headus 3D tools

[headus]

A long time UVLayout user sent me these images a while ago, but they're
still fascinating I think ... simple shape, but very interesting application.
Here's a summary of his detailed notes ...

"And here's another image, showing how circles projected on a sphere
and baked to the UVs created in UVLayout show very low distortion in
the flat map. The right side shows how circles drawn on the flat UV
template render as low distortion circles on the sphere.

It almost seems like magic that the quintessential curved surface
could be flattened with so little distortion. There's no projection in
cartography that can even come close, this is a centuries old quest
finally perfected.

Well, UVLayout deserves the credit anyway, and B. Fuller for figuring
out how to fit the continents into icosohedral face sections without
cutting them, and NASA's Blue Marble for the earth imagery. Actually,
Fuller's method doesn't quite work as well for an icosahedral sphere
mesh as it does for a planar faced icosahedron. After much adjustment,
I had to accept a slight cut somewhere, so settled on the coast of
China just south of Korea. In the Flattening the World image, I re-cut
the UVs so China remains inviolate and Korea gets its islands, but
this violates B. Fuller's geometry."

WikiPedia has more information on the Tissot diagram ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tissot's_Indicatrix

Phil

[DJ Azot]

I wana it!