Jeffrey Stewart Ely
I am interested in applying computer graphical techniques to
illuminate mathematical processes
and objects. Ideally, this can lead to a deeper understanding or at
least to an increased appreciation
and awareness of the process or object. Some of my projects are
implemented as billions of
particles, others use the ray tracing technique and hundreds of
millions of rays. In either case,
I do not use "canned" software, preferring to write the code myself to
first principles.
Unlike pictures of two-dimensional Apollonian gaskets, most
renderings of the
three-dimensional analogue, Apollonian sphere packing, tend to be
disappointing
because they do not reveal the interior structure the way that
their two-dimensional
cousins do.
This image tries to reveal the inner structure in several ways.
First, some of the larger
spheres that obstruct the view have been removed. The negative
spaces caused by their removal are plain to 'see'. Second, the
observer has been located in one of these negative spaces,
affording a more intimate view. Finally, the process has been
deliberately left incomplete, giving a sense of both the coarser
and finer stages of the construction.