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A website to make 3D geometry shapes out of paper

by bilinualcom on 8/8/20, 12:57 PM with 11 comments

• by cogburnd02 on 8/8/20, 9:26 PM

  There's a 3D graphing application for TI-83+ series calculators [1] and an easter egg was that it could plot the head of a duck. [2] (it had the equations for the surfaces in the code somewhere, presumably.)

  The first thing that came to my mind when I saw that you can upload an equation on this site is, 'I wonder what the equation is for a duck?'

  [1] https://www.detachedsolutions.com/graph3/

  [2] https://www.detachedsolutions.com/features/graph3-3.gif

• by emj on 8/8/20, 8:09 PM

  I did this for a bathymetric map, but I it was hard to get the resolution I wanted, I used a laser cutter that was too small, so someone just exported the model and showed me it in AR which actually was a better experience. So this works well for small projects, but it gets insanely work intensive to do for larger projects.

• by shagie on 8/8/20, 7:58 PM

  This reminds me of Graphica Obscura - Paper and Plotter: A 3D Surface (1977). http://graficaobscura.com/surf/index.html

• by vivekseth on 8/8/20, 6:53 PM

  This is super cool! One suggestion I have is to try to optimize the arrangement of the cut-outs to use the paper more efficiently. In some cases I think up to 2x the cut-outs could fit on a page.

  You may also want to consider trying to arrange the cut-outs so that the flat edge aligns with the flat edge of the page. Might result in less cutting for the user.

• by loxtank on 8/8/20, 7:53 PM

  Nice! This reminded me of when a friend showed me his collection of early 20th century paper theatre dioramas. Fascinating stuff.

  I think I'll try to create an actual set-design using the generator/plotter.

  Thanks for sharing this!

• by wilhil on 8/8/20, 6:58 PM

  So... can anyone convert the Batman Equation to a format this site understands?!