3D Animations: One concept, Several Uses

3D animations are digital animations equivalent to animations with volume in a virtual world.  Being very complex work of art, the creation of 3D animations require complete grasp of several tools, skills and procedures.  3D animations have numerous facets and applications.  Ranging from display of live objects in 3D visual animations e.g. in ecommerce advertisements, to creation of virtual worlds and characters e.g. in animated films, 3D animations are being vastly used to suit the public demands like entertainment, convenience and experience.

Visual animations came into existence in the more civilized society with the aim of entertaining people as an art from very creative people with artistic skills and sharp imagination.  With continuous trials, experiments and exploitation, visual animations went through different phases in history, taking several facets and forms e.g. traditional animations, stop motion animations, cartoons, computer generated animations, 2D animations, 3D animations, interactive animations and 3D animations in relief.  Visual animations are now considered as a technology accessible to everyone and are present in our routine activities in several forms.

Cartoons are very popular today.  Originally created using traditional animations (drawings on paper), advancing technology has enabled to decrease the work load through Computer Generated Imagery but the concept of creating cartoons in 2D remained the same.  While most cartoons are still played in 2D, several are being made in 3D and relief 3D to create greater impact on audience.  Having a greater visual influence, cartoons in 3D and relief 3D are more pleasant to watch and have a greater appeal on audience.

Following cartoons, we have 3D animated films.  Since long, 3D animations were used for special effects in films due to their great resemblance to real life actions.  Well made 3D animations can be difficult to distinguish from real life actions on screen.  Since some years, films have been combining 3D virtual characters with real life actions until recently, whole films are being made in 3D and 3D in relief e.g.  Up, Toy Story, Final Destination, Saw and the most impressive till now, Avatar.  Very fine and well-made 3D movies create awe in people due to the close resemblance to real-life, especially when the characters and the universe are all virtual.

Nowadays, 3D animations hold an important place in the science teaching field and medical field as well.  In the science education field, certain events or phenomenon which have occurred in the absence of humankind or which are difficult to capture on video or difficult to show and explain due to speed, time or space limitations, can be simulated in 3D animations e.g. the big bang theory can be simulated and explained in 3D, atomic movements can be created in 3D to teach science students, real fast reactions can be simulated in a slower speed to give the students a better idea, etc.

The medical field equally finds its way clearer in understanding complex and risky human operations with 3D animation.  Creations of instructional materials for medical students can be created in order to prepare them for the real life experiments and operations can be simulated with different calculated factors to give the surgeons a better idea of how to proceed in order to assure higher chances of success, especially in very complicated and risky cases.

Architects are also finding their work simplified and be more accurate with 3D animations.  Structures and pilot projects in 3D structures have since long been used to present a concept in the architectural field.  But computer generated designs and simulations in 3D of these concepts and projects give a better idea and show more details and accuracy about how things will be before, during and after the realization of these projects.  This allows proper guidance to architects and builders and also prevents major blunders and mishaps which went unnoticed during the pilot stage of conception from happening.

Another widely used concept of 3D animations in video games.  What makes them so appreciated by users is the fact that video games are highly interactive.  The player can control everything in the game with the help of buttons and joysticks.  He can choose his character, choose his locations, control his character's moves and in turn gets to see the results.  This interaction between the player and animations in the game enriches the player's experience.  Examples of highly interactive 3D animation games are Resident Evil, Dead Space, Grand Theft Auto Game, Harry Potter, God of War, etc.

Another way in which 3D interactive animations are being increasingly used is in promotion, advertising and marketing on the web.  Interactive product animations are created using the stop motion technique where the product concerned is photographed in different positions and the photos are displayed in a sequence to create an illusion of movement.  These animations are usually displayed using Flash for desktop browsers and the viewer is allowed to control the product and view it in different angles.  Interactive Flash animations of products in 3D in ecommerce increases customer experience.  One such example is the PackshotCreator digital photo studio which contains models allowing the creation of interactive 360 degree rotations and 3D animations of products in the Flash format.  Such models of the HD digital photo studio contain a turntable which changes the product's position and an integrated camera which takes HD digital photos of the product.  The image capturing and processing software then allows the creation of interactive Flash 360 degree rotations or 3D animations from these images.

3D animations are now becoming ubiquitous in the modern society.  Despite becoming more and more accessible to the public in various forms, being one of the latest technologies in the field of visual communication, whatever is termed as 3D creates awe in people.  3D display of visuals is the craze of the society today.  Just one concept and method of visual display turned out to have several forms and be applicable to numerous fields for numerous purposes.  3D still has a long way to go.  Subject of different experiments and research, 3D visual display promises more pleasant evolution.