Liam James
Renderly Founder | 3D Rendering & Marketing Specialist.
With a passion for creating amazing CGI and VFX that also tell great stories and help brands reach the next level. Liam has ran Renderly for 3 years working with a variety of clients in the 3D field, mostly creating photorealistic style 3d renders and animations.
Table of Contents
5.4 Film & Entertainment
What is 3D Rendering?
3D rendering is the process of creating computer generated 2D images from 3D models using specialized computer software.
This technique is fundamental in industries such as architecture, gaming, and film, where realistic visualizations are crucial.
The rendering process begins with modelling, where 3D objects are created. These objects are then textured to add surface details and colours. Lighting is introduced to simulate real-world illumination, enhancing the realism of the scene.
On a technical level, rendering software uses algorithms such as ray tracing or rasterization to create the images. Ray tracing simulates the way light interacts with objects by tracing the path of light rays and calculating reflections, refractions, and shadows, producing highly realistic images. Rasterization, on the other hand, converts 3D objects into pixels on a 2D screen by projecting them and calculating the colour of each pixel based on the object's material properties and lighting.
Key Processes in 3D Rendering
The four key processes involved are modeling, texturing, lighting, and rendering. Each step is crucial for producing high-quality visuals and involves specific technical details.
1. Modelling
2. Texturing
3. Lighting
4. Rendering
1. 3D Modelling
First is modelling, which is the process of creating 3D objects This phase consists of forming shapes that populate the 3d scene using dedicated software. It could be, for example, Blender, Maya, or 3ds Max. Applied techniques are: polygonal modeling, NURBS and sculpting.
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Polygonal modelling is a process for making objects from vertices, edges and faces to form a mesh. The model is edited from a simple plane by extruding, scaling and transforming the faces of the mesh into the correct shape. Good toplogy is essential to a solid polygonal model. Polygonal modelling is typical used for hard surface objects that are made out of materials like metal or plastic eg. cars, phones, accessories, ships. weapons.
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NURBS is used for creating smooth surfaces and curves; it is also useful in making detailed and accurate designs.
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Sculpting allows one to create more organic and detailed models, much like digital clay modelling. Imagine this as a ball of play-dough that can be squished, cut and scraped to form an organic shape. This technique is often more effective with organic models such as animals, clothes or characters.
A 3D model created with Polygonal Modelling.
2. Texturing
Texturing is the process of applying detail to a 3D model by adding color, patterns, or material properties. This is ideally being done through a technique called UV mapping, where 3D surface unwraps onto a 2D plane, then textures have to be minified onto this accordingly.
The overall texture of a model is commonly divided into a few maps, maps are images that give the 3d software information on where to place material properties on the 3d model, corresponding to the UV mapping that was completed. All images that define different properties of the material: be it colour (diffuse maps), roughness (specular maps), details and bumps (displacement and bump maps) of the surface, or else can be included in these maps. It is not always required to have a map for every material property, this will depend on the 3d model and what it will be used for.
Texturing is very important when trying to achieve realism. Many people overlook that aspect, but it is an intrinsic part of the process. It is the one which will determine how the model will look under different lighting conditions upon it
Diffuse (Colour)
Specular (Roughness)
Metallic
Ambient Occlusion
Normal
3. Lighting
Lighting means simulating light sources which are going to illuminate your scene. At Renderly, we take photographic techniques from real life and recreate them in CGI.
This involves placing and setting up the various light types such as point lights, directional lights, and area lights, and using them to create key, background, and complimentary lights in the scene.
Ray tracing and global illumination are the methods 3D software packages use to compute light interactions with surfaces, thereby creating very realistic shadows, reflections, and refractions.
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Ray tracing emulates light-ray movement around a space, creating very naturalistic lighting by displaying all reflections and shadows in detail.
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Global illumination is related to indirect illumination, allowing lights from surfaces to further reflect and therefore add to the atmosphere and dramatic effect of the scene. Proper lighting ensures the proper setup for any scene and making everything clear by effective illumination.
3D Scene Preview
Final Output with Lighting
4. Rendering
Render then, is the final process where a scene is within the process of being changed into a 2D image or animation. This is basically a process by which a 3D scene, together with its models, textures, and lighting, is transposed onto one flat image. This therefore needs rendering engines such as Arnold, V-Ray, or Cycles to make such complex calculations for the final products. The process is computationally difficult, often needing powerful hardware and much time.
The two primary techniques for rendering are ray tracing and rasterization. Ray tracing is usually the technique for photo-realistic images, while rasterization is faster and, therefore, generally used in video games and other applications that require real-time rendering.
Rendering brings everything into the line of sight as the final visual result, which one sees, piecing together to make it look polished and give out a whole image, whole animation. The quality of rendering goes a very big way in determining the display and realism of the final product.
Blender Cycles Render Engine rendering an image
3D Rendering Software
There is a range of 3D rendering software in the market, each option has it's strengths and weaknesses in terms of price, features, add-on compatibility, ease of use etc.
Our studio chooses to use
- Blender for its versatility, great modelling and texturing tools, extremely fast rendering using the cycles render engine and fantastic add-on support.
- Cinema 4d for its amazing motion graphics system and beautiful photorealistic rendering using the Redshift and Octane render engines.
- Houdini for its industry best VFX capabilities.
Here is a list of the most popular options for 3D rendering, we will also discuss the software capabilities in other areas of 3D. This list is not in order of the best software to worst just a overall look at the options and their pro's and con's.
1. Blender
Blender is a free, open-source 3D creation suite supporting modelling, animation, and simulation. It has recently gained in popularity due to its versatility and active community base. Pros: Blender is free software, very accessible to everyone, and it covers all features, which get updated and improved all the time. It is also flexible enough to be applied to a great number of tasks—from very basic modelling to sophisticated animation techniques. Cons: The interface could be the greatest shock for a first-timer, so the learning graph may become steeper. It is also still not used by professional studios as much as other software.
2. Cinema 4D
Cinema 4D by Maxon is a firmly footed 3D software within the motion graphics industry. It is very easy to use, stable, and has strong capabilities with animation, rendering, and modelling. Pros: Cinema 4D is easier to use compared to other 3D software's, making it easier to learn. Very good for motion graphics—actually, it has very powerful tools in this regard, respected in the industry. Also, it really is stable and runs smoothly. Cons: Cinema 4D is one of the more expensive solutions out there; for all of those functionalities, you really want to fork over the cash for the full version, It has limited sculpting tools, and mainly it's motion graphics-driven, so not very fitting for other jobs in the 3D area
3. Autodesk 3DS Max
Autodesk 3ds Max is a professional tool for 3D modeling, animation, and rendering that is mostly applied in the gaming and architecture/visualization industries. Equipped with a strong set of tools, it's been ruling it's fields for many consecutive years. Pros: Industry-standard tool with powerful modelling tools; large plugin library provides all professional support needed for difficult projects. Cons: However, it comes with a high price tag, which can be prohibitive for freelancers and small studios. The software also has a steep learning curve and is only available on Windows, limiting its accessibility.
4. Autodesk Maya
Autodesk Maya is a very popular tool for 3D animation, modeling, simulation, and rendering. Maya finds high usage in the film, television, and game industries. In fact, today, it is one of the most advanced tools for next-level animation and rigging. Pros: Used professionally in the film and game industries with a strong reputation in character animation and rigging. Maya also works very well with other Autodesk products and therefore allows workflow efficiency. Cons: The software is expensive, which can be a significant investment for individual users or small studios. Additionally, Maya has a complex interface that can be daunting for beginners and may suffer from performance issues with heavy scenes.
5. Houdini
Houdini by SideFX is a 3D software that has gained a lot of fame for its inbuilt strong procedural generation capacity; hence, it is one of the most sought-after tools for making complicated simulations and visual effects (VFX). Pros: The procedural workflow in Houdini is very powerful. Artists can create minute simulations and effects which are highly customizable. It is industry standard and has the best VFX capabilities for the film and game industries. Cons: It has a steep learning curve, requiring great time to master, especially for beginners. It also comes at a high cost, particularly the full version, and it is overkill for simpler modelling and animation needs where advanced features may not be necessary.
6. Unreal Engine
Unreal Engine is a very powerful game engine developed by Epic Games. Best known for game development, it is used in other fields that require real-time rendering and visualization. Pros: Unreal Engine is arguably unmatched for real-time rendering; it allows production of high-quality visuals that can be interacted with in real time. This has a particular use in architectural rendering to create live virtual tours. Its Blueprint system means non-programmers have the ability to develop complex game logic without writing code. Cons: Very complex with steep learning curves, especially for really new users to game engines. While it can and is used by some artists for 3D rendering, its primary focus remains on game development, meaning there are most specialist software options.
7. Keyshot
Built for 3D rendering and animation speed and simplicity, KeyShot is used to create top-quality visuals consequently at record speeds. Its ease of use has made it extremely popular among product designers and marketers. Pros: Fast rendering times and ease of use have been the pride of KeyShot, making it very approachable to even those with minimal experience in 3D rendering. Added to this is a library of great magnitude regarding materials and textures used in the production of very realistic renders. Cons: KeyShot has very few tools for animation at baseline, and the depth needed for more complex animations is not available. It is not a full 3D suite since it focuses pretty much on rendering without modelling or rigging tools.
8. Lumion
Lumion is a real-time 3D rendering tool made primarily for architects and designers. It is a substitute for apps like Revit and SketchUp, known by its easy-to-use interface and rapid rendering time of high-quality renders. Pros: It is easy to use, making it available option for most architects even if they don't have the greatest knowledge of 3D render software and principles. Lumion is great for quick, high-quality visualizations; esp. architectural Cons: Despite being a leader in architecture visualization, Lumion is not as adaptable for film or gaming; it is rather expensive and which may be an issue for freelancers or smaller studios.
3D Rendering Methods
Rasterization:
Rasterization reinterprets the 3D models into 2D images using the mappings between the polygons and the pixels. This method is the fastest, hence normally applied in real-time applications like video games. While being efficient, it has difficulty handling complex light effects like reflection and refractions.
Learn more about rasterization here - https://www.scratchapixel.com/lessons/3d-basic-rendering/rasterization-practical-implementation/overview-rasterization-algorithm.html
Scanline Rendering:
Scanline rendering generates images line by line. This algorithm computes only visible surfaces and thus becomes faster compared to rendering the whole scene. It used to be very popular for real-time graphics, but due to some advanced methods nowadays, it's not that common anymore.
Learn more about scanline rendering here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scanline_rendering
Radiosity:
Radiosity simulates the transfer of diffuse light between surfaces. It can create extremely realistic soft light in a scene and is normally applied to pre-rendered scenes rather than to real-time applications since it's correct but computationally intensive.
Learn more about radiosity here - https://medium.com/@coderfromnineteen/computer-graphics-theory-radiosity-global-illumination-8c473607e6cd
Raytracing:
Ray tracing is a technique that traces the way the rays go from the camera through every pixel in the image, thus producing more accurate effects of lighting by simulating reflections and shadows. It builds a very realistic picture but is computationally burdensome. Traditionally, it is applied for non-real-time rendering, while real-time ray tracing starts to appear.
Learn more about raytracing here - https://developer.nvidia.com/discover/ray-tracing
Industries that are using 3D rendering
1. Advertisment and Marketing:
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Product visualisation: Hyper realistic renders of the product for advertisement purposes.
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Virtual Prototyping: Demonstrate the product before it is manufactured, forcing market feedback.
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Attractive interactive 3D ads that provoke the attention of consumer.
2. Architecture & Interior Design:
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Realistic rendering of images/walkthroughs for buildings and interiors — Architectural Visualization.
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Virtual Reality Experience: Immersive virtual tours with the use of VR even before the building is built.
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Urban planning: visualization of mega-projects at cities and Environmental Assessments
3. Gaming:
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Real-Time Rendering: Dynamic, interactive video game worlds and characters.
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Cinematic Cutscenes: The high-quality, story-driven scenes in games.
4. Film & Entertainment:
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VFX: Beautiful effects like explosions, water simulations .
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Production of fully rendered 3D films for animated films.
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CGI Environments: Planning and visualization for any virtual sets.
5. Geology & Science:
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3D Simulations Simulation of geological processes or scientific phenomenon and provide data to be analyzed hence submitted.
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Virtual Reconstructions — These could be reconstructions of historical events, fossils or ancient landscapes.
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Data Visualization- Convert the complex datasets into simple and graspable forms.
6. Manufacturing:
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Prototype Visualization: Giving a visual of prototype before physical manufacturing is done.
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Training Material: Introducing instructional animation and visual guide for assembly guides.
7. Healthcare & Medicine:
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Medical Imaging – Gives a high-quality 3D rendering of models extracted from MRI and CT scans to aid in diagnostics.
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Preoperative planning: 3D model of the anatomical preoperatively with simulation surgery.
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Medical Training / Education : A 3D simulation which is developed as real as live so that medical professionals can learn better.
Benefits of using 3D rendering for Businesses
There are many amazing benefits of using CGI, at Renderly we position our services to lever these benefits. We are also open and honest about the limitations of 3D rendering and attempt to steer our services away from those industries that are based served using traditional photography or other media.
Therefore we generally specialize our services into the technology, automotive, and furniture businesses as we believe those to have the greatest benefit for using 3d rendering.
Here are some of the main benefits of using 3D rendering.
Unlimited Creative Options:
When pitching creative ideas for product advertisement the boundaries of real physics and practicalities can often get in the way of cool ideas. Here is where 3d rendering shines, if you want to put a giant chocolate bar that floats through the city of London bouncing off the most popular tourist attractions, or explode your product and breakdown every internal component with explosions and VFX these ideas are impossible in the real world and are unlocked by CGI.
Boosted Marketing Yields and Sales
High quality 3d rendering can have a profound effect on elevating marketing campaigns. CGI can shine products in their best light and help increase the perceived value and quality of your product.
This can however have the opposite effect if the quality of the 3d rendering is lacking these leaves an impression on the product and can cause concern for potential customers.
