9. Rendering

Photoshop is great at producing 3D visuals, in real time, that move around as you drag the mouse and that can be scaled, turned, twisted and otherwise deformed on the fly. A vast number of calculations go into representing on-screen the detailed models that have been designed or incorporated into whichever 3D scene you happen to be working on.

But while you’re working on the image, all you’re seeing is a preview of the finished scene, and not the final artwork itself. The models tend to look a little like plastic, rather than the metal, fur, fabric or glass that they’re supposed to be made of. Rendering the scene produces the final high-quality artwork, and there’s a big difference between this and the preview you’ve been looking ...

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