MathArt and Science

Prof. Peter Brass

The topic of MathArtScience is the making of pictures, illustrations, and images, y computer/programming tools.

This semester, we try to run MathArtScience as Special Interest group (SIG) or student club, with the aim of making a public exhibition of our results in May in the library, and, we hope, submit something to the NSF Visualization challenge

Below are some materials from previous versions, then this ran as a class.

POVRAY materials need to be revised soon

Here I collect the handouts and materials on ray-tracing with povray. Povray is a freely available raytracer, which exists on many platforms, including unix/linux, windows, mac etc. Raytracing is a technology for creating pictures.

We will look only at a small part of the entire povray system. I will write soon a short introduction. The tutorial and reference manual are unfortunately not very understadable, being full of unexplained abbreviations and program constructs. Still, they are here: Tutorial and a Reference. They are both quite long, don't print them. You find them also online, as html-documents, on the povray website.

Povray Materials

  1. Handout 1, Example code 1 1, Example output 1 1, Example code 2, Example output 2
  2. In-Class Project 1,
  3. A partial dodecahedron: all vertices in place, but most edges missing Example code 3, Example output 3. For those who have never built a polyhedron out of paper before, I have here all platonic solids: print, cut out, and glue together. Tetrahedron, Cube, Octahedron, Dodecahedron, Icosahedron.

POVRAY MATERIALS WILL BE IMPROVED IN THE NEXT WEEKS

EVRYTHING BELOW IS OUTDATED: THIS IS NOT COURSE FOR CREDIT IN THIS SPRING SEMESTER 2008.

Some reference materials for your information: Course References,

Postscript Materials

  1. Handout 1,
  2. Handout 2,
  3. Handout 3,
  4. Handout 4,
  5. Handout 5,
  6. Handout 6,
  7. Symmetry Review,
  8. Handout 7,
  9. Handout 8,
  10. Handout 9,
  11. Handout 10,
  12. Handout 11,
  13. Curves Review,
  14. Handout 12,
  15. Handout 13,
  16. Handout 14,
  17. Handout 15,
I also separated the examples from those handouts; these are exactly the files as in the handouts: Example 1, Example 2, Example 3, Example 4, Example 5, Example 6, Example 7, Example 8, Example 9. Example 10. Example 11. Example 12. Example 13. Example 14. Example 15. Example 16. Example 17. Example 18. Example 19. Example 20. Example 21. Example 22. Example 23. Example 24. Example 25. Example 26. Example 27. Example 28. Example 29. Example 30. Example 31 .

Science Materials

  1. On the `Cental Dogma'.
  2. On protein structure visualization.

We now have some picture-making projects. Always make a draft on paper before you start programming. Assign coordinates, and see how it should approximately look, then you can compare your program to your plan.

  1. First Art Project: create an image that looks like a painting by Piet Mondrian. My simple example for your inspiration is here.
  2. Second Art Project: create a design for a gothic church window. Some simple examples are here: Example 1,. Example 2,. Example 3,. Example 4,. Example 5,.
  3. HOMEWORK PROJECT As mentioned before, we want you to re-create an example of geometric artwork you found in the city. For those who did not find anything, or have no camera available, I made a list. of example pictures of geometric artwork found in the city. Pick one, identify the geometric structures, and create your own version of it.

    The submissions we received so far are

Exam

If you want to receive credit for this class, you have to do project work, as explained in the announcement, as well as complete some exam questions. There are two pages, Page 1 deals with coordinates, and Page 2 with postscript code.

There are some Instructions for your presentation for the molecular story oproject.

Peter Brass (peter@cs.ccny.cuny.edu)