Design & Technology in Schools Program Space Exploration: A Pro/DESKTOP® Teacher’s Guide Space Exploration Copyright © 2003 Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC) All Rights Reserved The PTC logo, Pro/DESKTOP and all PTC product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of PTC and/or its subsidiaries User and training documentation from Parametric Technology Corporation is subject to the copyright laws of the United States and other countries PTC hereby grants to the licensed user the right to make copies in printed form of this documentation, but only for use in the schools of teachers who have attended official training and in accordance with the license agreement under which the applicable software is licensed Any copy made shall include the PTC copyright notice and any other proprietary notice provided by PTC This documentation may not be disclosed, transferred, modified, or reduced to any form, including electronic media, or transmitted or made publicly available by any means without the prior written consent of PTC and no authorization is granted to make copies for such purposes Information described herein is furnished for general information only, is subject to change without notice, and should not be construed as a warranty or commitment by PTC PTC assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in this document The software described in this document is provided under written license agreement, contains proprietary information and is protected by the copyright laws of the United States and other countries UNAUTHORIZED USE OF SOFTWARE OR ITS DOCUMENTATION CAN RESULT IN CIVIL DAMAGES AND CRIMINAL PROSECUTION In order to insure these materials are of the highest quality, users are asked to report any errors to PTC at schools@ptc.com Suggestions for improvements and other activities are also welcomed Space Exploration Space Exploration ACKNOWLEDGMENTS PTC gratefully acknowledges the following people for their part in creating these materials: Tim Brotherhood, Teacher and Author Staffordshire Local Education Authority, United Kingdom Sheila Schencke, Executive Director STARBASE – Louisiana Barbara Koscak, Executive Director STARBASE - Michigan Rick Simms, Deputy Director STARBASE - Michigan Space Exploration Space Exploration TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction to Space Exploration PROJECT: SHUTTLE T RANSPORT .11 Files for Shuttle Transport 12 Introduction 15 Assembling Parts 20 Object browser 24 Creating a Photo-Realistic Image 30 Using Pro/DESKTOP in Your Projects 41 PROJECT: SPACE S TATION 45 Files for Space Station 46 Introduction 49 Sketching Profiles 2D 50 Extruding a 3D Shape 54 Modify Solids 59 Assemble Components .61 Extension Activities .63 PROJECT: GRAVITY TOROID 65 Introduction 69 Creating the Gravity Toroid .72 PROJECT: KINEMATIC MOVEMENTS .81 Files for Kinematics .82 Introduction 85 Solar Panels 86 Control surfaces on the shuttle .89 Sojourner 95 Quiz 99 Quiz - Answers 100 PROJECT: RESCUE CRAFT – DENSITY 101 Files for Rescue Craft 102 Introduction .105 Measurements 118 Browser .120 Extension Work 121 PROJECT: PUBLISHING 3D MODELS ON THE WEB 123 Files for 3D on the Web 124 Introduction .127 Viewing VRML Models 128 Inserting Your VRML Model into a Web Page 132 Other VRML Features 138 Space Exploration Space Exploration INTRODUCTION TO SPACE EXPLORATION In a rapidly changing world that increasingly relies on modern technology, it is important that students learn how and why technology works Teachers play an important part in helping students understand modern techniques for engineering design development and production techniques that encourage technological literacy The Design & Technology in Schools Program is a collaboration of PTC, the company responsible for the development and distribution of Pro/DESKTOP®, and a network of teachers around the world whose goal is to help better prepare students for success in today’s technology-driven society This teacher’s guide features a space exploration theme designed to excite and enthuse students while incorporating math and science concepts Its goal is to help students view complex information from more than one vantage point and to help encourage effective problem-solving, critical thinking and decision making skills The PTC Design & Technology in Schools Program has partnered with The Science and Technology Academies Reinforcing Basic Aviation and Space Exploration (STARBASE) to inspire students and teachers in science and math using aviation as the theme As part of this partnership, these materials were created to help balance subject content and process skills The sequence of activities has been developed with increasing levels of difficulty, providing the opportunity for teachers and students to progress to whatever level they decide The introductory project of assembling a set of components to create a small shuttlecraft helps build confidence and provides insight into the knowledge and skills developed Intermediate users can construct a toroidal space station using revolve tools which relies on the principles of centripetal forces when spinning to create artificial gravity Advanced users loft the space shuttle fin and, using the measurement facility in Pro/DESKTOP, explore its mass using density values for different materials This teacher’s guide has also been developed with the International Technology Education Association (ITEA) Standards for Technological Literacy in mind To help teachers with their curriculum planning, all activities have been mapped to the standards to show those aspects that are touched upon and those that are covered in a significant way Enjoy exploring space with Pro/DESKTOP and the Design & Technology in Schools Program! Space Exploration Space Exploration 10 FILES FOR 3D ON THE WEB The following files will be needed to successfully complete this project: File Name Rocket.wrl Shuttle.wrl Web page template.doc Space Exploration 124 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 127 What is VRML? 127 Definition .127 VIEWING VRML MODELS 128 Opening a VRML model 128 Walking around the model 129 Exporting models from Pro/DESKTOP 130 Viewing a VRML model directly 130 INSERTING Y OUR VRML M ODEL INTO A WEB PAGE 132 Creating a hyperlink 133 Converting a word document to a web page 134 Viewing your VRML model from a web page 135 OTHER VRML FEATURES 138 Installing viewers at home 138 Next steps 138 Space Exploration 125 Space Exploration 126 INTRODUCTION What is VRML? You may have been on web sites where you can take a virtual tour of a building or played adventure games that involve finding your way around 'worlds' This web site recreates a Roman town called Wroxeter near to modern day Shrewsbury in England You can take a virtual tour of a 3D model of the town A VRML model of a simple steam engine like the ones sold as children's toys These models are in the same format you will use to publish your designs Definition VRML stands for Virtual Reality Modeling Language It is the equivalent of a foreign language for computers This language has a vocabulary and grammar that describes how 3D objects should be created and displayed on web pages The complexity is hidden from the user who 'sees' the 3D object on screen and can rotate and zoom the view and 'navigate' around the object, sometimes called a fly through Free viewer software needs to be installed in your browser before you can view VRML models This has been done for you on the computers you will be using At the end of this tutorial are instructions how to get one for your computer at home Space Exploration 127 VIEWING VRML MODELS To show you how the system works, we will show you how to open the VRML model of a rocket directly in your web browser Opening a VRML model Start the web browser on your computer Open the File pull-down menu Click on Open… Locate the folder with the STARBASE sample files Select the file named Rocket.wrl Click on The model will open in your web browser Extra tool bars along the left and bottom edges of the window enable you to control the way you view and move around the model Space Exploration 128 Walking around the model The Walk button looks like the button , will be active by default You can tell this because the screen cursor Click and drag in the view window and the model will move and/or change size Experiment how moving the mouse changes the view of the rocket Try some of the other buttons In the following grid we have shown the button, the screen cursor and an explanation Walk or fly through Look around up/down Turn (your head?) Rotate the model Targets a position Revolve the model The Restore button of the ones below can 'rescue' a model that has disappeared! Zooms out to see the entire model Looks straight on to the model Not used in Pro/DESKTOP Return to the default view You are now ready to explore a few web sites with VRML models or 'worlds' before creating models of your own Viewing web sites with VRML models on them Here is a really cool site with loads of VRML models and worlds and links to lots of other 3D sites http://www.web3d.org/vrml/oblib.htm A search for VRML will produce lots of links to other 3D sites Are you ready to create a 3D VRML model of your shuttle? Space Exploration 129 Exporting models from Pro/DESKTOP Being able to view the work of others in 3D is clever but publishing your own work in this way can be is fascinating Here's how • Your shuttle model should be open on screen in Pro/DESKTOP • Open the File pull-down menu • Select Export • Choose the option for VRML… • Locate the folder where you want to save the file • Enter a name for your model • Click on The file saved will have a wrl extension That's all there is to creating the file Now for the exciting part, viewing the model Viewing a VRML model directly • Start your browser • Open the File pull-down menu • Select Open • Locate the file Shuttle.wrl • Select it • Click on Your shuttle model will be visible in the browser window Space Exploration 130 Remember how to use the tools around the edge of the window to navigate around your model? Try it now Space Exploration 131 INSERTING YOUR VRML MODEL INTO A WEB PAGE For simplicity you will modify an existing web page in Word before saving it as an HTML file • Open the file Web page template.doc Each row (horizontal) in the table has information on a single model The second row is partly complete for your shuttle model Text in the left hand column names the model and acts as a hyperlink to open the VRML model Smaller text in the left column will tell viewers of the page how large the file is This helps them decide whether they want to wait for some of the larger files to download Even more helpful would be the average time for downloading at different modem speeds Small pictures (thumbnails) of the models are inserted into the right hand column to give the viewer a clearer idea of what the model looks like This could be a JPEG format image exported from the album Space Exploration 132 Creating a hyperlink Hyperlinks are areas of a web page that are sensitive to mouse clicks They usually open another web page In ours they will open a 3D model There are a number of different types of hyperlink You will be shown how to create two types Text Hyperlink • Highlight the text Shuttle • Select the Hyperlink button on the toolbar The Insert Hyperlink dialog window opens • Click on the button • Locate the folder where your shuttle model was saved • Select your model • Click on Space Exploration 133 You will return to the Insert Hyperlink dialog window The path to the your model appears in the top field The Use relative path for hyperlink option should be checked • Save the modified page This has created a hyperlink from the text to your model Viewers of the page will now be able to click on the text to open your model Before we try that, the next section shows you how to create a hyperlink from the shuttle picture Image Hyperlink • Click on the image of the shuttle to highlight it • Select the Hyperlink button on the toolbar • Follow the same steps used previously for the text hyperlink • Save your modified page Converting a word document to a web page • Open the File pull-down menu • Select Save As HTML… • Locate the folder you want to save the web page in • Give the page a name Space Exploration 134 • Click on Viewing your VRML model from a web page • Open your web browser • Open the File pull-down menu • Click on Open… • Click on the • Locate the folder where your shuttle model was saved • Select your model • Click on Space Exploration button 135 Your web page will open in the web browser • Move the cursor over the shuttle text or picture The cursor will change to the familiar hand to show there is a hyperlink • Click on the shuttle text or picture Space Exploration 136 Your model will open in the browser with the navigation buttons around the edge • Use the buttons and the mouse to explore your shuttle Space Exploration 137 OTHER VRML FEATURES The VRML browser has a number of settings that can be altered • Click with the right mouse button on a blank area of the model window • A floating menu appears on screen These determine how the model appears and how you navigate Experiment with the following options Viewpoints are not functional in Pro/DESKTOP models Graphics controls lighting and appearance of models Speed can be changed to suit the speed of your computer Movement repeats the tools on screen for navigating Toggles the navigation bar on/off Help menus and tutorials Further options Tip: Don't make too many changes at once Installing viewers at home If you want to this type of thing at home a number of companies produce the free viewers They are also available for most popular web browsers including Netscape and Internet Explorer Try doing an Internet search to find the best viewer for you Next steps You can now create VRML models from your Pro/DESKTOP assemblies and insert them into web pages Space Exploration 138