Before we go any further, let's take a moment to make sure that we are speaking the same language. 3D, like any other field, is full of jargon and terms that need to be defined before we can move on to the concepts behind 3D. Most of us have built some sort of real-time model—you know, those plastic airplanes or cars, or models of ecosystems for that junior-high science class. Either way, the point of models is not to really recreate the target object, but rather to create a representation of it.

A computer model is the same; it is a collection of digital instructions interpreted by the computer to form the geometrical appearance of an object. The geometry of models only exists in the computer's digital space. They are a file, like a Word or Photoshop file. Models can be sent over the Internet, stored on a disk, and backed up on a CD. In reality, a model is just another collection of 1s and 0s.

However, this collection of 1s and 0s is the basis for most all effective 3D. It is the building block of the rest of the 3D concepts to follow. But remember, since a model is a representation of an object, do not try to make it into the actual object. Be frugal with your modeling, and the time you spend modeling. Good projects incorporate good models, but also exploit the other aspects of 3D. Too often, people get so caught up in the modeling that they do not get around to the other important parts of the project.

Remember that while models are an essential part of 3D projects, good models do not necessarily equal good 3D projects unless the other aspects of 3D are addressed as well. Plan your time carefully to include all the areas of 3D. Employers are much more impressed by a good model that is textured, lit, rendered, and animated well, than by just a good model. Once models are created, textures are applied. Textures are like a colored shrink-wrap or veneer applied to the surface of the model.

Some textures allow the model to be clear like a sort of invisibility cape, while others make a model appear bumpy, sheeny, or coarse. Some textures (displacement maps) even change the geometry of the model. Textures can be projected like a slide through a slide projector, laid over like a blanket, or shrinkwrapped around the model's geometry. Textures take the same ball of geometry and change it from one object to another.

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