Re: Rotable Graphics and ViewPoint
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg78454] Re: Rotable Graphics and ViewPoint
- From: Albert <awnl at arcor.net>
- Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2007 06:49:22 -0400 (EDT)
- References: <f67mco$2vu$1@smc.vnet.net>
Helen Read wrote:
> First of all, I love the ability in 6.0 to grab 3D graphics and spin
> them around with the mouse. However, it would be nice if there were a
> more obvious way to return to the original ViewPoint and ViewVertical
> settings. Re-executing the graphic doesn't do it. I just now discovered
> that deleting the output cell before re-executing *does* return the
> graphic to the original ViewPoint / ViewVertical, but this (to me)
> wasn't an obvious thing to do. (I've had 6.0 for a good six or eight
> weeks, and I just now thought of it. Up until now I had been copying the
> input into a new cell and executing the new one, which I found a bit
> annoying.) OK, deleting the output before re-executing does work, but
> it's an extra step that I don't think should be necessary.
>
> Also, after rotating a graphic with the mouse, it would be nice to have
> an easy way to save a copy of the input for the graphic with the current
> ViewPoint (and ViewVertical) settings. Right now the only way I can see
> to extract the ViewPoint (and ViewVertical) is to open up the output
> cell (Shft-Ctrl-E), scroll all the way to the end, copy the ViewPoint
> and ViewVertical, close up the cell, and paste the ViewPoint and
> ViewVertical into my input. This isn't something I'd ever suggest to my
> students.
>
> So here's what I would really like.
>
> 1. Re-executing a 3D graphic would return it to the original ViewPoint
> and ViewVertical settings.
>
> 2. An easy way to make a copy of a graphic with the current ViewPoint
> and ViewVertical settings pasted into the input, sort of like the way
> Paste Snapshot works for Manipulate, so that I can delete all output
> before quitting, come back later and recreate the graphic in the state
> that I had it.
I don't know if this helps (that is whether or not you would let your
students do it :-), but have you tried to just copy the Graphics in the
state you want it into the empty brackets of the code below:
{ViewPoint,ViewVertical} /. FullOptions[]
end execute the Cell? Once getting used to being able to use any
graphics output as input this is rather obvious. Note that you even can
continue to rotate in this input-cell, reevaluate and get the new
viewpoint/viewvertical settings (which is more fun if you increase the
graphics size by selecting it and drag the (orange?) frame that appears).
Of course one could construct a Palette that reads this information from
the currently selected graphics object (there was code for a 2D zoom
tool which could serve as a start), but that would again mean to provide
code to your students that is not part of mathematica, which I remember
is something that you rather try to avoid...
albert