Food, Equations, Exersice, and Lasers

Food

I have not been eating as well as I would like to be.  I have been eating out way to much.  I went a restocked my fridge and am going to start eating better again this week.

Equations

I have been playing a lot with SAGE and implicit modeling.  It is very cool to have this:
c = Tetrahedral (18,18,60)
sp = Sphere(1.5)
sld = Join(c,sp)
swplt = Plot3d(sld,5,100)
swplt

where you just define the individual shapes like this:
def Tetrahedral (a,b,c) : return ((x^2 + y^2 + z^2)^2 + a*x*y*z - b*(x^2 + y^2 + z^2) + c)
def Sphere (r) : return (x^2+y^2+z^2-r^2
and a join like this:
def Join (a,b) : return Min2(a,b)

And what comes out is:

Yes that is a sphere floating in the middle...  I plan to try printing this.  It should work and have the ball trapped in the middle.  (I will post pictures if it works.)

Exersice

I went for a run this morning.  It was not a very long run, but it was a run.  I think I am going to join the "Movers and Shakers" club at work.  That is where you get a pedometer and log your miles.  You then get prizes at certain points.  It might be a good motivator....

Lasers

I think for my final project in my rapid prototyping class we are going to test and use a 3D scanner setup using free software called DAVID (http://www.david-laserscanner.com/).   What is very cool about this is that it uses any camera and a laser with a line diffuser on it.  You use the laser to scan the surface of the object while the camera records the shape of the line.  This is then converted into a 3D shape in the computer.

Getting Back in the Groove

Missed my weekly Sunday post this week.  I had a party on Sunday night for my sister Joiwyn who turned 16.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOIWYN!!!

I am enjoying my rapid prototyping class.  I just finished a lab report about a part I made to test printing threaded holes.  Next we get to test a 3D scanner...  Later we will be making our own 3D modeling software using SAGE and ISM, Implicit Solid Modeling.  SAGE is a free, open source, computer algebra program.  ISM is where you define a shape with a formula, f(x,y)=x^2 + y^2 - 1 for a disc.  This then is used to determine what is inside, on, and outside the object.

I have also been playing with OpenSCAD which is a open source cad engine that lets you model with a script that defines the object and then will render it. Very cool...