3D process 01- where the magic happens but without the magic button

You hear this term “3D” all the time. You also might think that all the films with something impossible is all made in 3D. But what does 3D really mean? The easiest way to understand this is to think of a painting versus a sculpture. If you’re standing right in the front of a painting or a picture, you might think this looks really real. But once you look from the side or from the back, it’s just a flat piece of paper. A sculpture on the other hand, you can observe it from any angle. This is the same in the digital world. A 2D matte painting or projection technique is only good from the chosen angle. But a 3D object can be viewed from everywhere. So if a robot or dinosaur is needed in your film for several shots with different angles, it’s better to approach with 3D. But in the 3D world, there is no magic button to make this happened with one click. Quite the opposite, the artists will have to create every single detail that happens in the real world, such as reflections, shadows, and even the intensity of the shadow or the blurry edge of the shadow. Therefore before jumping in and doing everything with 3D, which needs a lot more time and budget, it’s better to consult with the VFX supervisor to make sure the 3D approach is necessary here. In this post, we are going to talk about a simplified 3D process to give you a rough concept of how 3D works.