If
you look at the screen for Tutorial I, you will see two points labeled points
A and point B. Points
are considered dimensionless; they simply are used to represent positions in space.
Click on point A. At the lower left you will see the numbers 0,0,0 and another
0. The first three zeros represent the x,y,z coordinates of point A. In class
you are familiar with using x,y coordinates. But since we are now dealing in 3-Dimensions
we must also have a 3rd axis. We will discuss this further in a future tutorial.
The last (or fourth) zero represents the distance between two consecutively clicked
points. Since you have not yet clicked a second point it reads 0. Now click on
point B and see how the numbers change. The numbers now read 4,0,0 and then 4.
This means point B is 4 units to the right along the x-axis. What do you think
the fourth number represents? It represents the distance between any two consecutively
clicked points. We will
explore this further toward the end of the lesson. Click
on the 1-Dimension box at the right side of the screen. A line segment will appear
joining point A to point B. A line segment represents an example of a 1-Dimensional
figure. A true line segment has length but has no width or height. How
many units in length is line segment AB? ______________ Click
on the 2-Dimensions box. A square should become visible. The square can be rotated
in a clockwise motion by holding down the left cursor button on your mouse and
slowly moving the mouse or mouse ball. As you move the square notice that the
square is a 2-Dimensional object, it has no thickness. If you wish to return the
square to its original position go to the VIEWS pulldown and click on View 1.
Try it! If you ever loose view of an object you can always return to the original
view by doing this or simply reloading the image. You can change the size of the
square by using the zoom buttons on the right side (to the right of the MAGE graphics
box). Go
to the tools pulldown and select pick center. Click on point
B and rotate the object?
Record
what has now changed _________________________________________________________
Repeat this for point A. Click
off all objects on the screen by removing the X's on the boxes to the right of
the MAGE graphics box. Go to View 2 under Views. The screen should still be blank.
Click on 3-Dimensions. A cube should appear. Try rotating the cube as you did
the square. Return
to View 1. Explain
what happened to the cube? ______________________________________________________________
Go to View 3 and experiment with the zclip button. Move the zclip button all the
way to the right (800). Then slowly move it all the way to the left. Explain what
you think is the purpose of the z-clip tool? Why z-clip and not x or y-clip?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Now
we will take a look at a some additional features of Mage. Click
off everything so the screen is black. Set the view to View 2, and click on the
points box and 3-Dimensions. A grid of points in 3-D space will appear within
the cube. Click on any point. Go
to the tools pulldown and click on markers. Click on some points
and see what effect it has. We will explore the the measures pulldown in a later
tutorial. To remove the the
markers use pulldown punch. Just be careful with punch because
it will --punch out-- anything you click on. Undo brings it back! Using
the cube and points experiment again with the Pulldown pickcenter.
This is important because it gives you the point the object can be rotated about.
This will give a different perspective for each object on the screen. Try it!
Click on different vertices of the cube and see what happens when you rotate it.
Try
now --Pulldown Draw line. Click on any two points. A line will
be drawn between any two points.At the lower left the fourth number represents
the distance between the two points. You can continue this to form a triangle
in space. After you have drawn the object you are interested in return the pulldown
to Tools to prevent any more lines from being drawn. Challenge
Question: Draw
a right isosceles triangle using vertex points on the cube with sides of 4 units.
Measure the length of the hypotenuse of the triangle (longest side). Can you check
your results using the Pythagorean Theorem? _________________________________________________________________________________________ | 
