1. Use in industries today
3d Models are used in many industries today. Some examples include TV and film,
construction and science. It may seem a little strange that 3d models are being used for
scientific purposes but they can help simulate operations and potentially save someone’s life.
They are also heavily used in the media and on TV, for example they are used in lots and lots
of sci-fi shows, such as Doctor Who to create all of the monsters and aliens. They can also be
used as good presentation tools for news broadcasts and stories by creating diagrams and
units for presentation. They are also used as afore mentioned to help visualize and construct
real buildings and properties. They are mainly used by architects for things like this as it
really helps them to mould and visualize their ideas. 3d models are also very important in the
games industry as every single object and entity has to be created and built in 3d using
industry standard programs such as 3ds Max and Maya. There are three popular ways to
represent a model:
1. Polygonal modeling - Points in 3D space, called vertices, are connected by line
segments to form a polygonal mesh. The vast majority of 3D models today are built as
textured polygonal models, because they are flexible and because computers can
render them so quickly. However, polygons are planar and can only approximate
curved surfaces using many polygons.
2. Curve modeling - Surfaces are defined by curves, which are influenced by weighted
control points. The curve follows (but does not necessarily interpolate) the points.
Increasing the weight for a point will pull the curve closer to that point. Curve types
include Nonuniform rational B-spline (NURBS), Splines, Patches and geometric
primitives
3. Digital sculpting - Still a fairly new method of modeling, 3D sculpting has become
very popular in the few short years it has been around.[citation needed] There are currently
3 types of digital sculpting: Displacement, which is the most widely used among
applications at this moment, volumetric and dynamic tessellation. Displacement uses
a dense model (often generated by Subdivision surfaces of a polygon control mesh)
and stores new locations for the vertex positions through use of a 32bit image map
that stores the adjusted locations. Volumetric which is based loosely on Voxels has
similar capabilities as displacement but does not suffer from polygon stretching when
there are not enough polygons in a region to achieve a deformation. Dynamic
tesselation Is similar to Voxel but divides the surface using triangulation to maintain a
smooth surface and allow finer details. These methods allow for very artistic
exploration as the model will have a new topology created over it once the models
form and possibly details have been sculpted. The new mesh will usually have the
original high resolution mesh information transferred into displacement data or
normal map data if for a game engine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_modeling

2. Most 3d models are made using 3d Studio Max or Maya, then animations can be created and
rendered in them but most people use Cinema 4d for the rendering. Some models however
are created in Sketchup, this is for things like architecture and buildings because it has a very
advanced measurement system.
The Technology
Autodesk 3ds Max, formerly 3D Studio Max, is 3D computer graphics software for making
3D animations, models, and images. It was developed and produced by Autodesk Media and

3. Entertainment. It has modeling capabilities, a flexible plugin architecture and can be used on
the Microsoft Windows platform. It is frequently used by video game developers, TV
commercial studios and architectural visualization studios. It is also used for movie effects
and movie pre-visualization.
In addition to its modeling and animation tools, the latest version of 3ds Max also features
shaders (such as ambient occlusion and subsurface scattering), dynamic simulation, particle
systems, radiosity, normal map creation and rendering, global illumination, a customizable
user interface, and its own scripting language.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autodesk_3ds_Max
Autodesk Maya, commonly shortened to Maya, is 3D computer graphics software that runs
on Microsoft Windows, Mac OS and Linux, originally developed by Alias Systems
Corporation (formerly Alias|Wavefront) and currently owned and developed by Autodesk,
Inc. It is used to create interactive 3D applications, including video games, animated film, TV
series, or visual effects. The product is named after the Sanskrit word Maya ( māyā), the
Hindu concept of illusion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autodesk_Maya
CINEMA 4D is a 3D modeling, animation and rendering application developed by MAXON
Computer GmbH of Friedrichsdorf, Germany. It is capable of procedural and polygonal/subd
modeling, animating, lighting, texturing, rendering, and common features found in 3d
modelling applications.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_4D
SketchUp is a 3D modeling program optimized for a broad range of applications such as
architectural, civil, mechanical, film as well as video game design — and available in free as
well as 'professional' versions. The program highlights its ease of use, and an online
repository of model assemblies (e.g., windows, doors, automobiles, entourage, etc.) known as
3D Warehouse enables designers to locate, download, use and contribute free models. The
program includes a drawing layout functionality, allows surface rendering in variable
"styles," accommodates third-party "plug-in" programs enabling other capabilities (e.g., near
photo realistic rendering) and enables placement of its models within Google Earth. In early
2012, Google, the current owner of Sketchup, announced it will sell the program to Trimble,
a company formerly known for GPS location services.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SketchUp

4. Constraints
The only real downsides of these programs are things such as memory capacity and render
times. They take up a lot of your PCs memory whilst working on something that has a high
amount of polygons. This can really bring things to a standstill for a while and it means you
will need a high end pc if you plan on working on anything that has a lot of polys. There is
also file size; these files can take up a lot of space on your hard drive and this can lead to you
having to buy some external hard drives which could cost quite a bit. The final and probably
the most occuring problem is render times. A short not to detailed animation can takes hours
to render, a simple flythrough of an object can set you back a day or 2.
Conclusion
In conclusion I think that 3d modelling software still has a long way to go. There is an ever
increasing number of free to use software which is as good as the real deals, such as Blender,
but render times and file sizes will keep things like video games constrained to certain
graphical power and it will mean that many people who want to get into the industry will
have to spend a lot of money on new hardware for the job.