TFBCON2003 (Art/B3D)

Elliptical Spotlights This image takes the idea of Ellipse Evolute into the third dimension. Here, the normal lines no longer stay in the plane, but now form a 45-degree angle with the plane. One might consider searchlights placed around an elliptical sports stadium, all pointing into the night sky at the same angle. The light beams would intersect in much the same way as shown here (thus the name.) In this image, the beams of light are represented by colored bands. The colors are intended to help you recognize where each piece of light originated along the ellipse. Notice that the colors traverse the upper elliptical shape in the opposite order, so wave fronts eminating from the lower ellipse "turn inside out", much as they do in Circle Waves. In this case, however, they don't invert all at once, but in a series of cusped shapes that occur in a tetrahedral shape toward the center of the figure (which is more apparent in Sandpile Chalice). This image appeared in Beyond the Third Dimension, and played an important role in the video Fronts and Centers.

TFBCON2003 Web Pages Created: 13 Oct 2003 Last modified: Oct 13, 2003 10:26:30 PM Comments to: dpvc@union.edu

Sandpile Chalice Tom Banchoff's Mathematical Artwork B3D Cover