Escher
MCBRIDE, LANCE R (mcbrla@wwc.edu)
Tue, 25 Apr 95 21:48:27 -0400
There are some works of Escher that obviously aren't 3 dimensionally
possible, but I can think of several that are. In my first post, I mentioned
that someone has already made a flythrough Escher world (I think it came with
Linda Jacobson's garage vr book). The exterior housing of the world is the
church on which the monks walk on a continual staircase (I think) and the
church is entered through four doors at the base (NSEW). Each door takes you
to a different 'room' in the building where an Escher motif is represented-
like the 3D stairs, a pillared chessboard, and a ball and post room. Some of
the rooms contain jewels which transport you the exterior of the church. I
was so fascinated that I spent an hour or so exploring the world.
What I propose is something along the same lines, but that continually
builds it self, adding rooms and spaces that were never programmed in. This
concept might be represented by the Tartus (sp.) in Doctor Who. On the
outside the ship looks like a regular telephone booth, but the inside
contains an infinite amount of space.
By setting up algorithms to use predefined geometric forms, like the cube
or square, textured with various texture maps, like many of Escher's texture
forms, limits could be set on the size of the space (or not) and the world
could build itself (figuratively speaking).
Along the same lines, a friend of mine recently created an interesting
structure that could be made into a maze. A simple cubical room contains two
pillars. You can enter the space between the pillars from one way, which
takes you to another room, or from the other way, which takes you to the
previous room. At the end, the space between the pillars is transformed into
a long hallway leading to the exit.
Lance McBride mcbrla@wwc.edu
319a Rt. 1 http://www.wwc.edu/student/mcbrla/
Walla Walla, WA 99326
(509) 522-4829