My last post discussed the improvements that have been made to 3D plots in Mathcad Prime 2.0. Some of the highlights included new control options for the 3D plots, like the pan and reset options. I also spoke with Chahid Ghaddar, a Software Development Engineer and Senior Technical Consultant, and Marion Raikhlin, a Product Definition Engineer, about 3D plots. They discussed how to type a function directly into the z-axis expression, typing functions with arguments, controlling plot range variables for a parametric plot, conversion scaling, and more. If you didn’t get a chance to read about all this functionality, please do so here!
But for now, let me focus on why these features matter. A 3D plot effectively communicates both qualitative and quantitative information about complex models and data. Documents enhanced with 3D plots improve collaboration and communication within an engineering organization.
3D plots accept dimensional input and re-scale automatically if you change the units in the z-axis placeholder. You don’t need to worry about unit errors, because Mathcad takes care of unit conversion for you, as it does everywhere else in your worksheets. Because unit rescaling is automatic, you waste less time formatting.
There are some additional options that have been added to 3D plots, such as undo. This may seem minor, but instead of going through a series of dialogs to revert back to a former state, you can press Ctrl+Z, or the undo button on the ribbon, allowing you to switch quickly as you try out different options.
Choosing the number of points to display in all plots has been made much simpler and faster. A button on the ribbon allows you to quickly change options, as you view the plot in its different incarnations. You no longer have to type in a range variable and adjust it, although that also works of course.
In the last post, Ghaddar talked about having control over data and plots. Mathcad Prime 2.0’s 3D plots support flexible input expressions that can be controlled from outside the plot just like any other math region. For example, you can have fine control over the plot of a parametric surface via range variables defined above the plot. Or, you can directly edit the tick mark values to examine the most pertinent data in your calculations. Zoom and spin enable you to more closely examine the area of interest.
Mathcad Prime 2.0’s 3D plots allow you to evaluate and analyze data expressions and can automatically configure a plot, whether the data represents a surface, a curve, or scattered points. You no longer need to specify the type of plot desired, before plotting it. This feature saves you formatting time. In past versions of Mathcad, you had to determine and choose what type of plot you were creating through a number of dialog boxes and windows. Now as Ghaddar says, “What you see is what you get, and it’s right in front of you!”
Watch some of these beneficial features in action in the video below. Note that this video is silent but it includes textboxes of information to help you follow along. Enjoy!
Stay tuned for the next post on Mathcad Prime 2.0. Next time, I will be discussing Symbolic Calculations and the different types of functionality that will be available in Mathcad Prime 2.0.
the video is only 7 seconds and include just one image of 5 different plots
Yuck! It doesn’t seem to run properly – let us look into this…
Sorry about that glitch! We are trying out a new video tool and are still learning the ropes. I think the video should be fine now and it’s full length of 5 minutes. I hope you enjoy!
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