To find the surface area of a 3D object, the general approach is to calculate the area of each face or curved surface of the object and then sum all these areas together. The surface area represents the total area that the surface of the object occupies. For common geometric shapes, there are specific formulas to calculate their surface areas:

• Cube: Surface Area=6×(edge length)2\text{Surface Area}=6\times (\text{edge length})^2Surface Area=6×(edge length)2
• Cuboid (rectangular prism): Surface Area=2(lw+wh+lh)\text{Surface Area}=2(lw+wh+lh)Surface Area=2(lw+wh+lh), where lll, www, and hhh are length, width, and height.
• Cylinder: Surface area is the sum of the areas of the two circular bases and the curved surface. The total surface area = 2πr2+2πrh2\pi r^2+2\pi rh2πr2+2πrh, where rrr is radius and hhh is height.
• Sphere: Surface Area=4πr2\text{Surface Area}=4\pi r^2Surface Area=4πr2, where rrr is the radius.
• Prism: Sum the areas of the base(s) and all lateral faces.

The steps to find surface area generally are:

1. Identify all distinct faces or surfaces of the 3D object.
2. Calculate the area of each face using appropriate formulas (e.g., area of rectangle = length × width).
3. Add all these areas to get the total surface area.
4. Use the units squared for the surface area measurement (e.g., square meters).

Specific formulas depend on the shape being analyzed, but the principle remains to sum all the outer surface areas of the object.