This notebook demonstrates the relative ease in creating
three dimensional parametric surfaces from basic primitives with Mathematica. In fact, the above model is composed of only three types of
'modified' graphics primitives: spheres (fuselage), cylinders
(airfoil surfaces), and planes (inlets). By 'modified', I mean that
we stretch the equations to result in the proper ellipsoid or airfoil
shape; we also apply some coordinate rules to a few of the shapes to
create truncated edges as well as smooth transitions between some
shapes.
The notebook also provides custom functions for translating and
rotating any shape in three dimensional space. While they are
currently based on Euler angles and calculate via multiplication of
custom rotation matrices, they could easily be expanded to utilize
quaternion algebra if needed.
The full notebook is available and can be viewed with Mathematica or MathReader.
