All about 3D

It's a term used so often now but surprisingly very few of our clients actually understand the real meaning to the term 3D. In essence is relates to the Three Dimensions - X, Y, Z for length, width, height.

You can consider anything you touch in real life to be 3D as it has all three dimensions. Technically you cant actually touch anything that is 2D as it has no form.

2D vs 3D

In contract you have 2D, which is just length by width with no height. It refers to a flat drawing - lines and fills but with no actual depth. In our industry it often refers to the older way that architects draw plans, but drawing board or computer, where as it is just lines. 3D adds that extra dimension that enables the eye and brain to form shapes.

Early 3D

Before computers we just drew things. 3D was then called perspective drawing. The method was still flat on paper, so really 2D, but the enhancement of perspective provided a result that a viewer/client could visually understand. Each perspective drawing took some time and we never really wanted to produce too many of them due to the labor involved.

Computers and 3D

The introduction of computers and design/presentation made 3D far more viable, as the lines that were once laid upon paper are now put into actual coordinates of 3D space. Making a perspective drawing from these true geometric forms is much easier as it is more a matter of choosing a viewpoint and printing. The hard work of aligning viewpoints and calculating "vanishing points" is now gone. For some time we used computers to set up "wire frame" images that we filled in and touched up by hand to create perspective drawings faster than ever before.

Other articles you may wish to examine:

The history of 3D renderings and architecture >

The 3D rendering process >

Real 3D vs Flat 3D >