v r m l . c a l c u l u s . n e t



§2.2 - Library of Surfaces in VR

by Robert Curtis, Bill Davis, and Lee Wayand.

Quadrics

A quadric surface is the graphical description of a quadric equation given by
a x2 + b y2 + c z2 + d x + e y + f z + g = 0
If you may solve for z explicitly and uniquely, then we may call this surface an explicit quadric. (Otherwise, it is an implicit quadric).

We will start with presenting some explicit quadrics.

  • View the VRML World Shown: no spin
  • View the VRML World Shown: spinning
  • Examine the VRML source text file
  • View the mother MathView CAS file
  • View the VRML World Shown: no spin
  • View the VRML World Shown: spinning
  • Examine the VRML source text file
  • View the mother MathView CAS file

Tubes

Tubes are surfaces that are the locus of circles of a fixed radius in 3D space perpendicular to a space curve C.

For this first example, we use the space curve

C(t) = (cos(t), sin(t), t)
as our generating curve.

Note: We cannot use the -gz compression trick here - Live3D seems to crash very consistently on large files like this using the -gz trick. So you will have to wait longer for the downloads on the Tubes.


Stretch to Fit Proportions

True Proportions
More Stable Links
These files are really big, but to help with stability, these .wrl files are not .gz compressed, and are embedded in an HTML page.
  • View the VRML World Shown: no spin
  • View the VRML World Shown: spinning
  • Examine the VRML source text file
  • View the mother MathView CAS file
  • View the VRML World Shown: no spin
  • View the VRML World Shown: spinning
  • Examine the VRML source text file
  • View the mother MathView CAS file
Buggy Live3D Links
For some reason, the size of this file seems to crash Netscape more than embedding the file in an HTML page.
  • View the VRML World Shown: no spin
  • View the VRML World Shown: spinning
  • View the VRML World Shown: no spin
  • View the VRML World Shown: spinning
  • View the VRML World Shown: no spin (with .gz)
  • View the VRML World Shown: spinning (with .gz)
  • View the VRML World Shown: no spin (with .gz)
  • View the VRML World Shown: spinning (with .gz)

Road Map

What You Need to Access This Site:

  

  

Official Website of
www.calculus.net
 • Webcast on a DEC Alpha on a T-1 line from • 
 • Webster, Massachusetts, USA • 
 • Web Construction and Management by WebPrimitives • 

Core Development Team
  • Robert R. Curtis
  • Phil R. Smith
  • Christopher A. Barker
  • Diane Welden Housken
  • Tim Lance
  • Bob Stein
  • Donald Hartig
  • Lee Wayand
  • Charlene Beckmann
  • Bill Davis
  • Paul Latiolais
  • Dennis Sentilles
  • Carmen Artino
  • Michael Colvin


WebPrimitives
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