Hello all, I have a question regarding graphics. So, is it possible to transfer a 2D image drown in photoshop, or some other tool, to a 3D graphis tool such as 3d Studio Max or Maya. I have read online that industrial people start with a hand drawn picture, then they scan it into the computer which they then precede to edit the 2D picture in photoshop. Finally, they then render the picture. I am curious if they have to render their image complete from scratch? Or do they some how transfer the 2D digital image to the 3D graphics tools and let the system automatically render it for them. If they are just rendering from scratch, then why do they even both with drawing the picture by hand in the beginning? Thanks Norm

"Rendering," in computer graphics, mainly refers to the process of creating a 2-D image from 3-D mesh data. In order to "render" you need to have a 3-D model or models.

You can use the 2-D image as either a texture (bump-map, specular map, etc.), wrapped around a 3-D model that you create, or you can use the 2-D image as a reference for creating your own 3-D model.

There are a few methods for creating 3-D models from 2-D image, but these have very limited applications. Usually a flat image does not have enough information to create a 3-d model.

A lot of times, modelers begin with a picture of what they are trying to model, so they see what their model should eventually look like, similar to blue-prints for a building.

If you mean using the image as a background, it is possible in all 3d applications like the ones you mentioned. You should check their help file ... I, having never used 3DS or Maya, won't be able to help you, sorry.