Whois & Analysis for sidefx.com

In 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling (or three-dimensional modeling) is the process of developing a mathematical representation of any three-dimensional surface of an object (either inanimate or living) via specialized software.

The product is called a 3D model.

It can be displayed as a two-dimensional image through a process called 3D rendering or used in a computer simulation of physical phenomena.

The model can also be physically created using 3D printing devices.

Houdini is a 3D animation application software developed by Side Effects Software based in Toronto.

Side Effects adapted Houdini from the PRISMS suite of procedural generation software tools.

Its exclusive attention to procedural generation distinguishes it from other 3D computer graphics software.

In filmmaking, visual effects (abbreviated VFX) are the processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a live action shot.

A video game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device such as a TV screen or computer monitor.

The word video in video game traditionally referred to a raster display device, but as of the 2000s, it implies any type of display device that can produce two- or three-dimensional images.

Some theorists categorize video games as an art form, but this designation is controversial.

Rendering or image synthesis is the process of generating an image from a 2D or 3D model (or models in what collectively could be called a scene file) by means of computer programs.

Also, the results of such a model can be called a rendering.

A scene file contains objects in a strictly defined language or data structure; it would contain geometry, viewpoint, texture, lighting, and shading information as a description of the virtual scene.

The data contained in the scene file is then passed to a rendering program to be processed and output to a digital image or raster graphics image file.

The term "rendering" may be by analogy with an "artist's rendering" of a scene.

Though the technical details of rendering methods vary, the general challenges to overcome in producing a 2D image from a 3D representation stored in a scene file are outlined as the graphics pipeline along a rendering device, such as a GPU.

A GPU is a purpose-built device able to assist a CPU in performing complex rendering calculations.

If a scene is to look relatively realistic and predictable under virtual lighting, the rendering software should solve the rendering equation.

The rendering equation doesn't account for all lighting phenomena, but is a general lighting model for computer-generated imagery.

'Rendering' is also used to describe the process of calculating effects in a video editing program to produce final video output.