I was sitting down with a friend the other day when he told me that he still couldn’t quite grasp what the differences between 3D and 2D animation were. I get this a lot from my friends and people who are not within the industry.
So once and for all, I’m going to offer some tips to those of you in the same category so that you can start educating and impressing your friends and relatives.
The first concept you must grasp is that 3D means 3 dimensional and 2D means 2 dimensional. Now before you think I’m stating the obvious, let me go on to say that the 3D and 2D in animation refer to the dimension in which the animation was created. Ahhhh. The plot thickens eh?
For 2D animation, everything happens on a 2 dimensional platform. Pictures are flat, without depth and offer only one pespective. Objects and characters are usually drawn without the subtle soft shadows we see in real life and colours have few varying shades. In 3D animation, everything happens on a 3 dimensional platform. Pictures have depth and offer multiple pespectives just like in real life and have soft subtle shadows casted on the objects and characters within.
In 2D, characters look cartoonish and unrealisitc. In 3D, characters can look cartoonish but realistic at the same time.
Another way to think of this is to think in terms of a painting and a sculpture. 2D is a painting, and 3D is a sculpture. 3D introduces “depth perspective,” so we not only see a rectangle (2D) but a CUBE (3D). You may also want to think of it like being the difference between a photograph of a glass of water (2D) and being able to reach out and actually pick up the glass of water (3D).
You could start training yourself by comparing a cartoon (say, Bugs Bunny - 2D) to “Toy Story 1,2 & 3″, “Finding Nemo” and “Incredibles” (3D). If you have not watched any of these great cartoons, you should grab one right away or be branded a neantherdal forever!
Typically, 2D involves “drawing,” or movement on, say, a flat surface (sketch pad, etc.) or in the vertical and horizontal planes. 3D involves “modeling,” i.e., creating objects in 3-dimensions using a computer software, residing in an expansive virtual environment, replete with lights, reflections, other objects, shadows, etc.
Hopefully the next time somebody is wondering whether something is 2D or 3D, you would be able to impress him.
You can visit the Mediafreaks site to learn more about 3D animation and also receive a free report regarding 3D production services there.
This article was written by Aldric Chang - a creative businessman who is active in music composing and production, internet marketing, casual games production, animation production, cartoon production and character licensing. He’s currently intent on growing his up-and-coming 3D animation studio into a behemoth entertainment enterprise.
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