# 3D terminology The 3D modeling industry is filled with confusing terminology that can become easily overwhelming, especially since many of the terms refer to abstract ideas or concepts. I'm going to try putting together a glossary of common terms for quick reference. Until I get the list built, here are some places where you can find definitions… - [Substance 3D Stager Glossary directly from Adobe](https://helpx.adobe.com/substance-3d-stager/getting-started/glossary.html) - [Glossary of 3D terms from Sketchfab](https://help.sketchfab.com/hc/en-us/articles/360017681872-Glossary-of-3D-Terms) - [The Basics of 3D Modeling from All3DP](https://all3dp.com/2/3d-modeling-basics-simply-explained/) - [3D terms from Shutterstock](https://www.shutterstock.com/blog/guide-3d-terminology) --- ## topology **Voxel** - short for Volumetric Pixel. A 3D grid of tiny little boxes, similar to raster 2D image processors like Adobe Photoshop. Games like Minecraft use voxels. Adobe Substance Modeler uses voxels for creating organic sculptures. **NURBS** - short for Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines. Fancy name for a mathematical model used to generate 3D curves. Similar to vector drawing in 2D drawing programs like Adobe Illustrator. **Mesh** - the grid that makes up a 3D model. A mesh is made up of connected polygons that form a wireframe lattice that defines the form. Meshes can be changed by manipulating the faces, edges, and vertex points that connect them. Programs like Autodesk Maya work primarily with mesh elements. **Poly** or **Polygon** - the flat-faces that make up a 3D mesh. The smaller the polygons/faces, the smoother and more refined a model looks. High-poly models are used for high-quality renderings while low-poly models are **Quads** - four-sided rectilinear polygon faces **Tris** - three-sided triangular polygon faces **N-gons** - polygon faces with any number of sides. Can be 3, 4, or more. Typically considered bad modeling form to have more than 3 or 4 faces. **Decimate** - shrink the model size by reducing the number of polygons. This is often necessary when moving from high-poly sculpts to low-poly sculpts for use in gaming or real-time rendering environments. Most 3D programs handle this through an automated algorithm. **Retopology** - convert a high-poly mesh to a low-poly mesh by manually tracing over a high-poly model. This can be a tedious process but is important for creating quality low-poly models for animation or game design. ## materials **UV** - a map of the 2D surface that is wrapped on the 3D object. UV maps can be opened in imaging software like Photoshop to paint/process material details. **Triplanar** - an alternative to UV mapping where flat images are projected on a surface from the standard X,Y,Z directions. This is quicker but the quality is quite limited. --- tags: #3d #resources home: [[! 3d modeling - substance]]