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In a nutshell, a diorama can be defined as a scene that captures a moment in time. We often think of dioramas as being small in scale but they don't necessarily have to be small scale. Sometimes dioramas are life-size as in many museum dioramas.

This definition of a diorama is pretty broad and covers a lot of ground but that is the nature of a diorama. It can be almost anything as long as it captures a moment in time and displays some type of scene with multiple objects. This display of multiple objects and how they interact is the second most important aspect of a diorama because it shows us a scene.

Dioramas for fun

This is a very common type of diorama and there are many hobbyists that make this type. The pursuit of a hobbyist in this realm is often not so much the pursuit of diorama making but the pursuit of the subject matter. Hobbyist diorama makers often stick to a specific theme in their dioramas such as World War II, Fantasy battles, Model Railroads or other themes.

Technique and Instructional Diorama

This type of diorama has the very specific goal of teaching the viewer about a subject or theme. And this type of diorama is often seen in museums where a scene is laid out to describe a system or show creatures in their natural habitat and how they interact within it.