How to find Graphics coordinates in 3D Plot in Mathematica 9

Question

I can't reproduce the steps as in the link to get coordinate points in a 3D Plot or Graphics in version 9 because with the mouse pointer I can by default only rotate/scale/shift the 3D Plot (also depending upon me pressing Shift or Alt).

Is there any trick to disable the mouse from doing that and get it to show me the coordinates or is there another way to do so?

I need to know the coordinates of two points on each axes and I'm aware that this is possible in other, possibly older, versions. The expected result is a list of 2D points, of course depending on the view of your 3D figure.

Answer 1

One simple way of practically getting coordinates is to project a 3D plot onto a 2D one with the manipulate. To be specific, let us consider a 3D plot:

Plot3D[Exp[Sin[x*y]], {x, -4, 4}, {y, -4, 4}]

and let us plot its projection onto x-axis, by controlling the y one by Manipulate:

Manipulate[
 Plot[Exp[Sin[x*y]], {x, -4, 4}], {y, -4, 4, Appearance -> "Labeled"}]

Now you can right-click on the image and from the dynamic menu choose "Get coordinates". If you need another y value, move the slider. Done

Have fun!

Answer 2

instead of using Plot3D or ListPlot3D for discrete data, use DensityPlot or if you are working with discrete data, ListDensityPlot. then you can use drawing tools->get coordinates to get the coordinate of the point you need. try different ColorFunctions as the option for DensityPlot to make your DensityPlot more clear so you can find the point you want more easily.