Quote:
Originally Posted by crabapple
Ummm... Those are 2D background images. It's the characters that are 3D.
The background images may have been created with 3D software by the developer, but the gamer's computer displays them as 2D images.
|
Pre-rendered refers to a still image that has been rendered prior to the game being played, this can be a drawing, a photograph or in this case a 3D render.
When you play a real-time 3D game the environments are being rendered by your computer at roughly 30 frames per second and this gives you the illusion of physically moving through a 3D world. By your arguement even this medium is being displayed on gamers' computers as a 2D image.
I specified that I was looking for opinions on comparing 3D pre-rendered and real-time because I wanted to focus everyone on that aspect rather than 2D drawn backgrounds etc. In this case the term '3D' refers to something that has been modelled in 3-dimensions using programs such as 3ds Max, Maya, ZBrush etc. and then has been rendered out as a background image which is placed into the game. An image taken from a Pixar movie is still refered to as 3D even when it is printed as 2D on a page.
Please note also that I said "In this project I define these as:" this by no means states that these are the strict definitions, I was only trying to help anyone understand the way these terms were being used for this project.
I'm sorry for any confusion I have caused you.
Thanks for the replies so far people! It's really appreciated!
