In computer graphics, three-dimensional modeling (3D) involves generation of a representation of a 3D surface of an object. The representation may be referred to as a 3D model or 3D object model, and can be rendered or displayed as a two-dimensional (2D) image via 3D rendering or displayed as a 3D image, such as a stereoscopic 3D image. 3D models represent a 3D object using a collection of points in 3D space, connected by various geometric entities such as triangles, lines, curved surfaces, etc. Various techniques exist for generating 3D models utilizing point clouds and geometric shapes, for examples.
Being a collection of data, 3D models can be created by hand, algorithmically, or objects can be scanned, for example. The process of scanning 3D models may include obtaining data from one or more scanners having one or more scan heads, where the scan heads may include geometry cameras, projectors, texture cameras, etc. As an example, an artist may manually generate a stereoscopic 3D image of an object that can be used as the 3D model. As another example, an object may be scanned and the scanned image can be used to generate the stereoscopic 3D image of the object. As still another example, an image of an object may be used to generate a point cloud that can be algorithmically processed to generate the stereoscopic 3D image. A point cloud may include, for example, vertices in a 3D dimensional coordinate system.
3D models may include solid models that define a volume of the object, or may include shell or boundary models that represent a surface (e.g., the boundary) of the object. Because an appearance of an object depends largely on an exterior of the object, boundary representations are common in computer graphics.
3D models are used in a wide variety of fields, and may be displayed using a number of different types of interfaces. Example interfaces may provide functionality to enable interaction between a user and the 3D models.