Back during the age of Pac-man and Pong, when ATARI was king, and the better games were all at the arcade, my mother would tell me that my excessive video game playing would make me cross-eyed.  I’ll never forget the day my father told my mother that playing video games would improve my hand-eye coordination and visual spacial ability.  Finally, my mother began to realize that I wouldn’t  suffer  Donkey-Kong induced brain-damage, or go cross-eyed from playing Pitfall.  Video-games might actually be good for me???

I’m sure many of you are like me, and your love of computer graphics began when you started playing video games as a child.  I watch my children and the 3D media that they are exposed to today, and I wonder what the future will be like for them.  Bernard Charlès says, “Our children will communicate in 3D”, and I agree, but will all of this new 3D technology improve the next generation’s lives, or visual spacial abilities?

“What would I do if I had the 3D games and design tools that my children have access to today”

I talk to many 2D artists and designers who say they are “intimidated” by 3D, and prefer 2D tools.  Will this change for the next generation?  I encourage my oldest son (9 yrs old) to use 3DVIA Shape as much as possible, and he was not intimidated one bit, but will this actually increase his visual-spatial ability?  Will he and the next generation prefer working in 3D over 2D?  I also wonder, “What would I do if I had the 3D games and design tools that my children have access to today”.  Would it actually make me a better designer or artist, or would I just be more cross-eyed?