3D Design & Development
Normal Maps and Baking, Done Properly
Normal maps store the direction a surface faces at each pixel, letting a low-polygon model look detailed; baking is the process that transfers that detail from...
Imogen Clarke
Stills, retouching and real-time 3D. Writes about color management, asset pipelines and getting heavy visual work into a browser.
417 articles
3D Design & Development
OpenEXR and Render Passes: What Actually Works
OpenEXR is the open high dynamic range image format used in film and visual effects, and render passes are the separate layers of a render, such as lighting, re...
3D Design & Development
A Practical Guide to Color Management in 3D
Keeping color consistent from textures to renders to final output, by rendering in a defined linear working space and converting to each display with a view tra...
3D Design & Development
Texture Compression for Real-Time 3D: What Actually Works
Storing textures in GPU-ready compressed formats, packaged in the KTX 2.0 container with Basis Universal supercompression, so they download small and stay compr...
3D Design & Development
Geometry Compression for glTF: What Actually Works
Reducing the download size of 3D models for the web with glTF extensions such as Draco mesh compression, meshopt compression and mesh quantization. Where most p...
3D Design & Development
How to Get Level of Detail Systems Right
Showing simpler versions of a model as it gets farther from the camera, so large scenes keep a steady frame rate without visible loss of quality. Why does it ma...
3D Design & Development
Subdivision Surface Modeling, Done Properly
Modeling with a low-polygon control cage that is smoothed by subdivision, producing clean curved surfaces for products, characters and organic forms. At a glanc...
3D Design & Development
A Practical Guide to Hard-Surface Modeling
Modeling manufactured objects with precise edges and flat or mechanical forms, such as electronics, vehicles, weapons and furniture. What is at stake Hard-surfa...
3D Design & Development
A Practical Guide to Digital Sculpting
Creating detailed organic forms, such as characters, creatures and natural surfaces, by pushing and pulling high-resolution geometry like clay. The key figures...
3D Design & Development
Photogrammetry, Done Properly
Creating 3D models from many overlapping photographs of an object or scene, using software that reconstructs geometry and textures from the images. Where most p...
3D Design & Development
How to Get 3D Scanning with LiDAR and Depth Sensors Right
Capturing the shape of objects, rooms or buildings with laser or depth sensors, including the LiDAR sensors built into some phones and tablets. Why does it matt...
3D Design & Development
How to Get Gaussian Splatting Right
A 3D capture and rendering technique that represents scenes as millions of small, colored Gaussian shapes, reconstructed from photos or video. At a glance Input...
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