3D Designing in Video Games: Everything You Need to Know
It's no exaggeration to say that 3D design has revolutionized video gaming over time. When we think of video gaming now, our minds tend to conjure up images of the Call Of Duty series, League Of Legends, or, particularly lately, Roblox and others like video game controllers. These examples make for a far cry from the gaming industry of 25 years ago, when 2D platformers, side-scrolling beat-em-ups, and vertical scrolling shmups ruled the roost. But what exactly has brought about the change?
Computing Power
3D modeling in video games is similar to CGI in movies: An object is not created all at once but must rather be modeled, textured, and rendered. If that object has moving parts –– a character being the most obvious example –– it must also be rigged. A "skeleton," if you like, must be created to make the animation convincing before it is finally animated as part of a playable product.
In the 8-bit days of the 1980s, there were a few 3D games, such as Knight Lore and Head Over Heels. While technologically impressive for their time, these games were isometric 2D appearing as 3D; characters moved in a chess-like fashion rather than freely about their environments. The PlayStation era brought us closer to what we might call modern 3D, with more expansive fields of movement in platformers such as Crash Bandicoot. However, the technology to support proper 3D animation still wasn't in place (witness how blocky the Lara Croft character is in the original Tomb Raider).
Detailed graphics hinge on polygon count; the more polygons an object has, the more detailed it can be. These days we can have an almost photorealistic world in Microsoft Flight Simulator or balletic battles in Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales. The 3D design has gotten to the stage where developers are limited more by their imaginations than their hardware. And this, as you might imagine, is proving to be an excellent thing for gaming.
Genre-Defining
3D gaming has been the default more or less since Super Mario 64 showed that the transition from 2D to 3D could be executed spectacularly. These days, 2D games seem to deliberately target a retro feel when they come to market (see Cuphead or Hollow Knight, for example). The exceptions would be in mobile gaming, where smaller screen sizes and touch controls can manipulate a 3D environment clunky. That's not to say we don't see 3D games in this space. However, generally speaking, single-screen playing arenas are common, and 2D still commands respect: See the runaway success of Angry Birds (which still soars high in app download charts 10+ years after release) as an example.
We see other genres in the mobile arena enhanced by transitions to 3D. Board and card games stand out in this regard, as we've seen titles from Monopoly to various iterations of chess made all the more engaging by embracing animations and 3D game pieces. Similarly, poker games that would previously just have been flat displays of cards are now played around virtual tables, often with 3D characters seated before their hands of cards.
Other casino games have more or less been wholly redesigned around modern design capabilities. Slot machines, in particular, have embraced animations and 3D content to great effect. These updated slots have been spreading across online casinos for some time now, with some of the latest exclusives on Gala Bingo illustrating perfectly what effect modernized designs have. A game like Hyper Star, thematically, could blend in with any 30-year-old casino slot reel. But the infusion of 3D designs and animations for everything from slot icons to gold coins bursting out of the game gives this experience a distinctly modern (and far more exciting) feel.
Democratization
Perhaps the most exciting aspect of advances in 3D design with respect to gaming is the fact that they aren't just limited to the big studios. Anyone can have a go! Players all over the world are building new worlds in Minecraft; indie creators with limited budgets are finding success in the PC, console, and mobile arenas. Ten years ago, Computer-Aided Design was restricted to the workplace, with software licenses often costing thousands of dollars. Now, the amateur looking to explore 3D design and ultimately game development can make good use of highly capable packages like SelfCAD to get started completely free of charge.
Why SelfCAD The Best Program for Creating Video Game Assets?
SelfCAD is one of the best 3D modeling software for game design. There is a browser-based version as well as the Windows and Mac versions. This is helpful because if you don’t have enough space in your computer you can opt to run the software online. Also, with the browser-based version, a video game designer can be able to work on their projects anytime and anywhere as your files are safely stored in the cloud.
SelfCAD is also easy to use. Even if you don’t have any experience in creating 3D models, you can prepare both simple and complex assets for your video games without having to spend a lot of time learning the software. The interactive tutorials of SelfCAD are also handy as they will help you master the program easily.
There are powerful tools of SelfCAD like the freehand drawing and sketching as well as image to 3D feature that makes it easier for you to turn any image into a 3D model easily. Additionally, there is also a reference image feature which allows you to import your 2D design and use the other tools of SelfCAD like the freehand and sketching tools to trace around it and later turn it into a 3D model. This is helpful if you are good at drawing. You can prepare your designs on paper, take a good picture and import the image to SelfCAD and use it as a reference for your design. Once you are done with preparing your game assets in SelfCAD you can use the animation feature to create simple animations for your game or you can export them to other programs dedicated to game design for further modification.
If you're looking to develop games, it's a great plan to get familiar with 3D design. It's the foundation of much of modern gaming, and it has become a more accessible skill than ever before.
Enjoy powerful modeling, rendering, and 3D printing tools without the steep learning curve.
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Need to learn 3D modeling? Get started with interactive tutorials.