Top Reasons that Reference Images Are Important for a 3D Scene

Perhaps you are wondering exactly why you would want to model a 3D scene after real life, especially when you can create almost anything you like in the scene. Not only are you able to quickly and easily get some ideas to work with for creating the scene, but you can even get some new ways of thinking inside of the 3D program. Taking some important considerations into account when considering whether to use reference images will make it much easier for you to quickly and easily see how you are going to benefit.

Your first major reason for using reference images is simply put; they help you to visualize everything. Looking at a picture of a building will help you remember to include the doors, windows, overhangs, awnings and other aspects of the building that you want to include. Without these included, you could easily find yourself messing up while modeling and forgetting to include these aspects which could make it very difficult to correct later on.

You should also consider reference images a great way to combine ideas together. For example, if you want to use the overall shape of one building, with the window style of another, and the size of yet another, by carefully combining the reference images in a program such as Photoshop, you are able to see exactly how it would look and create a good reference image from all of those separate images. This would allow you to quickly and easily start to determine how things will lay out, as well as make some changes to the overall look as you go along.

Additionally, knowing and understanding how you properly map the reference images onto the primitives that you want to work with will enable you to get a good idea of how well they fit, and start to actually create the model. Using things such as windows and doors as guides inside the 3D program you can quickly get the overall size and shape of the model that you are going to be working with.

You should also consider that using the reference images to help create a model will enable you to create textures that are far more realistic than you could otherwise generate. This is very important since you will not be able to achieve the exact same look of realism by creating the textures entirely yourself. Using a good set of reference images allows you to truly create the image that you are looking for, as well as ensure that you are actually getting the overall model the exact same way you want.