Hey, 3D animation department here.
In order to give the director and web person a break, I volunteered to do today's post. (Must have been one of my crazy moments.) So, I'm taking this chance to ramble on about planes and vertices and explain to you something of what I do.
3D animation, the art of making what isn't there there. It can be frustrating as well as fun and exciting. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to strangle the computer I was working on. The only problem being it was a laptop and had no neck.
One of the simpler projects I am working on is a metallic, three dimensional version of the Othersight symbol (image 1). After several failed attempts at replicating it in different ways. I discovered how to place the image we used for our shirts in the background of my animation software's interface (image 4). Ah, the wonders of YouTube. (Note to all would be animators: YouTube and other places are overflowing with people who have gone before us and recorded it for our benefit. Make use of these sources if possible. They make our work infinitely easier.)
After getting the image in place it was a simple matter of trimming and shaping a flat plane's mesh to fit the image. (Mesh is what everything in the 3D animation world is made of.) (image 3) Then extruding it upwards into a 3D image (kind of like those dough machines some of us had as kids,) and beveling the edges. (image 2)
Next stop, lighting and reflection....
As someone with an interest in animation, I found this fascinating. :)
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