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Milestones in the Development of 3D Rendering

By Rachael King

Milestones in the Development of 3D Rendering

The quality of 3D graphics in video games has gotten so rich that when the games are released next year you will be able to see the weave of the clothing worn by Resident Evil 5 characters or catch drops of blood splattering in Killzone 2. These advances in 3D rendering are also making their way into business. Clothing designers, for instance, can now create entire lines of apparel in virtual mode because they can study the texture and drape of fabrics on 3D models. In the automotive industry, Lamborghini has used stunning 3D models to sell one of its sports cars before it built a physical prototype.

Digital renderings have come a long way since 1980, when Atari released Battlezone, its first 3D arcade game. That's largely because computer processing power has increased exponentially and grown more affordable. The 3D graphic capabilities that were once accessible only to high-end car and airplane designers have become widely available—thanks in part to the gaming industry, says Kathleen Maher, senior analyst at Tiburon (Calif.)-based technology consulting firm Jon Peddie Research. "Even the most average mainstream computer has unheard-of capability now." Jon Peddie Research helped BusinessWeek.com compile some of the following benchmarks in 3D's development.