Crystal Applet

Throw Object with the Left Mouse Button

Change Object with the Right Mouse Button

This applet displays small structures in a micro-gravity environment.

You can effect the object in the box.

You can press the (left) mouse button to draw energy out of the object.
If you move the mouse before lifting the button, then the object gets thrown in that direction.
If you press with the right mouse button, or press with the 'meta' key pressed, then you goto the next object in your list.

The applet takes one major argument, 'shapes', that defines a list of the parameter names of all the shapes. In this example we start with

pyramid,doublepyramid,diamond,cube,...

The applet then takes one argument for each shape. The shape is defined using a list of edge specifications, for example:

1-2,2-3,3-4,1-3,1-4,2-4

The default edge size is 50. You can specify a different size using the '/size' notation. For example:

1-2/100,2-3/100,3-4/50,1-3/50,1-4/75,2-4/20

If you specify an edge as a negative number, then this edge takes a positive length, but exerts an an invisible force. This is how some of the above shapes keep their shape!

And if anyone is interested, the bounce sound is the sound my softball makes when hitting my mousemat...