From: Christian Wolinski To: ml@qoole.com Reply-To: ml@qoole.com Date: Wed, 04 Mar 1998 13:27:14 -0400 Subject: SKEWER and TWISTER Hey ! I just came up with two new functions that Qoole could port. Besides the mirror its lacking add a skew function and twist function. SKEW is pretty self exlanatory. TWIST... You select a brush and an edge (of any aother brush or itsel) then specify number of divisions and total angle. So if you take two planes perpendicular to the edge coincident at ends, the part of the brush between the planes would get twisted around the edge by the specified angle from top to bottom. The twisted part would get divided into the specified number of parts by parallel planes. Every vertex would be rotated by an angle dependent on how far up the edge it is. Application ? STAIRS !Just take a tall plate and rotate around its edge or more distant edge to get a helix. Or take two tall plates to get double helix ! Take 2 thin vertical parallel plates twist around a vertical edge move up add to staircase and u get staircase wih rails. Put a few (5 or 6) of those staircases in a tall room and apply func_rotating to each of them :) quite the circus :p Put some of them in cylinders or around cylinders with exits at different levels and angle and interconnect them and u get quiite neat fuel depot station. Take an angled flat and a vertical edge that touches it at the top then skew... and you get a cnnverging staircase (like a christmas tree) TUNNELS ! Take a single tall pipe and twist around parralel edge, then skew it (along vertical) to level it and u get a bended pipe or climbing pipe depending on how much skew is applied. SPHERES ! Take an arc brush and twist around the bisector, duplicate numerous times rotating each copy by an extra angle around the vertical, group and you get a spherical "basket" then put a light source in it <--- check out the shadows. Take two "baskets" with opposite angles and u get a hash. and these are just the simpliest of things u can get accomplished with these two... Both functions can be applied numeroust times along different edges (WOW lemme think about that...) UH OH ONE MORE BEND function ... Same selection as twist function plus a perpendicular edge. As you go along the first edge rotate around the second edge ---> Instant bridges and pipe bends apply 180 bend function to a swirling staircase :) chris