NAME

LiveGraphicsParametricSurface3D.pl - provide an interactive plot of a parametric surface.

DESCRIPTION

LiveGraphicsParametricSurface3D.pl provides a macro for creating an interactive plot of a parametric surface via the LiveGraphics3D Javascript applet. The routine ParametricSurface3D() takes three MathObject Formulas of 2 variables as input and returns a string of plot data that can be displayed using the Live3Ddata() routine of the LiveGraphics3D.pl macro.

USAGE

ParametricSurface3D(options);

Options are:

Fx => Formula("cos(u)*cos(v)"),  x-coordinate function
Fy => Formula("sin(u)*cos(v)"),  y-coordinate function
Fz => Formula("sin(v)"),         z-coordinate function
                                 F(u,v) = < Fx, Fy, Fz >
                                 = < Fx(u,v), Fy(u,v), Fz(u,v) >

uvar => "u",           parameter name, default "u"
vvar => "v",           parameter name, default "v"

umin => -3,            domain for uvar
umax =>  3,

vmin => -3,            domain for vvar
vmax =>  3,

usamples => 3,         deltau = (umax - umin) / usamples
vsamples => 3,         deltav = (vmax - vmin) / vsamples

axesframed => 1,       1 displays framed axes, 0 hides framed axes

xaxislabel => "X",     Capital letters may be easier to read
yaxislabel => "Y",
zaxislabel => "Z",

edges => 0,            1 displays edges of polygons, 0 hides them
edgecolor => "RGBColor[0.2,0.2,0.2]",
edgethickness => "Thickness[0.001]",

mesh => 0,             1 displays open mesh, 0 displays filled polygons
meshcolor => "RGBColor[0.7,0.7,0.7]",   three values between 0 and 1
meshthickness => 0.001,

outputtype => 1,       return string of only polygons (or mesh)
              2,       return string of only plotoptions
              3,       return string of polygons (or mesh) and plotoptions
              4,       return complete plot