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I'd like to create transparent graphs like the following from P1095, Calculus 6th Ed, by James Stewart. Can Mathematica accomplish this? By "transparent," I mean the ability to see the interior, intersection, boundaries etc. preferrably with dashed hidden lines.

enter image description here

Would someone please explain how to do this for a function like \begin{cases} (4 - z^2) = x^2 + y^2, 2 \le z \le 4 \\ x^2 + y^2 = 4, -2 \le z \le 2 \end{cases}

http://reference.wolfram.com/mathematica/howto/AddTransparencyToPlots.html doesn't appear to be very helpful in that respect.

3 Answers3

105

Update: This function has been updated to compatible with version 12.x and made available on Wolfram Function Repository as ResourceFunction["Graphics3DSketch"]:

https://resources.wolframcloud.com/FunctionRepository/resources/Graphics3DSketch


Yes we can. The following DashedGraphics3D[ ] function is designed to convert ordinary Graphics3D object to the "line-drawing" style raster image.

Clear[DashedGraphics3D]
DashedGraphics3D::optx = 
        "Invalid options for Graphics3D are omitted: `1`.";
Off[OptionValue::nodef];
Options[DashedGraphics3D] = {ViewAngle -> 0.4, 
            ViewPoint -> {3, -1, 0.5}, ViewVertical -> {0, 0, 1}, 
            ImageSize -> 800};
DashedGraphics3D[basegraph_, effectFunction_: Identity, 
            opts : OptionsPattern[]] /; ! 
            MatchQ[Flatten[{effectFunction}], {(Rule | RuleDelayed)[__] ..}] :=

    Module[{basegraphClean = basegraph /. (Lighting -> _):>Sequence[], exceptopts, fullopts, frontlayer, dashedlayer, borderlayer,
            face3DPrimitives = {Cuboid, Cone, Cylinder, Sphere, Tube, 
                    BSplineSurface}
            },

        exceptopts = FilterRules[{opts}, Except[Options[Graphics3D]]];
        If[exceptopts =!= {},
            Message[DashedGraphics3D::optx, exceptopts]
            ];
        fullopts = 
            Join[FilterRules[Options[DashedGraphics3D], Except[#]], #] &@
                FilterRules[{opts}, Options[Graphics3D]];

        frontlayer = Show[
                    basegraphClean /. Line[pts__] :> {Thick, Line[pts]} /.
                        h_[pts___] /; MemberQ[face3DPrimitives, h]
                                :> {EdgeForm[{Thick}], h[pts]},
                    fullopts,
                    Lighting -> {{"Ambient", White}}
                    ] // Rasterize;

        dashedlayer = Show[
                    basegraphClean /.
                            {Polygon[__] :> {}, Line[pts__] :> {Dashed, Line[pts]}} /.
                        h_[pts___] /; MemberQ[face3DPrimitives, h]
                                :> {FaceForm[], EdgeForm[{Dashed}], h[pts]},
                    fullopts
                    ] // Rasterize;

        borderlayer = Show[basegraphClean /. RGBColor[__] :> Black,
                            ViewAngle -> (1 - .001) OptionValue[ViewAngle],
                            Lighting -> {{"Ambient", Black}},
                            fullopts,
                            Axes -> False, Boxed -> False
                            ] // Rasterize // GradientFilter[#, 1] & // ImageAdjust;

        ImageSubtract[frontlayer, dashedlayer] // effectFunction //
                        ImageAdd[frontlayer // ColorNegate, #] & //
                    ImageAdd[#, borderlayer] & //
                ColorNegate // ImageCrop
        ]

Usage:

DashedGraphics3D[ ] has three kinds of arguments. The basegraph is the Graphics3D[ ] you want to convert. The effectFunction is an optional argument, which when used will perform the corresponding image effect to the hidden part. The opts are options intended for internal Graphics3D[ ], which are mainly used to determine the posture of the final output. When omitted, it takes values as defined by Options[DashedGraphics3D].

Example:

graph1 = Show[{
                SphericalPlot3D[
                    1, {θ, 1/5 1.2 π, π/2}, {ϕ, 0, 1.8 π},
                    PlotStyle -> White,
                    PlotPoints -> 50, Mesh -> None, BoundaryStyle -> Black],
                SphericalPlot3D[
                    1, {θ, 0, π/5}, {ϕ, π/4, 2.1 π},
                    PlotStyle -> FaceForm[Lighter[Blue, .9], GrayLevel[.9]],
                    PlotPoints -> 50, Mesh -> None, BoundaryStyle -> Black],
                Graphics3D[{FaceForm[Lighter[Pink, .8], GrayLevel[.8]], 
                        Cylinder[{{0, 0, 0}, {0, 0, .8 Cos[π/5]}}, Sin[π/5]]}]
                },
            PlotRange -> 1.2 {{-1, 1}, {-1, 1}, {0, 1}}, 
            AxesOrigin -> {0, 0, 0}, Boxed -> False,
            SphericalRegion -> True];

DashedGraphics3D[graph1]

hemisphere

DashedGraphics3D[graph1, Lighting -> "Neutral"]

Neutral lighting hemisphere

Sidenote: The hidden border of the cylinder's side-wall can not be extracted by the "shadow" method (described below) used in DashedGraphics3D[ ], so ParametricPlot3D[ ]-akin functions are needed instead of simply Cylinder[ ].

graph2 = ParametricPlot3D[
            {u Cos[v], u Sin[v], Im[(u Exp[I v]^5)^(1/5)]},
            {u, 0, 2}, {v, 0, 2 π},
            PlotPoints -> 20, Mesh -> {2, 5}, MeshStyle -> Red, Boxed -> False,
            BoundaryStyle -> Black, ExclusionsStyle -> {None, Black}];

DashedGraphics3D[graph2]

fan

Add an oil-painting effect:

DashedGraphics3D[graph2,
    ImageAdjust[ImageEffect[Blur[#, 3], {"OilPainting", 3}]] &
    ]

fan with special image effect

As for OP's example:

graph3 = Show[{
            ContourPlot3D[(4 - z)^2 == x^2 + y^2, {x, -3, 3}, {y, -3, 3}, {z, 2, 4},
                Mesh -> None, BoundaryStyle -> Black, PlotPoints -> 20],
            ContourPlot3D[x^2 + y^2 == 4, {x, -3, 3}, {y, -3, 3}, {z, -2, 2},
                Mesh -> None, BoundaryStyle -> Black]
            },
        PlotRange -> {{-3, 3}, {-3, 3}, {-2, 4}}]

DashedGraphics3D[graph3, ViewAngle -> .6, ViewPoint -> {3, 2, 1}]

OP's graphics

Explanation:

Take graph1 as example. The frontlayer generates a solid style graphic using {"Ambient", White} lighting, where every object supposed to be hidden are all invisible:

frontlayer

The dashedlayer does the opposite to the frontlayer. It sets all faces transparent, and all edges and lines Dashed:

dashedlayer

Apparently, subtracting frontlayer from dashedlayer, we can extract the hidden part with dashed-style (on which effectFunction is applied.), then we add it back to frontlayer:

innerlines

Now the only missed part is the outline contour. We solve this problem by first using {"Ambient", Black} lighting to generate the shadow of the whole graphics, then using GradientFilter to extract the outline, which is the borderlayer:

borderlayer

Combine frontlayer, dashedlayer and borderlayer properly, we get our final result.

Silvia
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    Just... WOW! (Oh, and +1) – Peltio Apr 06 '14 at 03:13
  • @Peltio Thanks :) Too bad it's too slow to be wrapped in a Dynamic... – Silvia Apr 06 '14 at 04:32
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    Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! – Yves Klett Apr 06 '14 at 07:13
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    @YvesKlett Hmm, I actually looked up my dictionary and I can't believe this word do exist! I think it's much harder than Chinese! And Thank you! :) – Silvia Apr 06 '14 at 07:16
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  • Pronouncing is much simpler than reading here - once you've watched Mary Poppins you will be all right. Thank you for another excellent answer, this will come in very handy :D – Yves Klett Apr 06 '14 at 14:25
  • @Murta YvesKlett Thanks, it does be Simplify-ed when I heard the pronunciation :D Regarding to my function, I still can't think of an easy way (so differential geometry can be avoided) to hint the outlines like the hidden side-wall of the cylinder. – Silvia Apr 06 '14 at 17:02
  • @LePressentiment Hope you like it -- though not perfect :) – Silvia Apr 13 '14 at 19:20
  • Impressive, but apparently does not work with 3D GraphicsComplex, at least not under 12.3.1, see Graphics3DSketch@Graphics3D[GraphicsComplex[{{0,0,0},{2,0,0},{2,20},{0,2,0},{1,1,2}},Polygon[{{1,2,5},{2,3,5},{3,4,5},{4,1,5}}]]] – Martin R Mar 17 '22 at 13:55
  • @MartinRommel That was by design. Because my original idea was to target "surfaces" generated by all sorts of *Plot3D functions, and those "surfaces" are internally hundreds of polygons (triangles). Showing all the internal borders of those polygons is undesired. In your case, we can modify how dashedlayer is generated to bring back the wanted edges. Say, instead of Polygon[__] :> {}, we could use p : Polygon[__] :> {FaceForm[], EdgeForm[Dashed], p}. – Silvia Aug 19 '22 at 16:01
30

Seeing Silvia's phenomenal answer I've been inspired to take a crack at this. My method requires the use of ColorFunction so it only works for plots rather than general Graphics3D geometry. However, it does find silhouette edges in the interior of the image, as well as those hidden behind other surfaces (such as the missing side walls of the internal cylinder in Silvia's answer). Unfortunately I don't know how to make the hidden lines dashed; I've just made them a different colour.

There are lots of ways to render 3D shapes in line art style. One of the simplest is to take a depth map and just run edge detection on it. In Mathematica I don't think we have access to the depth map of the plot, but we can get a similar effect by having pixel colours correspond directly to position:

plot = Plot3D[Sin[x^2 + y^2]/Sqrt[x^2 + y^2], {x, -3, 3}, {y, -3, 3}, 
  MaxRecursion -> 5, Mesh -> None, Boxed -> False, Axes -> None, 
  BoundaryStyle -> None, Lighting -> {{"Ambient", White}}, 
  ColorFunction -> Function[{x, y, z}, RGBColor[x, y, z]]]

enter image description here

Like Silvia's borderLayer, we'll use edge detection to find silhouette edges. However, we'll need to oversample the plot to avoid ugly pixelation and aliasing artifacts.

oversample = 3;
thickness = 2;
edges = Dilation[
  EdgeDetect[Image[plot, ImageSize -> 360 oversample], 1, 0.05], 
  DiskMatrix[Round[(oversample*thickness - 1)/2]]]

enter image description here

Okay, now what about hidden silhouette edges? Simple: we'll make them not hidden any more by turning the opacity down!

plot2 = Plot3D[Sin[x^2 + y^2]/Sqrt[x^2 + y^2], {x, -3, 3}, {y, -3, 3},
  MaxRecursion -> 5, Mesh -> None, Boxed -> False, Axes -> None, 
  BoundaryStyle -> None, Lighting -> {{"Ambient", White}}, 
  ColorFunction -> Function[{x, y, z}, RGBColor[x, y, z]], 
  PlotStyle -> Opacity[0.2]]

enter image description here

edges2 = Dilation[
  EdgeDetect[Image[plot2, ImageSize -> 360 oversample], 1, 0.05], 
  DiskMatrix[Round[(oversample*thickness - 1)/2]]]

enter image description here

And lo, we shall combine them:

image = SetAlphaChannel[
   Image[ConstantArray[{0, 0, 0}, Reverse@ImageDimensions[edges]]], 
   edges];
image2 = SetAlphaChannel[
   Image[ConstantArray[{0.8, 0.6, 1}, 
     Reverse@ImageDimensions[edges2]]], edges2];
(*If anyone knows of an easier way to create a constant-colour image \
of the same dimensions as a given image,please let me know.*)
ImageResize[ImageCompose[image2, image], Scaled[1/oversample]]

enter image description here

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    Great idea for self-made depth map! Maybe we can join the extracted points with Line and introduce the Dashed. – Silvia Apr 07 '14 at 01:21
  • @Silvia: Thanks! I had a similar idea and tried using FindCurvePoints, but it failed to join up the contours completely. To see this, set oversample = 1 and thickness = 1 and try ListCurvePathPlot[Position[ImageData[edges], 1]]. Any suggestions? –  Apr 07 '14 at 01:53
  • I haven't tested a lot, but I think the classical GrayLevel z-buffer will give a better edge. Maybe we can even slice the Graphics3D alone the line of sight. (But that might be too inefficient..) – Silvia Apr 07 '14 at 02:17
  • Now have a look at this ;) (I'm still studying the new possibilities, haven't got enough things for an update.) – Silvia Apr 17 '14 at 03:02
  • @Silvia: Sweet! How did you do it? –  Apr 17 '14 at 03:06
  • Basically I derived the equation of the edges and used the MeshFunctions. – Silvia Apr 17 '14 at 03:27
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The following code is from here.

F[x_] := Animate[
  With[{v = RotationTransform[θ, {0, 0, 1}][5 {1, 1, 1}]}, 
   Binarize@
     Graphics3D[{EdgeForm[{Thick, Black}], FaceForm[], x}, 
      Boxed -> False, ViewPoint -> v, 
      SphericalRegion -> True] + (Binarize[
       Graphics3D[{EdgeForm[{Thick, Black}], x}, Boxed -> False, 
        ViewPoint -> v, SphericalRegion -> True, 
        Lighting -> {{"Ambient", White}}]] - 
      Binarize[
       Graphics3D[{EdgeForm[{Thick, Black, Dashing[{0.02, 0.05}]}], 
         FaceForm[], x}, Boxed -> False, ViewPoint -> v, 
        SphericalRegion -> True]])], {θ, 0, 2 Pi}, 
  AnimationRunning -> False]
F[PolyhedronData["Dodecahedron", "GraphicsComplex"]]