Getting Started

About this chapter
This chapter gets you started with 3D Objects by taking you through the process of creating and working with some example objects. You will also be given some useful hints.

Before we start
The program uses lots of memory during the creation of 3D information. For the best performance you should increase the amount of memory that the program can use by closing other applications. If you have more than 4 Mb memory (you can see this in the About Macintosh... under the ) you should increase the memory that 3D Objects can use by clicking once on the 3D Objects icon and choose Get Info under the File menu. Increase the maximum memory the program can use. The program can use screens with any number of colors, but if you have 32 000 the colors become smoother. Be aware of that this also uses much memory since 3D Objects stores the information on the screen internally for rapid updates of its windows. This is specially true when you use many views. To conserve memory, try to use as many views as B/W or decrease the internal window size (under the menu Windows - Display Options). To avid problems caused by memory shortages, try to have 300 kB free (shown in the lower left corner, the number to the right shows the size of the largest free block of memory).

Lets start
Double click on the 3D Objects icon to start the program. You will see two windows on the screen:

• untitled - 
this is the project window that shows information about the created objects. To select an object, click on the name in the first column.
• 1 - this is the drawing view where the objects will show after being created. 

You can create more views by selecting Windows - New View. You will also see two triads (it appears to be one triad, but they are at the same position). One triad shows the global origo and the other one determines where the next object will be created. The number of arrows on the axis (1, 2 or 3) indicates the x, y or z direction.

Moving the triad
Objects are created in the same position as the triad. To move the triad select Triad - Position. A mode less dialog will appear. Type your values and click on Move to move the triad to its new position. Note that the origo triad will remain in its old position. If the triad disappears it is probably outside the screen. To find it again, select Windows - Fit to. The objects will then be scaled and centered so that all objects will fit inside the window frame.

 

Creating objects
To create a cylinder select Object - Cylinder... The following dialog will appear:

 

You can set the radius and length of the cylinder and the accuracy of the facets that will be used to approximate the curvature. The name has a default but can be changed to your liking. The radio buttons describe the optical properties of the object. Select the color of the object from the predefined set. The angle shows the angle for each facet and is calculated from the accuracy. Click the OK button to create the cylinder.

Changing the view direction
The cylinder is created and displayed. If you want to rotate the cylinder to get a better look at it, you have two choices:

• - Select the rotation ball 
• - Hold down Command and 1 (âŒ˜ - 1) simultaneously.

The second choice is a shortcut for the first. Position the cursor in the center of the window and press the mouse button. The cursor will change to a rotation tool. Watch the triad in the lower left corner as you drag the mouse. The triad will rotate just as if you where rotating a trackball around the center of the screen. To rotate the view in z-direction position the mouse closer to the window frame and press the mouse button. The cursor will change to a z-rotation cursor. Drag the mouse and watch the triad in the lower left corner. To change the view exactly, select Windows - Set View Direction.

What can I do more?
There are more commands to try out, please refer to the corresponding  chapters in this manual or the help in the program. The best way is of course to practice.