making a 3-D pyramid

[SheilaG]

Hi,

I don't know whether or not I'm posting this in the right place, but fingers crossed!

I've managed to make a cube that will rotate and tumble in PtoE but I cannot work out how to construct a pyramid. Maths is definitely not my strongest skill so this might be a big part of the problem! I've made identical equilateral triangles, as .pngs, for the 3 sides and base but cannot make them fit together and rotate as a pyramid. I've put them into a 'parent' frame and tried the sides both in 'child' frames and also without but I cannot make it work.

Is it possible / impossible to do?

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Just put me out of my misery!!

Sheila G

[davegee]

It's not difficult.

I'm pretty sure that as soon as Lin sees your post he will step in and oblige.

BTW a Pyramid has a SQUARE BASE and FOUR equal sides.

DG

[xahu34]

... BTW a Pyramid has a SQUARE BASE and FOUR equal sides ...

The sides of a pyramid are triangles, which are not supported by PTE. Of course you may use rectangles part of which are transparent, but I would not like to do such a job. Perhaps it might be better to go for a 3D graphics application like Blender

Regards,

Xaver

[Lin Evans]

Hi Sheila,

Yes, it can be done. It's not terribly difficult but may be easier to "show" you rather than try to "tell" you how it can be done.

Here is a link to a little demo I did quite a while back which uses a variety of cube and pyramid type constructs. If this looks something like you have in mind, email me and I'll dig up the PTE file and link you to it so you can examine the construct.

email to: lin@learntomakeslideshows.net

http://www.learntomakeslideshows.net/sample/alleycat1080.zip

Best regards,

Lin

[SheilaG]

Hi Sheila,

Yes, it can be done. It's not terribly difficult but may be easier to "show" you rather than try to "tell" you how it can be done.

Here is a link to a little demo I did quite a while back which uses a variety of cube and pyramid type constructs. If this looks something like you have in mind, email me and I'll dig up the PTE file and link you to it so you can examine the construct.

email to: lin@learntomakeslideshows.net

http://www.learntomakeslideshows.net/sample/alleycat1080.zip

Best regards,

Lin

Hi Lin,

That was amazing ................ I feel as if I should give up now! But I shan't because I love playing with PtoE! I'd love to be able to look at the project so I'll email you directly, and many thanks!

Someone else said that they loved maths. Although maths is probably my weakest subject, I can understand the fascination; I just wish that I had a better understanding. I always think of myself as having '3-D spatial awareness' problems, if that makes sense! I have difficulty visualising what I would see if an object is rotated or flipped.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply.

Sheila G

[Lin Evans]

Hi Sheila,

It was back in 2009 in November, I believe, when I made the demo. I dug it up and emailed you a link.

I doubt that your 3-D spatial awareness is really a "problem" - more likely it's just that girls generally grow up playing with dolls, learning arts like cooking and knitting, etc., and and concentrating on those areas of life and nature which are traditionally the female domain; while boys grow up taking things apart and playing with mechanical toys. Since our orientation begins differently because of our culture, guys tend to spend more time fiddling with numbers, measuring things and seeing how they work. I believe that all of us are fairly equal in "potential" for visualization, it's just that we don't all spend the same amount of time "practicing" that skill.

If you want to see a man scratch his head in disbelief, try introducing him to an art such as complex knitting stitches, etc. I believe that with practice, you could visualize in three dimensions as well as anyone. One way to approach this is to make paper or cardboard cut-outs and play with them until you acquire a "feel" for how things will look when they are assembled. Another area which can help is to study origami.

It is true that we differ in the extent of use of our right or left hemisphere, but I doubt it is, in general, genetic in nature, but rather more an acquired difference. Obviously, there are genetic components, but my own studies into this area tend to make me think that environmental issues are far more important.

Best regards,

Lin

[SheilaG]

Hi Sheila,

It was back in 2009 in November, I believe, when I made the demo. I dug it up and emailed you a link.

I doubt that your 3-D spatial awareness is really a "problem" - more likely it's just that girls generally grow up playing with dolls, learning arts like cooking and knitting, etc., and and concentrating on those areas of life and nature which are traditionally the female domain; while boys grow up taking things apart and playing with mechanical toys. Since our orientation begins differently because of our culture, guys tend to spend more time fiddling with numbers, measuring things and seeing how they work. I believe that all of us are fairly equal in "potential" for visualization, it's just that we don't all spend the same amount of time "practicing" that skill.

If you want to see a man scratch his head in disbelief, try introducing him to an art such as complex knitting stitches, etc. I believe that with practice, you could visualize in three dimensions as well as anyone. One way to approach this is to make paper or cardboard cut-outs and play with them until you acquire a "feel" for how things will look when they are assembled. Another area which can help is to study origami.

It is true that we differ in the extent of use of our right or left hemisphere, but I doubt it is, in general, genetic in nature, but rather more an acquired difference. Obviously, there are genetic components, but my own studies into this area tend to make me think that environmental issues are far more important.

Best regards,

Lin

Hi Lin,

Thanks and thanks again!!

I've downloaded the project and am going to enjoy working out how everything fits together. Quite a mammoth task from the looks of it!

Also, thanks for allowing me to hope that I can get better with 3-D visualisation if I practise. I shall take comfort from that thought!

With my gratitude for your help and time,

Sheila G

[stonemason]

Hi Lin

Is there any chance that this project could be made generally available, as it sems an interesting challenge.

Regards

Geoff

[David Porter]

Hi Lin

Is there any chance that this project could be made generally available, as it sems an interesting challenge.

Regards

Geoff

I second that Lin, it will save you getting lots of e-mails.

[davegee]

It's a bigger/better challenge if you do it yourself and you learn a whole lot more!!

DG

[David Porter]

It's a bigger/better challenge if you do it yourself and you learn a whole lot more!!

DG

Yes I agree. I'll give it a go but may need some help on the way.

[fh1805]

Here's my "quick and dirty" attempt at a pyramid. Theres no sound; it runs for 36 seconds and the file size is just 48KB (yes, KB, not MB). By all means try and reverse engineer it, to understand it. However, DaveG made the very excellent point that by trying to do it yourself, you will learn more. I entirely concur with that view. The best way of learning how to control PTE animation is to actually play with the feature. There may well be a simpler method: I'm no mathematician. I did it by trial and error - and by applying knowledge gained doing Rubik's Cube in 2009.

regards,

Peter

Pyramid 0v2.zip

[davegee]

Start out with your square base and swivel it on the centre line running through it.

Then attach the trianges to the square - base of triangle to side of square. The result is a four pointed star looking from above. Swivel point of all triangles are their bases.

Then you can do your swivelling of all objects.

By careful use of "show front" and "show back" you can have different effects or images on the outsides and insides of all objects.

DG

P.S. Forgot to mention - the Base is a "child" of a frame and the sides are "children" of the Base.

[davegee]

Oh, all right then - I'll play!

DG

Project1_May2-2011.zip

[Ron Burling]

I'm very much a beginner here compared to some of you folk so thanks for that pyramid example Peter.

By studying the structure of the animated slide I have been able to pick up on some of the principles involved. I've no doubt that there is more to learn but so far it has been a good start in 3D animation for me. You had me somewhat puzzled at first how you achieved the animation without using a great number of key points but that became clearer when I explored the "3D parameters" button in the "animation" window and, to a lesser degree, the "size/position in pixels" button in the "common" window.

And Lin's cube demo was amazing to show what can be done even though it gives no clue as to how.

[fh1805]

Ronbu,

Any values you see in the "size/position in pixels" fields were set by PTE as a result of me doing things elsewhere, e.g. the Zoom settings applied via the Animation tab of the O&A window. They were not set by me via direct edit of them. To program my animations I use the Animation tab and the 3D Parameters - and that's it! Oh, and lots of frames. I have found that, for me, the secrets of complex object animation in PTE are a) to place the complex object structure on a Frame or a nest of Frames, to animate the Frames and not the individual objects themselves, and c) to use a separate frame for each kind of animation: i.e. Pan, Zoom, 2D Rotate, Opacity change, 3D parameters.

regards,

Peter

[Lin Evans]

Hi Ron,

There are a number of great resources in the Tutorials section on the forum. I have AVI files there which show you exactly how to create cubes, etc. Follow the link below and you might find some easy answers to questions you have yet to ask...

Best regards,

Lin

I'm very much a beginner here compared to some of you folk so thanks for that pyramid example Peter.

By studying the structure of the animated slide I have been able to pick up on some of the principles involved. I've no doubt that there is more to learn but so far it has been a good start in 3D animation for me. You had me somewhat puzzled at first how you achieved the animation without using a great number of key points but that became clearer when I explored the "3D parameters" button in the "animation" window and, to a lesser degree, the "size/position in pixels" button in the "common" window.

And Lin's cube demo was amazing to show what can be done even though it gives no clue as to how.

[SheilaG]

Hi Everyone,

I've only just realised that I started this thread here and ended up posting my results in the section for 'Slideshows created in PtoE'!!

I've made the pyramids with both square and triangular bases, and they will tumble through space without 'falling apart'.

Sorry if I'm managing to confuse everyone!

I started the thread by asking about constructing a pyramid with a triangular base. My first upload was part way there but still struggling with the base in the triangular based-pyramid. The second upload on the page was the project file (which contained cube and square based pyramid) and the third, called 'tetrahedron' was a project file for a successful triangular based pyramid. I posted my project for the triangular based pyramid in the 'Slideshows created in PtoE'!!

In case you're interested and hadn't seen it, here is the link to the file again. It's just short of 5MB in size.

Tetrahedron project file

Regards,

Sheila G