We are sharing 3d dictionary which includes the list of key 3d glossary terms that every beginners or architects should be familiar with. Having the right knowledge of the animation terms is critical for any animation artist as it helps them express themselves better and accurately. The right knowledge of 3D animation terminology or 3d dictionary helps you become one of the favourites of the clients. Not only this, having the right knowledge will enable you deliver projects on time and at great speed. Renderspoint has brought to you 3d dictionary with key 3D terms, glossaries, terminologies, or vocabularies that every 3d artist should know.
3D Dictionary For Beginners
1. General 3D Terms
- CGI – CGI stands for computer-generated image or imagery. These are the images entirely generated using computers.
- UI – UI stands for user interface. This means everything that you can see on the screen and the various controls offered by the software.
- Modifier – A modifier is used to modify the 3D model in the most subtle and non-destructive way. Many of the 3D software such as 3ds Max and Blender use modifiers to duplicate, deform and perform other operations on the 3D model.
- Group – It’s just a collection of various objects. It’s just similar to a Windows folder.
- Manipulator/Gizmo – It’s a visual way to scale, move or rotate the 3D objects.
- Scripting – Using programming languages to work on 3D models requires scripting. Python is one of the popular scripting languages. The tasks can be simple as well as complicated.
- Null /Empty Object- This is a unique and special object that isn’t visible when you’re rendering. It comes into the picture when you’re performing rigging. This null/empty or locator object comes in various shapes.
- Outliner – It’s kind of a scene management tool where you get the overview of the 3D scene that is drafted. In software such as Maya and Blender, it is called an outliner. It gives you an overview of 3D scenes that include all lights, objects, empties/locators etc.
2. 3D Modeling Terms
- Edge – It’s a line that connects the vertices in a 3D model. The shape and topology of the 3D model are defined by edges. You need to have 3 or more edges to create a polygon.
- Polygon – By connecting three or more edges, a polygon is formed. You need to construct a polygon in order to get a 3D model.
- Vertex – A vertex or a vert is just a point in space. It is the simplest building block for any 3D model. Multiple vertex are known as vertices.
- Components – Vertices, edges, and polygons make up the parts or the components of the 3D model.
- Face – This is another name for polygon.
- Quad – A quad is a polygon having four vertices or four connected edges. Most designers prefer making their models into all quads. This makes the work easier.
- Triangle – A polygon having three vertices is known as a triangle.
- Ngon – Any polygon with “n” number of vertices (generally greater than 4) is called Ngon. These are used for creating complex 3D shapes. This is in 3d dictionary modeling terms.
- Topology – The combined layout of edges, vertices and faces refers to topology. It tells us how the 3D model will look once it is rendered. It also tells the behavioural pattern of the 3D model when animated.
- Poly Count – It’s the number of polygons in a 3D model.
- Mesh – A collection of edges, polygons and vertices of the 3D model forms the mesh.
- Geometry – The overall shape and structure of a 3D model form the geometry.
- Decimation – It’s a process of reducing the polygon count in a 3D model and ensuring that no change happens to its shape and other details.
- Normal – A normal is a vector entity that has a direction. The direction faced by the polygon is showcased by the normal. These are used to calculate the shading and lighting on the 3D model.
- Flipped Normal – This means when the normal is reversed. This results in issues in 3D modeling.
- UV mapping – Adding texture maps to 3D models to create a 2D version.
- UV Unwrapping – Also known as unfolding, UV unwrapping is a process of making a 3D model flat into a 2D space.
- UV Layout – The arrangement of UV coordinates/elements in a mesh is called UV layout. This is indeed the first step when you start texturing.
- Sculpting – Creating 3D models with the use of sculpting tools such as ZBrush is called sculpting. These are majorly used in the gaming industry to craft the characters.
- LIDAR – LIDAR or Light Detection and Ranging is a technique to perform a 3D scan of an object usually by a handheld device.
- Photoscanning – It’s a process of scanning various photographs which are taken at various angles to create a 3D model.
- Retopology (Retopo) – This is a process of remodelling a 3D model to make it animation-friendly and have a cleaner topology.
- High and Low Poly – Low poly 3D models are generally used in gaming engines. Here you need a low poly topology that scores high on optimization. High poly contains a high polygon count which is then baked into smaller maps and added to low poly to make it more detailed.
- Subdivisions (SubD) – SubD are added to make the model more realistic and smoother.
- Booleans – These help you create complex polygons. For example, you may use Booleans to create a hole in a model. This can be done by subtracting a cylinder from the model.
- Vertex ID – Every vertex will be identified by a Vertex ID number.
3. 3D Software Terms
- DCC – DCC means Digital Content Creation which is a technical term used for 3D software.
- ZBrush – ZBrush is a sculpting software that is majorly used to sculpt 3D game models such as environments, characters etc.
- Blender – It is one of the most popular 3D software widely used for 3D modeling, lighting, rigging, shading, rendering, animation and more.
- 3ds Max – One of the most widely used 3D software by Autodesk. It is used for all the tasks done by Blender. The best part is that it provides a workflow based on a modifier stack. This makes things easy to use, streamlined as well as offers a non-destructive workflow.
- Maya – Another popular 3D rendering and modeling software by Autodesk. It is extensively used in both games and films.
- Unity – Developed by Unity Technologies, this game engine comes with a wide range of features and tools. This software is mainly used for developing games.
- Unreal Engine – Used for developing video games, Unreal Engine is a game engine exclusively developed by Epic Games to generate photorealistic renders.
- Houdini – One of the top-rated 3D software expertly used for animation, 3D rendering, modeling and more.
4. Rendering Terms
- Grayscale – As the name suggests, gray scale means a lack of textures in computer-generated videos. Here the video is just in black and white colours.
- Dynamic View Adjustments – This means any changes that can occur during the course of the animation. The best example would be the zoom-in and zoom-out effect.
- Storyboard – This 3D animation technology means creating a series of sketches that are arranged in a way to showcase the series of the animation. It is generally referred to as a storyboarding process.
- Subtle Enhancements – This means simple VFX that can be added to the video to make it look more impactful and engaging. This may include gentle ripples, flickering fire, movements of birds etc.
- Postproduction – Any finishing touches that are given to the video after the development phase are called post-production.
- Rendering Powerhouse – This is also known as a render farm where multiple computers are used to enhance the rendering speed of the process.
- Seamless Integration – This means effortlessly inserting a 3D model into the video captured using a real camera.
- Motion speed or Frame Rate – It is also known as FPS or frame per rate which means the number of images or shots that appear on screen in one second. The more the FPS, the more the quality of the animation. This is in 3d dictionary rendering terms.
- Visual Story Blueprint – The blueprint is just the script, or we can say the scenario of the video that contains the narrative outlining. This explains the video from start to finish.
- Camera Path – It’s the path of the camera that moves around the animated scene.
- Preview Peek – This 3D animation terminology means animation’s short introduction which is generally done by recording the screen.
- Render Engine – A render engine is just a software that is used to create animations and other 3D renderings.
- Real Time – Real time means at the same moment or time. Any advanced software allows editing and visualization in the real time.
- Render – A render is a final output obtained after the rendering process where a final image is created from 3D scene with the help of a render engine.
- Compositing – This is the last stage of the final output. Here all the elements such as 3D shots and renders are combined.
- AOV – The full form of AOV is Arbitrary Output Variables. These are the rendered outputs that offer more flexibility and control over the 3D scene.
- Render Passes – This is another name for AOV.
5. Texturing and Shading Terms
- Texture Map – It’s an image file that is used in texturing software and is used to change the material properties of a 3D model.
- UDIM – It’s an acronym for U-dimension. UDIM divide the textures into smaller tiles or maps. This makes things easy to work even on complex models.
- Texture Painting – The process of creating texture maps is called texture painting.
- PBR – This means physical-based rendering. In this method where the lighting and shading are made to mimic the real world materials.
- Material – All texture maps relate to materials such as metal, glass, stone etc.
- Roughness – Roughness is related to the reflectiveness of the material. A material is said to be rough if they have a less reflective index or are less shiny.
- SSS – This means subsurface scattering. It’s a way of how light reflects within a 3D model and gives the illusion of skin, wax etc.
- Displacement Map – These maps are majorly used in the VFX and film industry. These are used to add geometric details to 3D models by using textures.
- Height Map – These are the same as that of displacement maps. Some software uses different naming conventions.
- Normal Map – It’s just a simple, colourful map that is used to showcase the geometric details.
- Bump Map – It’s the same as of normal map but is black and white. This is part of 3d texturing and shading dictionary.
- Trim Sheets – A trim sheet is a single texture map. It covers the details of many smaller elements or textures.
- Texture Baking – It’s a process of transferring the data to texture maps from 3D models.
- Texel Density – The amount of texture detail applied to any 3D model comprises of texel density.
6. Animation Terminology
- Frame – It’s just a single image amongst a sequence of images in an animation.
- Frame rate – The number of frames played per second comprise the frame rate.
- Keyframe – A keyframe is a point in the animation timeline. It’s the point where any change is applied.
- Graph Editor – It’s a tool used to edit and visualize the animation curves.
- Timeline – A timeline is a visual representation of the frames and keyframes. This is part of 3d animation terminology dictionary.
- Dope Sheet – It’s a timeline that is used to control the duration and timing of the keyframes.
7. Rigging Terminology
- Rigging – It’s a stage before animation that creates a skeleton for a 3D model. This allows to move the characters within the animation.
- Forward Kinematics – FK is a rigging method where every joint determines the next position such as a movement in the shoulder will affect the movement of the elbow and hand.
- Inverse Kinematics – This is the inverse of FK. In this rigging method, the animators move the endpoint such a hand which thereby follows all the joints along.
- Skinning – In this process, 3D model gets attached to the joints of the 3D model.
- Joints – Joints are the individual parts of the 3D skeleton that are designed to control the movement of the 3D model.
- Weight Painting – It’s a method that is done after the skinning. Here weight values are assigned from the joint to the 3D model.
- Constraints – This is a way to control the scale, position, and orientation of the object.
- Deformer – A deformer is used to modify the shape of the 3D model such as bending or twisting it.
- Blend Shapes – Also known as Shape Keys or Morph Targets, Blend Shapes is a system used for deforming the models having identical topology.
8. Lighting Terminology
- Area Light – Ideal for producing soft shadows, area light is a type of 3D light that is similar to lamps having diffusers in front.
- Directional Lights – These lights are ideal for emulating the sunlight and are perfect for creating scenes where you need to add natural light.
- Point Lights – These are similar to bulb lights in the real world. These emit the lights from all directions equally.
- Spotlights – Flashlights or stage lighting are perfect examples for spotlights. In the 3D world, spotlights are used to create a similar effect as in real world.
- AO – The full form of AO is Ambient Occlusion. This is a shader technique that is used to add details to the materials and texture.
- HDRI – It stands for High Dynamic Range Imaging. This is a lighting technique that enables capturing and reproducing lighting from real world environments.
9. Pipeline Terms
- Pipeline – A 3D pipeline means creating a 3D project from ideation to the final product. All the stages such as concept design, modeling, texturing, rendering and post-production etc are included in this.
- Reference – When a 3D file can be used in another 3D scene, it is called referencing or linking.
- USD – USD stands for Universal Scene Description. It’s a set of tools that are required for sharing and organizing data in a pipeline for various 3D software.
10. Common File Formats
- OBJ – This is one of the most common file formats used for storing 3D object files. It’s supported by most of the 3D software.
- MA – MA is an extension for Maya ASCII files. For Maya Binary, MB file format is used.
- FBX – It is a proprietary file format developed by Autodesk and is used for exchanging 3D assets between various 3D software.
- MAX – It’s a file format used by 3ds Max to store 3D files.
- BLEND – It’s a file format used by 3D software Blender to store files.
- USD – It’s an open-source format that allows the storage of 3D scenes data as well as materials, and textures between different 3D software applications.
- ZTOOL / ZPROJ – To store the ZBrush models, ZTOOL is used.
11. 2D Texture File Terms
- JPEG – JPEG supports file compression and this file format is heavily used for web images.
- PNG – This is one of the most common file formats that ensures lossless compression and supports transparency.
- TIFF – Another common file format widely used for final renders and texture maps.
- EXR – These files are used for both texture maps and renders. This file format contains large data as compared to normal file formats.
We hope this 3d dictionary with latest 3D animation terms, glossary, modeling terminology, or vocabulary will help you gain better insights into your upcoming projects. Contact us today for any 3d dictionary or terms related more information. Looking for a 3D animation studio to transform your dream ideas into designs?
