RE: Content (Legos and Potato Heads)

["Brandon J. Van Every" <vanevery@3DProgrammer.com>]

> Unfortunately, the polygon triangle is a little too basic a block.

That's like saying the classic Lego "one dot, 1/3 high" is too basic a
block.  It isn't.  The difference between Legos and triangles is that Legos
have a consistent UI paradigm that's easily manipulated in 3D.  My childhood
spaceships were all klunky by today's custom-part Lego standards.  By
yesterday's Lego standards they were elegant, especially the 6-wide fighters
with 2 8-wide 1/3 tall guns that slid along a railroad track to launch.  I
built toys that were replicas of ones I didn't own, such as the Planet Of
The Apes capture trap.

So, if you can figure out how an equilateral triangle "should" stick to its
neighbors, and how to easily manipulate those in 3D, then you've got a
virtual version of "Legos."  The manipulation is the tough part, the
gridding is trivial.


Cheers,                         www.3DProgrammer.com
Brandon Van Every               Seattle, WA

20% of the world is real.
80% is gobbledygook we make up inside our own heads.