[AstroPy] 3-D Graphics Tools for for Documentation, Presentations, etc.

[Wayne Watson]

Thanks for the information. I would agree with you for a presentation, 
but I need it mostly this time for a paper I'm writing. I will be giving 
a talk, so I could use a video 3-D clip. However, in this case, it may 
not be useful. I'm simply trying to show three coordinate systems with 
the same origin. One is an image plane (x-y), and the other two are 
az/el, separated by an angle about the zenith. A celestial sphere needs 
to be shown with a few stars on it. I could go overboard with this, by 
rotating one of the coordinate systems around the north pole, and 
drawing the path of the stars on the sphere, but I'll worry about that 
for another time.

Anne Archibald wrote:
> 2009/4/19 Wayne Watson <sierra_mtnview at sbcglobal.net>:
>   
>> Many years ago to put together a presentation or article on celestial
>> mechanics, spherical trig, trajectory analysis, etc. I would use a
>> compass, ruler, and maybe a French curve to draw the figures, coordinate
>> axes, etc. on paper. Labels would be typed onto the sheets. I would like
>> to think that over the last decade that some modest software package
>> might be available to do this. Does anyone know of any?
>>     
>
> You might try Mayavi2. It's more oriented towards 3D visualization,
> but I think with appropriate options it can probably be made to do
> what you're asking for. (It's also worth noting that an interactive 3D
> plot can be much more informative than a single 2D projection.)
>
> Anne
>
>   

-- 
           Wayne Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)

             (121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
              Obz Site:  39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet  

           All the neutrons, and protons in the human body occupy
           a cube whose side is 5.52*10**-6 meters (tiny!). That
           adds up to a 150 pound person. It's not a surprise that
           we are mostly space. (Calculation by WTW)