An Artist's Guide to Programming

7 3D Graphics and Animation

Sketch 51: Basic 3D Objects

We have been drawing only two-dimensional (2D) objects so far: lines, circles, triangles, rectangles, and images. Processing can draw three-dimensional (3D) objects too, although all that we can represent on a computer screen is a view of these, a 2D projection onto a plane. This projection aspect is what makes 3D more difficult. The x dimension is horizontal, and the y is vertical, and displaying those coordinates on a 2D screen is obvious. The third dimension, called z, would be perpendicular to the screen’s surface. In order to visualize it, the three coordinates must be reduced to ...