Interacting with 3D Graphics, for export

Question

Are there any export formats which preserve the ability to interact with 3D Graphics? (In particular, the ability to rotate.)

EDIT: I've found this question: How to make a 3D plot auto-rotate? which produces an object with head DynamicModule. Can I export as an animated gif or QuickTime movie?

I guess it depends on the software you would use to rotate it after the export. — Öskå, Aug 11 '14 at 17:29
Save your notebook as a CDF file and download the free CDF player to view and rotate? http://www.wolfram.com/cdf-player/ — Bill, Aug 11 '14 at 18:30
I don't think this is a duplicate since the OP specifically asks for an export format that "preserves the ability to interact with 3D Graphics" and then settles for a non-interactive animated gif/movie. I am not clear on what is being asked here. — bobthechemist, Aug 12 '14 at 01:57
@stopple Why is the CDF format not desirable? All the other suggestions pale in comparison with what you can do with CDF. — Edmund, Jul 25 '15 at 13:12

score 6 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 19 '19 at 10:21

6

First let's take a 3D element:

g = PolyhedronData["Spikey"];

Mathematica graphics

Export as GIF:

As stated here one can Export a List of images as a GIF:

animation = Table[Show[g, Boxed -> False, 
  ViewVector -> {0, 5 Cos@u, 5 Sin@u}], {u, 0, Pi, Pi/20}];
Export["~/animated.gif", animation, "DisplayDurations" -> .1]

giving:

enter image description here

But since the question is "Are there any export formats which preserve the ability to interact with 3D Graphics? (In particular, the ability to rotate.)" I propose the following which I find very interesting:

Export as STL:
```
Export["~/Spikey.stl", g];
```

Then one can use Sketchfab to visualize it and get the ability to easily interact with it (click for the full ~3MB GIF):

edited Jul 19 '19 at 10:21

Glorfindel

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answered Aug 12 '14 at 00:31

Öskå

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Nice and interesting. +1 – RunnyKine Aug 12 '14 at 00:33
@RunnyKine Thank you, I felt that the Sketchfab idea was worth being shared :) – Öskå Aug 12 '14 at 00:35
Indeed, thanks for sharing :) – RunnyKine Aug 12 '14 at 00:36
How can I increase the distance in the animation, such that the whole graphic is shown? Have a similar problem and found this question. – HighwayJohn May 17 '20 at 17:30
@HighwayJohn Have you looked at the "DisplayDurations" option? – Öskå Jun 30 '20 at 09:42

score 1 · Answer 2 · 2014-08-11T20:13:24.260

1

Partly a response, You can work with Interactive Manipulation (just hit F1 and search for it) as well with Import and Export Animations (you know F1).

m = Manipulate[Plot3D[Sin[x y + a], {x, 0, 6}, {y, 0, 6}], {a, 0, 4}]

Export["manipulate1.avi", %]

Works fine on Mac OS X x86 (64-bit) internals will translate "avi" to "mov".

enter image description here

edited Aug 11 '14 at 20:13

answered Aug 11 '14 at 20:07

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 25 '15 at 13:08

1

Possibly you are looking for something like LiveGraphics3D, a Java applet for interactive rotation of 3D graphics. Three different summaries:

answered Jul 25 '15 at 13:08

Mr.Wizard

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Cannot download applet from Mr Kraus' homepage. The Mathworld link does not seem to work with Safari 11.0.1 even if I allow the Java plugin everywhere: no animation is visible. :-( – András Aszódi Jun 13 '18 at 09:21
@LaryxDecidua I'm sorry to say that LiveGraphics3D appears to be an abandoned product. The Mathworld example isn't working for me either at this point, but I get a message that it is blocked so I should at least try to figure out how to unblock it. Nevertheless I don't think this will be of much use any more, even though it was once a nice solution. – Mr.Wizard Jun 13 '18 at 14:53

Interacting with 3D Graphics, for export

3 Answers3

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