...the models live in the curved space of the hypersphere...

June 2, 2007 8:16 AM

Here are some beautifully rendered views of polytopes, and a few more. The rendering program, Jenn 3D, is free and downloadable, (OS X, Linux, Win) and includes some really dazzling fly-about and camera effects as well as tons of high-dimensional models to explore. There's also a mind-boggling possibility of playing Go on boards in projective space. Via the Math Paint blog, which leads to other interesting places...
posted by Wolfdog (13 comments total)

I hesitate to link to stuff you have to download and install, but this is really pretty spectacular. I've been dragging and flying around all morning. The main program installed with absolutely zero hassle on my Intel Mac and looks gorgeous. The go-playing version (installation just a tad more complicated: I had to type "make") is entirely bare-bones and maddeningly alien if you're used to usual Go, but intriguing. Game play is just pvp; there's no computerized opponent.
posted by Wolfdog at 8:21 AM on June 2, 2007

The second most recent post on that blog is about my grandfather, Jos De Mey. I've helped in preparing stuff to be sent to the author, but back then he hadn't started blogging.

Great post.
posted by phrontist at 8:47 AM on June 2, 2007

Oh, You actually linked to the gallery of his work!
posted by phrontist at 8:48 AM on June 2, 2007

Your grandfather is awesome.
posted by Wolfdog at 8:54 AM on June 2, 2007

The download for PowerPC Mac is messed up. If you click on it, you get a bunch of nonsense text. I downloaded the file anyway and appended .gz to the end of it. It still didn't work. How can I fix it, if possible?
posted by chillmost at 9:00 AM on June 2, 2007

Hoo, wow. Nice post, great little app!
posted by everichon at 9:08 AM on June 2, 2007

The PPC Mac file is actually an executable, not an archive. Save it as a file, then open a Terminal up... type:

chmod 750 jenn3d_macppc.2006_11_27

to give it execute permission. Then type:

./jenn3d_macppc.2006_11_27

and it will open the program.
posted by synaesthetichaze at 9:21 AM on June 2, 2007

I forgot to mention... you should be in the directory where the file is when you execute those commands!
posted by synaesthetichaze at 9:22 AM on June 2, 2007

The powerpc version isn't zipped - it's a ready-to-go binary. Option-click to save it, rename it to a shorter name if you like ('jenn'), and start it from the terminal. Look here.
posted by Wolfdog at 9:24 AM on June 2, 2007

Coxeter polytopes. Cool. I recently watched a show on TVO (the Ontario equivalent of PBS) on Harold Scott MacDonald Coxeter.
posted by bhouston at 9:26 AM on June 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

Playing Go in projective space: Whoa
Playing Go in any space against a computer: Yawn

Cool link, though.
posted by DU at 6:41 PM on June 2, 2007

Thanks for the help......

*installs*

.....My God. It's full of stars!....
posted by chillmost at 5:32 AM on June 3, 2007

beautiful-- thanks
posted by sponge at 6:36 PM on June 3, 2007