3D Construction Set

By moving the "show stored objects" slider to the left, you can select any stored object for editing.

Only the last displayed object can be edited or deleted.

At the start of the Demonstration, two objects are present, a mesh and a cylinder. The last stored and last displayed object is the cylinder.

The number of the currently edited object, its size, rotation, and position are displayed.

Before you edit a rotation or translation you have to select the corresponding axis.

The selected rotations are always executed around the axis first, then around the axis, and finally around the axis. Rotations are executed before translations. You can control the rotations and translations via a slider or incrementally via setter bars. The special option "0" in the setter bars resets the rotation or translation to zero.

The sizes "size ", "size ", and "size " usually denote the size of the object in three dimensions. For details see the section on sizes.

The variable "amount" is used by the following object types: trapezium, spiral, cuboid, hollow cuboid, regular -sided prism, partial cylinder, partial tube, star-shaped prism, spokes, circular ornaments, ring, windmill, pearl chain, and dome. Usually it denotes the multiplicity of a part. Fractional amounts are allowed and can lead to interesting effects. For details see the chapter on sizes below.

When you have finished editing an object, click the "store" button to save your changes.

If you have created objects and the object is visible, clicking the "store" button will not only store the changes, but will also create a new object of the same type at the default position {3,1,1}. This way you can add more and more objects to your construction. If you select "keep" (= keep position) before saving, then the new object will be created at the position of the previous object.

Remember: temporary changes are not stored until you click the "store" button. Hence you can undo any temporary editing of the current object simply by moving the "show stored objects" slider to the left and then back to the right.

Click the "delete" button to delete the current object. You cannot delete an object if it is the last one.

You can copy any stored object to the last object by clicking the "copy" button. Note that the copied object will be placed at the same position or at the default position {3,1,1}, depending on whether you have selected "keep" (= keep position).

Three types of lighting are provided.

For the currently edited object you can select the type of piece, its size, its color, its opacity, its rotation in space, its placement, and whether you want your piece to have thin edges, thick edges, or no edges marked in black at all.

Available types of piece are: line, trapezium, regular polygon/star, mesh, spiral, ellipsoid, cylinder, cuboid, hollow cuboid, 3-sided prism, regular -sided prism/pyramid, hollow regular -sided prism/pyramid, partial cylinder, partial tube, star-shaped prism, hollow star-shaped prism, pearl chain, pearl, dome, spokes, circular ornaments, ring, windmill, windmill blade, octahedron, dodecahedron, icosahedron, truncated tetrahedron, truncated cube, truncated dodecahedron, truncated icosahedron, truncated octahedron, snub cube, snub dodecahedron, cuboctahedron, great rhombicosidodecahedron, great rhombicuboctahedron, icosidodecahedron, small rhombicosidodecahedron, small rhombicuboctahedron, and a few special bodies called "sample 1", "sample 2", and so on.

The "pearl chain" is a circular arrangement of spheres.

Triangles can be constructed as a trapezium with .

Ellipses can be constructed by using an elliptic cylinder with .

You can hide the last created object by setting its size to zero, by shifting the slider "show stored objects" slightly to the left, or by setting "keep position" before you create the last object.

Unrotated lines are positioned along the axis. For lines, "size " and "size " define the distance of the endpoints to the point of origin and "size " denotes the line thickness (times fifty).

Unrotated trapeziums and meshes are presented in the horizontal position (- plane).

For a trapezium, "size " and "size " are the lengths of the parallel sides, "size " is their distance from each other, and "amount" is the deviation from mirror symmetry (the translation of one parallel side relative to the other). If , then the trapezium is a parallelogram. If additionally , then the trapezium is a rectangle.

For a regular (elliptic) polygon/star, "size " and "size " are the radii of the ellipse and "amount" is the number of sides. Every second vertex has its distance to the origin multiplied by "size ", which creates a star if .

A "mesh" is a rectangular grid of lines in the - plane and "amount" denotes the number of intervals in the mesh; "size " is not used.

For a spiral, "size " is the radius, "size " is the number of turns per unit height, and "size " is the height of the spiral; "amount" is the number of steps per 360 degree turn.

To create a sphere, select the type "ellipsoid" and set identical values for "size ", "size ", and "size ".

For a cuboid or an open cuboid, the top rectangle can be enlarged by "amount", causing sloped sidewalls; setting "amount" to 1 yields a rectangular box shape.

To create a cube, select the type "cuboid" and set identical values for "size ", "size ", and "size ", and set "amount" to 1.

For (elliptic) cylinders, "size " and "size " denote the half-diameter of the defining ellipse; "size " denotes the length of the cylinder.

For 3-sided prisms, "size " and "size " denote the base and height of a symmetric triangle; "size " is the height of the prism.

For the regular -sided prism, "size " denotes the radius of the regular -gon at the bottom and "size " the radius at the top; "size " is the height of the prism and "amount" is the number of sides. For pyramids set "size " to zero.

For a partial cylinder, "size " is the radius, "size " is the height, "amount" is the angle in degrees (36 means 360 degrees), and is the number of sides.

For a partial tube, "size " and "size " are the radii, "size " is the height, and "amount" is the angle in degrees (36 means 360 degrees).

For spokes, "size " and "size " denote the distance of the line end points from the center, "size " is the height of the cone of the spokes, and "amount" denotes the number of spokes.

For an elliptic -sided ring, "size " and "size " denote the inner and outer radii, "size " is the enlargement of the ring in the direction (making it elliptic), and "amount" is the number of segments. The same holds for for elliptic ornaments.

For a windmill, "size " and "size " denote the inner and outer radii, "size " the height of the cone, and "amount" the number of blades. The same holds for object type "windmill blade".

For the pearl chain, "size " and "size " denote the radii of the elliptical chain, "size " is the radius of the pearls (spheres), and "amount" is the number of pearls in the circular chain.

The type "pearl" is a sphere offset from the origin by "size ". The pearl radius is "size "; "size " is not used here.

The type "dome" is a collection of tiles forming the top of a sphere with radius "size ", extending from the north pole up to latitude "size " (1 unit is 36 degrees). Longitudes are covered from zero up to "size " (10 corresponds to 360 degrees). A full sphere is obtained using and . Finally, "amount" is the resolution (i.e., the number of tiles used along a longitude or latitude).