Week 3 - The Gist of 3D Modelling

In class this week we discussed some pioneers of 3D modelling as well as different aspects. One of the pioneers that we learned about in class was Jim Blinn, and how he created the Blinn-Phong shader model which is a specular surface, it has a certain shine to it, and he also created the Bump Map, which was when you apply a 2D image of texture to a 3D object resulting in the object's texture appearing 3D. The second pioneer we learned and talked about was Lambert and his shading model which was a more matte surface. Another pioneer we spoke of was Phong and his flossy shading model which could be used for jewellery and cans, even.
Some of the highlights in 3D Modelling history were UVW Mapping, "U" stood for horizontal, "V" stood for vertical, and "W" stood for depth. So each shading model would have several mapping attributes, such as, color/diffuse, transparency/opacity, ambient color, incandesce, specularity, bump, and translucence. Here are some examples:

(2009). Методическое руководство по Maya, Retrieved from http://www.3dmir.ru/s_tutor/tutor/563.html

WebGL Materials, Retrieved from https://clara.io/learn/user-guide/lighting_shading/materials/material_types/webgl_materials

(2014). Phong Reflection Model, Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phong_reflection_model

Moving to a different topic, democratization in 3D graphics. The current generation is full of wonders now with talks of virtual reality, starting us off with the Oculus Rift. There are so many possibilities and doors to open. Technology is advancing for the better. Interface will soon be more user friendly and the possibilities are endless. This will help widely in the industry for entertainment, for designing houses, and furniture.

Ptex. As said by (http://ptex.us) "Ptex is a texture mapping system developed by Walt Disney Animation Studios for production-quality rendering. No UV assignment is required! Tex now applies a separate texture to each face of a subdivision or polygon mesh. The Ptex file format can efficiently store hundreds of thousands of texture images in a single file. The Ptex API provides cached file I/O and high-quality filtering everything that is needed to easily add Ptex support to a production-quality renderer or texture authoring application." quote on quote. I think in the long run this will help widely, making texture mapping easier, faster, and cleaner.