The differences between 2D sprites and 3D models can be summarized as follows:
|
2D sprite |
3D model |
|---|---|
|
Defined using a 2D grid of pixels |
Defined using vertices in a 3D grid |
|
Only a single observable side |
Rotatable to observe any desired side |
|
Resource-efficient |
Resource-intensive |
A sprite is an image, or—if it's animated—a series of images. Within the boundaries of its resolution (for example 64, x 64 pixels), the individual pixels make up the resulting image. This is a proven low-tech method, and it has been in use since the earliest video games. Even the first 3D games, such as Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, used sprites instead of models, as the former are easy to implement and require very few resources to render.
Because of the available memory and processing capabilities of video consoles and personal computers until the later part of the 1990s, sprites were everywhere. It wasn't until the appearance of dedicated vertex graphics processors for consumer systems from companies...