Polyhedral Waltz

Math professor Debra Borkovitz recently sent me this video she made, which beautifully shows the interactions between Platonic, Archimedean, and their derivative solids. You don't need to be a math geek to appreciate the amazing, eye-popping relationships between all of these 3D objects.



In her blog post, Debra explains how she made the models in SketchUp (she used my GeomeTricks books to learn how to create many of these objects!), and also goes into detail about making the video itself. Like the music? It was composed by her friend and colleague, another math professor!

If you want to experiment with these objects yourself, be sure to download Debra's model, which contains all of the solids used in this video, each on its own layer. Click the 3D icon below to spin or zoom the model, and click "Google 3D Warehouse" to go to its download page.




To control layer visibility in Debra's model, open the Layers window and check the Visible box for what you want to see. You could play with this model for hours!

Anyone can design anything in 3D! http://www.3dvinci.net/

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What's Coming in our February Projects?

This month's projects, going out to subscribers next week, includes a Sketchy Physics example -I've been making so many amazing models for my upcoming book! The subscription price is still discounted at just $24.95 for a year, which includes 18 fun projects. 

Jenga!
 With the free Sketchy Physics plugin, you can make a FUNCTIONING JENGA GAME - this project shows you how. Once you build your tower, start pulling out blocks. Will yours fall right away, or stay up?

House Plans

This project is a teacher request: How to start with a realistic model of a house . . .

 

. . . and create floor plans.

Tip of the Screw
One of last month's projects showed how to make screw threads, using spirals and the Scale tool. But a real screw ends in a point (or close to a point). This project shows an easy way to finish off the end of the screw model.

 There's a lot of fun stuff here to keep you busy, if the snow or cold is keeping you inside! Again, here's where you sign up to receive these projects. Anyone can design anything in 3D! http://www.3dvinci.net/

Join our FREE Email Mailing List!