3D trophies [and three-dimensional engraving in general] are perhaps not entirely well understood.
Here some commonly asked questions are dealt with by way of introduction to the art.
What is 3D?
It is simply an abbreviation for three-dimensional. Basically, the world we inhabit can broadly be described as having three dimensions: things have height, width and depth.
That is why when we use our eyes to look at people and things around us, they appear to be solid and have a number of dimensions, as opposed to photographic images that typically only have height and width. In other words, most photographs are two dimensional or 2D.
Why is this an issue in the media?
For well over half a century, filmmakers have attempted to generate movies in three dimensions. Believe it or not, attempts to do the same in television have gone on over much the same period if not even longer. Some people have described this as the holy grail of the entertainment industry, but there are a number of technical, psychological and social reasons that have made it extremely difficult to achieve and be accepted by the general public. Efforts in all these areas continue today but the entire subject area remains controversial.
What are 3D trophies?
Space doesn't permit a full discussion of the technology, but for a fairly long period of time now it has been possible to use special laser engraving techniques to cut images into an object or onto a flat two-dimensional surface, that appear to be three-dimensional when viewed. Many people will have had some experience of this when, for example, holding up a medallion allows you to see what appears to be an engraved image with height, depth and width. Sometimes changing the angle of the plane of the flat surface allows you to apparently change the angle of the image and see, for example, to one side of it.
A slight variation on this is the three-dimensional image that is engraved into a solid block of something such as glass or Perspex. Note that the fact the receptacle may be in three dimensions does not mean that the image itself has been physically carved into all three dimensions of the block. It may mean that special technologies have been used to make the image appear 3D when you are looking at it from front and back. One of the applications of this technology is in creating 3D trophies for sporting events or corporate advertising etc.
Do I just do a drawing of the image I require engraved?
That might be a start point but then specialist image designers will then need to take that and convert it into a digitised high-quality design file which is then used as input to laser engraving machines.
Are we close to true three-dimensional TV?
That does rather depend on who you're talking to! Currently most, although not all, three-dimensional broadcasting requires special glasses. There has been some debate also around systems that do not require glasses possibly being tiring on the eyes.
If referring to what is sometimes called holographic television, as seen in some Sci-Fi TV programs where characters and action appear to take place directly in front of you and away from the set itself, many experts believe that this is still some considerable time away from becoming anything even approaching the reality.
In the meantime, we may need to make do with 3D trophies to satisfy us!
