2-D Animation Unit 9 Vocab

Low Poly

a graphics term for a polygon mesh with a low number of polygons

Back-Face Culling

a tool that makes the back side of your 3D object transparent

Perspective Mode

adds the distortion of a vanishing point, where things that are farther away appear smaller than things closer up

Orthographic Mode

allows seeing exact proportions because we are looking at the 3D objects flattened out

Mirroring

allows to create one side of the character, and the opposite side is automatically generated to match it; a symmetry technique

Weight Paint

allows to paint vertex weights for the various bones in a character rig. The vertex weights are what determine which bones have more of a pull on a vertex when the bones are moving around

Polygons

also called faces, are the flat faces that make up the shape of a 3D model. If you look closely enough at any 3D model, even a very smooth, detailed one, you will see that it is actually made up of lots of small, flat faces

Edges

also called lines, are the straight lines that run between the vertices of a 3D model to form flat faces

Vertices

also called points, are the individual points in space that define the shape of an object

Box Modeling

an approach where you generally start off with a standard, six-sided box, and then begin extruding new geometry to create more complex forms

Axis

an imaginary line about which a body rotates

Topology

building the polygonal structure of your model; the geographic surface of a model

Extrusion

in 3D graphics terms, this is the process of pulling new geometry out of existing geometry in order to add new elements, parts, or areas to an existing object

Sculpt Mode

provides a selection of brushes for sculpting high-resolution models and can serve as a more organic, artistic alternative for shaping 3D models. This is especially true when dealing with very high-resolution models with many thousands of polygons

Texture Paint

provides a suite of paintbrush tools, presets and options which allow to paint textures directly onto the surface of your 3D models. This is an alternative to the traditional approach of painting textures for models in a separate image editing application

Vertex Paint

provides the option of simply painting color onto the model by coloring the vertices. This method is usually only effective if you have a very high-density mesh — that is, a 3D mesh with a lot of vertices in it — or if your character is highly cartoonish, not requiring very detailed coloring. Otherwise, things tend to look blotchy

Edit Mode

the main mode used to edit the sub-object data — the polygons, edges, and vertices — of 3D models

Object Mode

this mode is for laying out a scene — you can create new objects, delete them, move, rotate and scale them, group them, create parent-child relationships, etc