes, stars Tinny, a tin one-man-band toy, attempting to escape from Billy, a destructive baby. The third short film produced by the company's small animation division, it was a risky investment: due to low revenue produced by Pixar's main product, the eponymous computer to manage animations, the company was under financial constraints.

Lasseter pitched the concept for Tin Toy by storyboard to Pixar owner Steve Jobs, who agreed to finance the short despite the company's struggles, which he kept alive with annual investment. The film was officially a test of the PhotoRealistic RenderMan software, and proved new challenges to the animation team, namely the difficult task of realistically animating Billy. Tin Toy would later gain attention from Disney, who sealed an agreement to create Toy Story, which was primarily inspired by elements from Tin Toy.

The short premiered in a partially completed edit at the SIGGRAPH convention in August 1988 to a standing ovation from scientists and engineers. Tin Toy went on to claim Pixar's first Oscar with the 1988 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, becoming the first CGI film to win an Oscar. With the award, Tin Toy went far to establish computer animation as a legitimate artistic medium outside SIGGRAPH and the animation-festival film circuit. Tin Toy was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" in 2003.

3D Techniques

3D Animation is carried out by key-framing the camera, lights and objects within a scene. Character movement is created by using rigging or motion capture techniques.

Rigging

Skeletal animation is a technique in computer animation in which a character is represented in two parts: a surface representation used to draw the character (called skin or mesh) and a hierarchical set of interconnected bones (called the skeleton or rig) used to animate (pose and keyframe) the mesh. While this technique is often used to animate humans or more generally for organic modelling, it only serves to make the animation process more intuitive and the same technique can be used to control the deformation of any object — a spoon, a building, or a galaxy.

This technique is used in virtually all animation systems where simplified user interfaces allows animators to control often complex algorithms and a huge amount of geometry; most notably through inverse kinematics and other "goal-oriented" techniques. In principle, however, the intention of the technique is never to imitate real anatomy or physical processes, but only to control the deformation of the mesh data.

Motion Capture

Motion capture is the process of recording the movement of objects or people. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, and medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robotics. In film making and video game development, it refers to recording actions of human actors, and using that information to animate digital character models in 2D or 3D computer animation. When it includes face and fingers or captures subtle expressions, it is often referred to as performance capture. In many fields, motion capture is sometimes called motion tracking, but in film making and games, motion tracking more usually refers to match moving.