Surface Modelling

Freeform surfacing is used in CAD and other computer graphics software to describe the actual skin of a 3D object. Freeform surfaces do not have rigid radial dimensions such as planes, cylinders or conic surfaces. Free form surfaces are used to describe shapes such as car bodies, turbine blades and boat hulls. Initially developed for the aerospace and automotive industries, freeform surfacing is now widely utilized in all engineering disciplines from consumer goods products to ships. Most systems today use Nurbs to describe the surface forms.

Surface Modelling softwares:

3D Studio Max
NX
Alibre
Alias
Rhino
Pro E
Solidthinking

Rendering methods

Many different and specialized rendering methods have been produced from basic wireframe and polygon rendering to more advanced techniques such as scanline rendering, ray tracing and radiosity. Rendering may take from a few seconds to many days for a single image/frame depending on the complexity.

Types of Shading

Reflection/Scattering
Shading

Rendering Techniques

Flat shading
Gouraud shading
Texture mapping
Phong shading
Bump mapping
Cel shading