What is a CG Animation? A CG (computer generated) 3D animation or digital 3D animation is a powerful design, marketing and promotional tool for both the architectural and product design industries. A 3D animation is created by animating a virtual camera or a series of cameras through and/or around a digital 3Dmodel. These 3D camera paths are then rendered on our custom built render farm as a series of still images which are in turn composited together into a seamless walkthrough or virtual tour. 3D animations allow viewers to get a full 360 degree view or tour of a building or product before it is build or manufactured. They give viewers a full understanding of layouts and designs. 3rd Dimension design and produce 3 main types of CG digital animations for the architectural and product design industries – 3D Exterior & Interior Walkthroughs / Interactive 3D Animations / Real Time 3D Virtual Tours. Software used by 3rd Dimension includes AutoCad, 3ds Max Design, VRay, Photoshop and the suite of Adobe products.
3D WALKTHROUGHS (click to view portfolio)
Exterior: Exterior 3D animations are created from fully constructed digital 3D models. Depending on the scale of the project anything up to 30-40 different camera paths are created making sure all aspects of the development or product are covered. Camera paths range from close up detail shots to wide angle views taking in the entire digital 3D model. All camera paths are rendered and the resulting set of 3D images are composited into one complete 3D exterior tour. Our 3D animations can be produced in a wide variety of file formats to suit presentation and online requirements.
Interior: Interior 3D animations bring viewers on a 3D virtual tour of the inside of a proposed property development. Whether it’s residential or commercial, the 3D walkthrough gives viewers a photorealistic idea of what the interior space/s will look like. Full detailed architectural 3D modelling is carried out for all our interior 3D animations and all digital 3D models are fully populated with 3D furniture, fixtures & fittings & soft furnishings. All our interior 3D animations consist of a variety of camera angles and range of views to help portray the entire space in all it’s detail. Our interior 3D walkthroughs are extremly photorealistic and in effect, act as a virtual showhouse. We work closely with interior designers and architects to ensure that their designs and layouts are interpreted accurately.
INTERACTIVE 3D WALKTHROUGHS (contact us for more information)
Interactive 3D animations are designed to allow viewers to choose where they would like to go within an interior digital 3D model. An interactive 3D animation involves the complete digital 3D modelling of the interior space t be toured. Viewers can then choose which room they would like to visit. These interactive 3D tours generally begin in the hallway of a house or the lobby of an office. From here viewers will be given an on screen choice of rooms to visit. Once they choose that room they will be brought there by means of a single camera animation. This allows viewers to fully explore and get interactive with development. Interactive 3D animations are used for promotional, explanatory and marketing purposes. The are produced for both online and DVD formats. Online versions are designed in flash and embedded within the site.
Fly-To 3D animations are similar in vein to the interactive 3D animations described above. The main difference is that they are exterior animations that allow viewers to ‘fly-to’ particular parts of a development from the one anchor point. They are ideal for illustrating the location & borientation of different apartments within a large development. The starting viewpoint is generally a birds eye perspective view of the entire development. from here viewers can choose where to ‘fly-to’
REAL TIME 3D VIRTUAL TOURS (contact us for more information)
Real Time 3D Virtual Tours are the instantaneous free movement around a 3D environment. Real Time 3D is experienced by the user in the first person and allows them to walk freely around a 3D environment or interior 3D space without the need to carry out any 3D rendering. The 3D environment is pre-rendered using a variety of techniques. Real Time Walkthroughs are becoming more and more popular with the emergence of 3D platforms such as Open Sim, Second Life and Unity 3D. There are numerous 3D software programs that allow you to design a real time 3D environment. 3ds Max Design has even bundled a retail render engine into its latest software version. 3rd Dimension have used Quest 3D to produce Real Time 3D models for clients such as Tesco Ireland.
Real Time 3D is becoming more & more popular within the 3D architectural industry. This is particularly the case at an early design stage to allow architects to make design decisions quickly by being able to pan around and zoom in and out of a 3D model in Real Time.
