2 new Sierpinski castles

[Garth Thornton]

I have reduced the number of holons by using a shared rotational tile holon for the symmetry, which also makes it much easier to create and modify the structure.
Sierp Castle Monteny #5:
   

Sierpescher Tower:
   


  Sierp Castle Monteny 5.xep (Size: 16.5 KB / Downloads: 46)

  Sierpescher tower.xep (Size: 16.52 KB / Downloads: 40)

[PeteLinforth]

Stunning creations, something for me to aspire to with my own Xenodream work.

[PeteLinforth]

Hi Garth

what would be really useful for a total novice like me is a much simplified model to work from with just a very small number of holons. I've tried to de construct these but get totally lost.

Maybe just a simple tower of sorts?

Would that be something you could think of doing if you have the time?

thanks

Pete

[Garth Thornton]

Hi Pete,

the simplest towers to understand just have plain holons, but it takes more of them and you have to align sets of four exactly for the symmetry. The user guide has a topic about Dirk Monteny's sample files with some explanations.

The Sierp Castle Monteny 5 here is actually easier to play with because the symmetry is all handled by an extended holon with a RotateY tile metamorph. I could delete a few holons from this example but they all serve to illustrate something. Here is some explanation and a good way to understand it.

After opening the file, set the preview to Gray mode, so the active holon shows in yellow. Then open the Holon Info List (click the button with the '123...' icon beside the selection buttons in the holon toolbar.) If necessary, resize the list window to show the 'Ex12' on the right of the first three rows. That tells you which holons are extended by holon 12 (a free hidden holon with RotateY). Now you can click each line in the list (not in the checkboxes) and see the corresponding yellow holon in the preview (and holon pane if the holon list isn't covering it). Here's a rundown of the holons:

The first three are the main pieces and can be modified in any way you like. Holons 4 and 5 add height to the tower and can have their scales and Y position adjusted. It's usually best if at least one of the tower holons is inverted to have flat surfaces on top, but not necessary.

Holon 6 is a ground plane and has been disabled because I used a pic texture instead (a more advanced technique). Holons 7 and 8 are free holons, and stretched vertically, to make the left and right copies of the tower. You can delete or hide them for learning purposes. Holons 9,10,11 are the balls on top of the main pieces, so they are also extended by holon 12. You could delete these for learning. Holon 13 is another piece that is extended for symmetry, but is just to make some pillars to fill in the tower a bit, so you could delete it.

So the only essential holons for this tower are the first five plus the RotateY extender. You could delete the others and experiment with tower structures. You could clone any of those first 5 and modify them as you like. This is a good basis for a variety of structures. For castles, all the holons should point up or down, or it gets chaotic fast. To change the symmetry to something other than square, change the RotateY holon's Special value (it's one less than the symmetry).

[PeteLinforth]

Hi Garth

thanks for the tips, I'll give it a go and see how I get on.

cheers

Pete