Geodesic Dome Design WinDome Version 4.80 beta 1 October 8, 2002 ============= What is WinDome?

============= WinDome is a 32-bit Windows application program which calculates the properties of a geodesic dome symmetry triangle. DOME calculates spherical vertex coordinates, s ymmetry triangle topological abundance, and chord factors. DOME supports class I (altern ate) and class II (triacon) breakdowns for Icosahedron, Octahedron and Tetrahedron po lyhedron types. DOME also supports "Buckyball" formations as well as elliptical geodesics and geodesic parabolic dishes. ============= Why WinDome? ============= WinDome is a Windows version of the original command-line DOME program. DOME beg an as a set of geodesic math test algorithims for use in investigating properties of general ized geodesic structures. This continues to be the main purpose of my development of the DOME code. DOME should serve as a basic tool for those interested in geodesic dome design and mo deling. All source code is also included in this package and is freely modifiable under the conditions of the GNU General Public License. ==================== System Requirements ==================== WinDome has been complied using Microsoft Visual C++ 5.0 as a 32-bit MFC applica tion. WinDome will should run fine in Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000 or XP. Dome frequency is limited by the amount of memory available. WinDome 4.80 is in Beta. ============================================== Changes From Previous DOS Release Version 4.60 ============================================== -Added parabolic dish functions -Rewrote several functions into modules. -Added Windows GUI front-end -Upgraded VRML output to the VRML97 specification ============ Installation ============ WinDome has been compiled statically so that it is a self-contained program. Sim ply create a folder called WinDome and copy the WinDome.exe file into it. You can then create a shortcut to access the program at your convienece.

====== Usage ====== Select the Dome properties, specify a file name and press "Execute". ============ File Formats ============ WinDome currently supports five file formats: 1.) DXF - DXF face data which can be input into most computer aided design packa ges. Each polyhedron face is saved on a seperate level if spherical data generati on is requested. DXF data for Buckyballs are saved as LINE data. The default DXF data for all other structures is 3D POLYFACE data. This can be changed to LINE data w ith the -w option. Note that not all applications support DXF line data. In thes e cases, use polyface instead. 2.) DAT - An ASCII report format. Shows only symmetry triangle parameters. This format displays chord factors, face angles and axial angles. Not available for Buck yballs. 3.) PRN - An ASCII comma delimited format. Contains vertex coordinate and chord coordinate data. Suitable for parsing into custom routines and spreadsheets. Only data for the symmetry triangle is saved. Not available for Buckyballs. 4.) POV - POV-ray script file. Generates spheres for vertexia, cylinders for cho rds and triangles for faces. Faces are not saved when using the Buckyball option . The POV script consists of two files. The .POV file contains the scene descr iption while the dome.inc file contains the dome geometry. Note that WinDome refere nces "up" as the z-axis while POV references the y-axis. The Sky statement in the came ra definition compensates for this. 5.) WRL - VRML file for use with a VRML enabled browser such as the Cortona plug in from ParallelGraphics. Only wire-frame output is available with Buckyball op tion. WinDome supports the VRML97 Specification. ===================== Elliptical Structures ===================== WinDome allows the creation of elliptical geodesic structures. Select the ellipt ical radio button and then specifiy the elliptical eccentricity. This value is simply the ratio of the ellipse major axis to ellipse minor axis. A circle has an eccentricity of 1.0. WinDome allows eccentricity values greater than 0.0 but less than 2.0. An eccent ricity less than 1.0 results in an ellipse having a semimajor axis = 1.0 and aligned al ong the x-axis. Likewise, an eccentricity greater than results in an ellipse having

a semiminor axis = 1.0 and major axis aligned along the z-axis. ==================== Parabolic Structures ==================== WinDome now includes functions which allow the design of geodesic parabolic dish es. Select the parabolic radio button and then specify the focus and radius of the dish. The parabolic functions work with: 1.) Class I or Class II geodesics 2.) All supported polyhedron types. The following restrictions apply to the use of parabolics: 1.) A DXF filename must be included with the parabolic switches. 2.) The -w wireframe option should not be used. 3.) The ratio of focal length to dish diameter (f/d) must be greater than or equ al 0.25. 4.) No other output file type aside from the 3DFACE DXF file is supported at thi s time. 5.) Frequency is based on a spherical formation. Large values of f/d will reduce the number of faces used in the structure. Compensate by further increasing the frequency. WinDome produces a DXF file containing the dish face data and an ASCII text file named parabolic.txt containing the raw data for each face. The following data is output: 1.) Index data for each triangle vertex (A, B, C see map.gif) 2.) Chord lengths for each triangle side (a, b, c) 3.) Face angles (A, B, C). This data is given for each polyhedron face. In the case of the class I icosahed ron 20 faces will be output. The class II structure will use up to 60 triangles. Many of these faces may not cont ain data as this is dependent on the truncation used. The enclosed file map.gif contains a graphical representation one polyhedron fac e as well as the nomenclature used for each triangle. The units used for the focus location will determine the units of chord length. If -d6 is used where 6 is the focal length in feet, then the chord lengths will be output in feet as well. The parabolic.txt file is designed to be read by a spreadsheet application such as Microsoft Excel. When importing this file into a spreadsheet, set the field delimiter to 'tab', the text delimiter to '"' and make sure that the first three columns are read as text fields. ============= Other Goodies ============= See the Applied Synergetics Homepage for image samples and links to other Synergetics Web sites. The latest WinDome & DOME info can be found at http://www.applied-synergetics.com/ashp/html/domes.html

================ Other Platforms ================ Check the DOME web page for versions which support other platforms. ==================== Source Code Comments ==================== Releases of DOME prior to 4.0 had all the source code in one file. DOME & WinDome 4.80 has the source code split across several files: dome.txt dome.cpp geodesic.h - this file - Source code for main program loop. - Header file containing variables, structures and class member function prototypes. geodesic.cpp - Source code for geodesic class member functions. Most of the work is done by these routines. dxfsave.cpp - Geodesic class DXF save routines. povsave.cpp - Geodesic class POV save routines. wrlsave.cpp - Geodesic class WRL (VRML) save routines. cartesian.cpp - cartesian & spherical coordinate conversion & data struc tures cartesian.h - header for cartesian.cpp chords.cpp - class containing chord data structures chords.h - header for chord.cpp command.cpp - class implementing input parameter data structures command.h - header for command.cpp faces.cpp - class containing triangle face data structures faces.h - header for faces.cpp labels.cpp - class containing vertex label data structures labels.h - header for labels.cpp points.cpp - class containing vertex position data structures points.h - header for points.cpp ThetaTruncation.cpp - class for collecting truncation data ThetaTruncation.h - header for ThetaTruncation.cpp WinDome also includes the Visual C++ 5.0 project files for the GUI. ============= WinDome Updates ============= This is some of the stuff I'd like to see in future versions of DOME & WinDome -Provide Buckyball topological abundance in reports -Buckyball face data -Dihedral Face Angles -INI file input for customizing POV-ray and other settings. -Enhanced non-spherical support -Space frame support -Enhanced VRML Support -Graphical Display Feel free to contact me at rjbono@applied-synergetics.com for suggestions, bug r eports or questions. ===================== Copyright Information =====================

DOME 4.80 Beta 1, Copyright (C) 1995 - 2002 Richard J. Bono This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Please direct inquiries, comments and modifications to: Richard J. Bono 44 Augusta Rd. Brownsville, TX 78521 email: rjbono@applied-Synergetics.com ============================= Acknowledgements & References ============================= The main reference used in the creation of this code was: "Geodesic Math & How to Use It" by Hugh Kenner, 1976, University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-02924-0; Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 74-27292. Many thanks to Hugh for putting this data in an accessible format. Also, many thanks to: -J. F. (Jym) Nystrom for turning me on to Bucky back in the summer of 1984. -My wife and my daughters for their de-finite patience. -Chris Fearnley for pushing me to release this code, providing uploading tips, general comments, GNU POV scripts and UNIX/LINUX make files. -Kirby Urner for introducing me to POV-ray and for providing DOME with a home in cyberspace. -R. Buckminster Fuller for changing the way I view Universe.