See the shape

#What it trains

The skill the club works on all year: seeing simple shapes inside a complex object and telling a true rotation of a figure from its mirror image. The first is the basis of a blockout (Block 1); the second is understanding how Mirror works.

#Two modes

1. “Break it into shapes.” In front of you is a three-dimensional object (a mug, a lamp, a rocket, a robot, a mushroom, a chess pawn…). Rotate it with the mouse or your finger and mark every type of primitive you see: box, sphere, cylinder, cone, torus, plane. The number of repeats doesn’t matter — only the types.
2. “Update the rotation.” On the left is the target, on the right three candidates. One is the same figure, just rotated; another is its mirror image; the third is a completely different figure. Rotate both the target and the candidates: a true rotation matches the target cube for cube, while in a mirror image the colored cubes land in the opposite order however you turn it.

#Tips

• In mode 1, find the biggest shape first, then whatever is “attached” to it. That is exactly what you do in a blockout.
• In mode 2, don’t compare figures “by eye” in one position: rotate them until one cube matches the target, then check the rest.
• A mirror image can’t be obtained by rotation — which is why Mirror in Blender gives you a new half, not a “rotated” old one.