3D Design

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part of Design · tier 2 · Image · 89 pieces of work carry it · 4 crafts it is confused with

The craft, and who hires it

Brands buy 3D design for CGI imagery, surreal brand worlds, and immersive content where photography can't go — the 3D/CGI-studio engagement (Tendril: '3D/CGI studio'; the market treats '3D' as a capability crossed with output, benchmark §7-A).

Creating three-dimensional visual assets — modeling, texturing, lighting, and rendering CGI objects, scenes, and environments — for digital or print use. The still/imagery side of 3D craft; the maker is a 3D artist.

Tag it when…

Tag when the imagery is visibly 3D-crafted: modeled and rendered scenes, CGI objects or environments, sculpted forms with synthetic lighting and materials — as stills or as the visual basis of the piece.

Never tag it when…

3D work in MOTION is Animation craft carrying the dimensionality facet '3d' (dimensionality is a facet, never a craft claim by itself — canon v2 ①). Product-hero renders go to 3D Product Renders. Photographs of real objects go to Photography; 2D drawn work with depth shading stays Illustration. content_origin (ai_generated) is orthogonal — it scopes provenance, never strips this craft tag (canon §4).

Easily mistaken for 4 other crafts

Every other page suggests neighbours by similarity. This one navigates by difference: each line names the craft this is confused with, and the rule for telling them apart.

• 3d visualization 3d product renders — Product-as-hero synthetic imagery = 3D Product Renders; CGI worlds, scenes, and non-product objects = 3D Design
• disc animation + dimensionality facet — Moving 3D work is Animation × dimensionality='3d'; still 3D craft is this leaf — never let '3D' alone decide the branch
• photography product — Captured with a camera = Photography; synthetically rendered = 3D Design — check for impossible lighting/physics and CG materials
• design illustration — Drawn/painted depth is Illustration; modeled-and-rendered geometry is 3D Design

At what size it applies

ASSET tag when the piece IS the rendered work. A CGI insert or rendered passage inside a live-action film is a MOMENT; the film keeps its Video Production craft.

Pieces that settle the definition

• glitch in the garden — image 7 — Rendered CGI still — modeled/lit synthetic scene as the piece (DB-verified link, is_primary)
• Impress your nieces and nephews with this chat: — image 9 — 3D-rendered imagery as the content (DB-verified link, is_primary)
• What if furniture grew in gardens? — image 1 — CGI concept scene — modeled objects in a synthetic environment (DB-verified link, is_primary)
• top gens: made of water — image 7 — Simulated-material CGI render (water forms) as the work (DB-verified link, is_primary)

Where to look next

• The whole services tree — the services index.
• Every other vocabulary — the vocabulary index.
• How work gets credited to a craft — the entities chapter.