3D modeling involves creating objects in a 3 dimensional space and taking a "snapshop" of the scene in order to create a 2 dimensional picture in a process called rendering. 3D modeling is very different than drawing 2 dimensional pictures - it involves learning a whole new set of skills, and is much more time consuming. Rendering is an extremely computationally-intensive process that can take several days depending on how complex your model is.

There are many ways to use 3D models. The usefulness of 3D models lies in the fact that they are, essentially, 3 dimensional worlds that you have complete control over (or incomplete control, depending on your deftness with the software). Objects are created that have 3 dimensions and can be viewed from any angle and, if the lighting and surface textures are manipulated properly, they affect each other in the same way that real objects do.

3D Examples

Title Screens

Click on the image to see the full size version

This is the main title screen from the video "Learning to Fly" that I worked on for Professor Sean Carroll. All title screens for this video were created in Strata StudioPro on a Power Macintosh 8500 with 80mb of RAM. The background and text for the title screen shown above was created in Strata StudioPro and the butterfly was photographed in the Carroll lab, scanned in, and pasted onto the background in Photoshop.

The background image was created in Strata StudioPro. It was quite simple. A large cube primitive was created and the preset "Jade" texture was applied to it. The text was extruded and a white, non-glossy texture applied. The model took a couple hours to create, only because I experimented with different textures, layouts and fonts. Rendering time was only about 10 minutes because of the simplicity of the model and because only one frame needed to be rendered.

The butterfly image was originally photographed in the Carroll lab. It was scanned in on a Nikon flatbed scanner and imported into Photoshop. Within Photoshop, it was scaled and the background taken out. The background image was also imported into Photoshop and, using the magic wand selection tool, the the butterfly was selected, copied, and pasted onto the background.

3D Animations

Chromosome Movement during Anaphase

These animations were used by Professor Gary G. Borisy as classroom lecture aids. All modeling and rendering was carried out in Strata StudioPro on a Power Macintosh 8100 with 24mb of RAM. They were converted to web format in Adobe Premiere. In completing this project, several versions were made which were reviewed by Dr. Borisy and then improved upon. Including all versions, I spent a total of 60 hours creating the models. The animations required about 14 hours each to render. 3D animations take much longer to render than still images because many individual images must be rendered to make up one movie file. These particular animations are 10 seconds long and their frame rate is 15 frames per second. Therefore, the movie files are made up of 150 individually rendered images.

During cell division the chromosomes are pulled to opposite sides of the cell. This movement occurs by way of two simultaneous processes: microtubule disassembly at the Kinetochore (green band) and the microtubule disassembly at the Centrosome (pearl ball). The disassembly at the Kinetochore occurs at 5 times the rate as the dissasembly at the Centrosome. This process was revealed through studies made in the laboratory of Professor Gary G. Borisy.

Disassembly shown only at the Centrosome (QuickTime 621K)
The second animation shows the dissasembly process only at the Centrosomes.

Disassembly shown only at the Kinetochore (QuickTime 655K)
The third animation shows the dissasembly process only at the Kinetochore.

For the 3D Modeler:

The making of the Anaphase Animation: