interface NYC

NYC 3D
Fall 1994

Making 3D images on the computer is a strange experience. I have been using Strata Studio Pro, which is a powerful and easy-to-use program for making 3D objects and worlds. (See a sample of my 3D work here - an exploration of texture mapping.) The manual describes how the user must get used to working in 3D space, as if one were not already aware. But the fact is, we have been using computers to create two-dimensional imagery for years, and only recently has it become possible to easily create 3D worlds on a small, desktop computers. So we have to adjust to viewing objects from more than one point of view. This process coincides with the progression of digital media, in which multiple points of view -- whether spatial, temporal, interpersonal or conceptual -- are possible.

Looking at a flat computer screen is looking at a 2D image. 3D programs only create the illusion of 3D space, (though perceptually, one coud argue that there is no difference). Studio Pro, like many such programs, uses metaphors such as photography and film to create the illusion. You "model" your world (a sculpture metaphor) in pseudo-3D, and then you use a "camera" to take still snapshots of your model; you render your three-dimensional world into two dimensions. To create animation, you move a representation of a movie or video camera through your model. Having been using my real-life video camera to capture much of Manhattan, I found it strange to now be using virtual cameras.

For a Yorb project, we built a bar in a matter of days -- a virtual bar that existed only on a computer. One of our team visited his favorite bars around town, and modeled our space after these.

Kevin Walker