[Vzome-users] vZome appreciation, Meta-xZome, vZome-users Digest, Vol 9, Issue 4

Fri Apr 13 16:27:23 PDT 2007

Thank you, Brendan!

This is good stuff... a very nice model.  Your vZome proficiency is a  
pleasant surprise; some good friends among my vZome users are still  
not as adept.  (Now, I'll "undo" your model to see how much you used  
symmetry to save yourself work.  ;-))

Zome's self-similar nature is fascinating stuff.  Note that all of  
the vZome balls and struts are modeled using vZome.  I've always  
thought it would be nice if users could introduce their own ball/ 
strut shapes in the same way I introduce them... the capability is  
not that far off.  The sticky part is supporting struts of arbitrary  
length.  Would you like to see your meta-zome parts as a "shapes"  
alternative in vZome?  Either as one-color solids, or in their full  
detail?

A comment on your metastrut shapes... they are nice because they are  
rZome-constructible.  However, in my explorations I've decided that  
struts have a nicer visual impact if they emphasize the straight line  
between the ball centers.  This is accomplished by putting the  
"twist" at the ends, rather than the center.  I've designed "end- 
twist" red and yellow struts for rZome, though Paul wasn't  
interested.  Of course, the full angular twist has to be divided in  
two between the two ends.  I'll send along a model to show what I  
mean, and how to achieve it.  It may not be realizable with rZome  
struts, but we'll see.

Don't bother with the trig on my account... I never worry about  
angles and lengths, since vZome is based on mathematics that really  
don't allow for statements like "a red strut is X times as long as a  
blue strut".  Angles are determined by vectors, and vZome cares about  
them only when trying to decide which strut you're trying to create  
with the trackball control.  In other words, the fact that Zome uses  
a discrete, finite set of directions (zones) is a wonderful thing,  
and vZome takes advantage of that.

Regards,

Scott

On Apr 13, 2007, at 5:54 PM, Brendo wrote:

> Scott...  Sorry for not giving you more feedback sooner.  I  
> appreciate your
> efforts on vZome more than I can say.  Attached is one of my current
> projects, a Meta-xZome model of Vekay's "remainder tetrahedron" (a  
> regular
> Zome model of this tetrahedron can be seen in his posts RE:  
> Buckminster
> Fuller's T-Module).  Note that the MetaBalls in this structure are not
> regular Zomeballs!  They are Red-Yellow only (or they could be called
> NonBlue) nodes which I developed in realZome for another project  
> I've been
> working on with rZome which uses only red and yellow struts.  The  
> node is
> based on the soccer ball (or Buckyball), but the hexagons have  
> alternating
> "tau divided" sides.  Ironically this xMetaball is built using only  
> blue
> struts.  This xMetaball saves me struts over a regular MetaZomeball by
> eliminating the thirty unused blue rectangles, and gives the yellow  
> struts
> in this structure a hexagonal cross section!  I'm sure this  
> polyhedron has
> an official name, but I don't know what that is so I'm calling it the
> BrendoBall for now.  Anyway vZome proves that it works  
> mathematically and
> shows me how to construct the xMetastruts in rZome.
>
> I haven't done the "trig arithmetic" yet to figure out the Zome  
> radius of
> the Brendoball, or the relative Zome lengths of the experimental  
> struts in
> this model - they look like they're about R2/2, Y2/2, R1/2 & Y1/2.   
> I was
> surprised and pleased that the standard vZome lengths could build  
> these
> experimental Meta-parts!  It's exciting for me.
>
> More on this very soon, please E-mail me if you can't open the  
> attachment -
> we'll figure it out.
>
> Thanks for the vZome update.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: vzome-users-bounces at vorthmann.org
> [mailto:vzome-users-bounces at vorthmann.org] On Behalf Of
> vzome-users-request at vorthmann.org
> Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2007 12:00 PM
> To: vzome-users at vorthmann.org
> Subject: vZome-users Digest, Vol 9, Issue 4
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> Today's Topics:
>
>    1. vZome 2.1 beta 13 released (Scott Vorthmann)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2007 23:42:20 -0500
> From: Scott Vorthmann <scott at vorthmann.org>
> Subject: [Vzome-users] vZome 2.1 beta 13 released
> To: vZome-users at vorthmann.org
> Message-ID: <4EE60C85-3CCE-4D1C-B155-187C5FB2F70E at vorthmann.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed
>
>
> Hi, vZome enthusiasts,
>
> I've fixed a couple of bugs.  If you're using Java 1.4 rather than
> 1.5 (also called 5.0!), you haven't been able to open your saved
> models.  Likewise, if you're using the "sqrt(2)" vZome system.  Both
> are fixed in 2.1 beta 13.
>
>      http://vorthmann.org/zome/jnlp/v21b13/vZome-v21b13.jnlp
>
> As usual, the "v21latest" version will automatically update to this
> version, as well:
>
>      http://vorthmann.org/zome/jnlp/v21latest/vZome-v21latest.jnlp
>
> One other note... although working on vZome is lots of fun, the real
> fun is hearing from you and knowing that vZome is enriching your life
> in some small measure.  If you like vZome, and want me to keep
> working on it and sharing it, then motivate me!  Tell me what you
> like, what you want, what you're building... whatever.  Show me that
> vZome is worth my effort.
>
> Scott
>
>
>
>
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