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Questions

Quick Start:

What is in the 3D Kit Builder window?

3D Kit Builder Window

3D Kit Builder Window

How can I change the 3D view?

Rotate . Move . Magnify

The Rotate , Move and Magnify buttons allow you to change the 3D view.

To ROTATE the 3D Model click on the Rotate button, drag your mouse to the centre of the Graphics Window, press and hold the left mouse button down and drag it to the right and left then forward and backwards.

To DRAG the 3D Model click on the Move button, drag your mouse to the centre of the Graphics Window, press and hold the left mouse button down and drag it to the right and left then forward and backwards.

To MAGNIFY the 3D Model click on the Magnify button, drag your mouse to the centre of the Graphics Window, press and hold the left mouse button down and drag it forward and backwards (not left or right).

What do I do next?

The Hint Bar will tell you what you should do next... if you are ever unsure about what to do, take a look at the Hint Bar and follow its instructions.

How do I select a Part?

Select a Part by clicking on the image of the Part in the Parts List.

What happens when I select a Part?

When you select a Part which can be added to the 3D Model, that Part will be added to the 3D Model and the following options will become available so you can put the Part into its Correct Position:

Position Information

How do I move a Part into position?

Red . Green . Blue

The Red , Green and Blue buttons allow you to drag the Selected Part into its Correct Position.

To DRAG the PART along the RED PATH, press the Red button, position your mouse inside the Graphics Window, press and hold the left mouse button down and drag it along the direction of the RED PATH until it is in its Correct Position.

To DRAG the PART along the GREEN PATH, press the Green button, position your mouse inside the Graphics Window, press and hold the left mouse button down and drag it along the direction of the GREEN PATH until it is in its Correct Position.

To DRAG the PART along the BLUE PATH, press the Blue button, position your mouse inside the Graphics Window, press and hold the left mouse button down and drag it along the direction of the BLUE PATH until it is in its Correct Position.

The Difficulty level will affect the number of moves necessary to place the Part into its Correct Position.

How can I tell when the Part is in its correct position?

Incorrect	Correct
(Tick is Grey)	(Tick is Green!)

To make a Part stick in place, press the Glue button. If the Glue button looks like this: it is disabled because the Part is NOT in its Correct Position.

You can only press the Glue button when the Part is in its Correct Position.

You can Cancel positioning a Part by pressing the Cancel button at any time.

Part Completed

When the Parts are correctly added to the 3D Model they are removed from the Parts List until there are no more Parts to add. When this happens the Part has been completed. Press the Model button to add the completed Part to the 3D Model.

When the entire 3D Model is completed you can do some Cool Stuff!

How do I Paint the Model?

You can paint images onto the 3D Model to give it colour. Select the Paint mode button and select a part to Paint. A list of images used by the selected Part will be shown in a list. Select an image and the Paint Window will be displayed so you can choose a new image to use for that Part. Here is an example:

Hint: Don't forget you need to press the button to keep your changes.

Painting

If you want the model painted select the Auto Paint option in the Paint Options Menu. Also, the 3D Model will be painted for you if you Start a New Game on the No Brainer difficulty level.

You can find the Paint Options Menu here:

Paint Options Menu

If you want to remove all of the paint on the model select the Remove Paint option in the Paint Options Menu.

You can apply any paint image to any object. You can also choose different Paint Buckets to use. This option is in the Paint Window Menu in the Paint Window.

For advanced users only, you can also choose a Custom Paint Bucket and specify a Custom Paint Folder to use. The images in this folder must be in an appropriate format. Refer to the Advanced Painting topic for more information.

The Paint Window is a popup window which contains a list of images you can select to Paint the Model. When the Paint Window is displayed you cannot use any other 3D Kit Builder windows.

For more information on how to use the Paint Window refer to Painting.

Paint Window

Yes, you can also choose different Paint Buckets to use. This option is in the Paint Window Menu in the Paint Window. Refer to the Paint Bucket topic for more information.

The Paint Window Menu is in the Paint Window here:

Paint Window Menu

A Paint Bucket is a collection of images suitable for 3D Kit Builder. You can select a Paint Bucket in the Paint Window Menu.

The Paint Bucket options are:

Advanced users can use Custom Paint Buckets and use the Refresh option in the Paint Window Menu to reload new or modified Paint images. To learn how to create your own Paint images please refer to the Advanced Painting topic.

You can save and load Custom Paint jobs by selecting Save Custom or the Load Custom option in the Paint Options Menu.

This method is recommended for advanced users only!

To make your own images follow these steps:

You can play around and modify the images you saved into the Custom folder you just created. You should not remove or change any of the file names in this folder or change the file format. The image files must be saved back in the same format or they may not display when you load them back into 3D Kit Builder.

The format must be:

If you do a good paint job you are welcome to email it to us and, if you want, we can put it on the 3D Kit Builder web site so everyone can try it out!

Refer to the Paint Bucket topic for more information.

When you finish building your 3D Model you are rewarded with up to ten (10) display effects which can be combined for exciting display results in the Graphics Window.

Display effects must be unlocked! This depends on the Difficulty level. The No Brainer difficulty unlocks only one (1) display effect while the Hard difficulty unlocks all ten (10) display effects.

The No Brainer difficulty level unlocks the following display effects:

Wireframe Effect

The Wireframe Effect shows surface edges.

OFF	ON

All 3D Models are made from triangle surfaces. For example, a cube has 6 sides and is made from 12 triangles (2 for each side). These triangles are attached to 8 points in 3D space. So, to make a cube, we need to specify 8 points and 12 triangles!

There is also a Full Wireframe Effect (Hard difficulty) which shows all of the surfaces as individual triangles.

The Easy difficulty level unlocks the following display effects:

Textures (Paint) Effect

The Textures (Paint) Effect shows images which are "painted" onto surfaces.

OFF	ON

Any surface can have an image "painted" onto it to give it more detail. To "paint" an image onto a triangle surface, you need to: 1. Create the image, 2. Specify the image name for the surface and, 3. Specify how the image is attached to the surface. This process is called "Texture Mapping".

It is also possible to "paint" a variety of other effects onto a surface including Transparency, Lighting effects, surface bumps and even reflections.

Transparency Effect

The Transparency Effect turns transparent surfaces on and off.

OFF	ON

This option works on transparent surfaces only (glass, windows, etc).

Transparency works by blending the color of the surface with the background image. Because of this, the drawing order is important! This means you need to draw all non-transparent surfaces first to create a background image. The transparent surfaces can then be drawn, blending with the background image for the final result.

Transparency can be defined in the 3D Model in many ways. It is possible to set transparent values to a point, a triangle, a surface (a group of triangles) or an entire 3D Model.

The 3D Models in 3D Kit Builder use "transparent paint" by including transparent values in a Texture.

The Okay difficulty level unlocks the following display effects:

Lighting Effect

The Lighting Effect performs surface shading.

OFF	ON

The Lighting Effect uses Light Normals to calculate a shading effect for each triangle surface. Light Normals indicate the direction light bounces off a point or surface.

A triangle could have one surface Light Normal since it is a flat surface anyway. This is called "flat shading" because each triangle has only one shaded color.

You can also specify 3 Light Normals per triangle, one for each point. This is called "smooth shading" because a shading value is calculated for each point on the triangle resulting in 3 color shades. These colors are then blended smoothly across the triangle surface.

It is also possible to include Light Normal information in a Texture.

Light Normals Effect

The Light Normals Effect shows the Light Normals.

OFF	ON

Light Normals indicate the direction light bounces off a point or surface. They are used to calculate a Lighting Effect which performs surface shading, and Reflection Effect which add reflections to a surface.

Place your hand on top of a desk and point upwards. That is like a Light Normal for the whole desktop. The sides of a coffee mug would have many more Light Normals and would all point away from the centre of the mug.

If there were no Light Normals there would be no way to perform a Lighting Effect or Reflection Effect so the 3D Model would not have any shading or reflections.

The Hard difficulty level unlocks the following display effects:

Points Effect

The Points Effect shows all of the points in 3D space.

OFF	ON

All 3D Models are made from triangle surfaces. All triangles are attached to points in 3D space. Three (3) points are required for each triangle. In 3D, points are created first then triangles can be created by attaching them to each 3D point.

It is possible (and sometimes desirable) for one (1) point to be used by several triangles. For example, one (1) point in the corner of a cube shape could have up to six (6) triangles attached to it.

Try drawing three (3) points on paper then draw a triangle which connects to each point. Draw one (1) more point and you can connect another triangle.

Triangles Effect

The Triangles Effect shows the triangle surfaces.

OFF	ON

All 3D Models are made from triangle surfaces. That is why the 3D Model disappears when the Triangles Effect is turned off.

If there are Lines in the model you will be able to see them all. You may also want to turned the Points Effect on.

Mirroring Effect

The Mirroring Effect shows you which triangles (and lines) are mirrored.

OFF	ON

The Mirroring Effect saves modelling time for symmetrical objects (same on both sides if cut down the middle). This effect will make all mirrored information disappear so you can see that some parts are mirrored and some parts are not. The parts that disappear are created on one side only and a setting tells the program to copy and flip the information to show the other side.

Lines Effect

The Lines Effect shows the lines in the model.

OFF	ON

The Lines Effect shows the lines in the model. Lines enhance edges in the model so that we can achieve a more interesting and realistic appearance.

Reflection Effect

The Reflection Effect reflects images off surfaces.

OFF	ON

The Reflection Effect uses Light Normals to calculate a reflection on triangle surfaces. Light Normals indicate the direction light bounces off a point or surface, so we can use this to show a reflection image. A reflection can be either blended with the triangle colour information or added to it. A full (or 100%) reflection will cause the original colour to be replaced entirely with the reflected image.

You can Save, Load or Start a New Game here:

Save, Load or New Game

You can Save, Load or Start a New Game at any time...

You can change the Difficulty level here:

Difficulty

When a new difficulty is selected you must Start a New Game. The difficulty levels are:

Difficulty - No Brainer

For No Brainer difficulty all of the Parts are in its Correct Position for you already.

All you need to do is press the Glue button for each Part. You do not need to move or drag any Parts.

Difficulty - Easy

This is the best starting difficulty for the novice or beginner...

When starting a new game with Easy difficulty, the Parts need to be positioned along the RED PATH only.

To complete this level select a Part and press the Red button to drag the Part along the RED PATH into its Correct Position.

When the Part is in its Correct Position press the Glue button to glue the Part in place.

Hint: You do not need to use any of the Green or Blue buttons.

Difficulty - Okay

If Easy is no problem then try the Okay difficulty level.

When starting a new game with Okay difficulty, the Parts need to be positioned along the RED PATH and the GREEN PATH.

To complete this level select a Part and press the Red button to drag the Part along the RED PATH into its Correct Position.

Then press the Green button to drag the Part along the GREEN PATH into its Correct Position.

When the Part is in its Correct Position press the Glue button to glue the Part in place.

Hint: You do not need to use the Blue button.

Difficulty - Hard

If you are good try the Hard difficulty level.

When starting a new game with Hard difficulty, the Parts need to be positioned along the RED PATH and the GREEN PATH and the BLUE PATH.

To complete this level select a Part and press the Red button to drag the Part along the RED PATH into its Correct Position.

Then press the Green button to drag the Part along the GREEN PATH into its Correct Position.

Then press the Blue button to drag the Part along the BLUE PATH into its Correct Position.

When the Part is in its Correct Position press the Glue button to glue the Part in place.

Hint: If you can do the Hard difficulty you don't need any hints!

There are two learning options:

You will find the Learning options here:

Learning

Learning - Show Me

The Show Me option is an Autopilot which shows you how to get started.

In the Show Me option you sit back, relax and watch as the program takes control of the mouse to add the first Part to the 3D Model for you. It performs the following actions:

Starts a New Game.

Selects a Part which is added to the 3D Model.

Rotates the viewing angle using the Rotate button.

Moves the view using the Move button.

Magnifies the view using the Magnify button.

Drags the Part along the RED PATH using the Red button.

Rotates the viewing angle using the Rotate button.

Drags the Part along the GREEN PATH using the Green button.

Rotates the viewing angle using the Rotate button.

Drags the Part along the BLUE PATH using the Blue button.

Glues the Part using the Glue button.

Hint: Do not touch the mouse or keyboard until the Show Me option has finished.

You may want to repeat this option a couple of times until you grasp all of the procedures.

Hint: Press the ESCAPE key to stop the Show Me option.

Learning - Read the Doc

The Read the Doc option opens this document that you are reading right now!

It has lots of detailed information about all aspects of 3D Kit Builder. Start at the top here.

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