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Flash Tools for Developers: 3D Function Grapher - Description of the Templates

Author(s): 
Doug Ensley, Barbara Kaskosz

The compressed file grapher3d.zip contains two templates and code referenced within the article, and the sixteen page Developer's Guide ( grapher3d_guide.pdf ) gives detailed instructions for some specific customization tasks. Below you will find a brief description of each of the templates including (if you click on the screen image) active versions of each to demonstrate its functionality. In addition, we list some of the specific customizations that are addressed within the Developer's Guide.

The Flash 8 programming environment can be borrowed on a 30 day trial basis from macromedia.com.


Template 1

Template 1 consists of the essential 3D Function Grapher which graphs a function of two variables in a window and provides interactive controls for rotating the surface in three dimensions. The user can also change the viewing window, show or hide the wire frame, refine the grid, or access preprogrammed examples. The source code for this applet can be easily modified tochange the colors and sizes of the various components of the graph, similar to those customizations described in the article Flash Tools for Developers: Function Grapher, also available in the MathDL Flash Forum.

Click here for Template 1 demonstration


Template 2

Template 2 consists of the essential 3D Function Grapher which graphs a function of two variables in a window and provides interactive controls for rotating the surface in three dimensions. The user can also change the viewing window, change the opacity of the surface, refine the grid, or access preprogrammed examples. The source code for this applet can be easily modified tochange the colors and sizes of the various components of the graph, similar to those customizations described in the article Flash Tools for Developers: Function Grapher, also available in the MathDL Flash Forum. In addition, this template provides instructions for changing the user's choices for opacity and preprogrammed examples.

Click here for Template 2 demonstration

Doug Ensley, Barbara Kaskosz, "Flash Tools for Developers: 3D Function Grapher - Description of the Templates," Convergence (May 2006)