  In this work we investigate the continuous confinement of quantum systems
from three to two dimensions. Two different methods will be used and related.
In the first one the confinement is achieved by putting the system under the
effect of an external field. This method is conceptually simple, although, due
to the presence of the external field, its numerical implementation can become
rather cumbersome, especially when the system is highly confined. In the second
method the external field is not used, and it simply considers the spatial
dimension $d$ as a parameter that changes continuously between the ordinary
integer values. In this way the numerical effort is absorbed in a modified
strength of the centrifugal barrier. Then the technique required to obtain the
wave function of the confined system is precisely the same as needed in
ordinary three dimensional calculations without any confinement potential. The
case of a two-body system squeezed from three to two dimensions is considered,
and used to provide a translation between all the quantities in the two
methods. Finally we point out perspectives for applications on more particles,
different spatial dimensions, and other confinement potentials.
