scaleable hex

I am interested in creating a form out of solid rods that create a hexagon shape and to be able to scale the size of the hexagons and diameter of the rods. Can anyone recommend how I can create this? I have attached an image of what I would like to make.

Thanks.

Attachments:

icosahedral_symmetry_2_original.png, 497 KB

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Permalink Reply by Jacek Jaskólski on May 16, 2010 at 3:09am

A while back I created a definition for visualizing the rolling up of graphene sheets into nanotubes (see attached video).
What came in handy was the hexagon grid defining equations used in nanophysics. The definition is quite simple, I'll post it soon so you could use it as a starting point, though I think what you show on your image is more a rounded cone than a rod (tube)...

Attachments:

nanotube_16_0.mov, 4.3 MB

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Permalink Reply by Fredrik Wenstop on May 16, 2010 at 4:44am

Hi Jacek

Nice! That seems like an interesting definition. Did you do the mapping with a formula?

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Permalink Reply by China Blue on May 16, 2010 at 7:16am

Thanks for the mov. Yes the equation would be helpful. Thanks. I lookforward to seeing it. Maybe I can wrap it around a solid to get the shape?

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Permalink Reply by Jacek Jaskólski on June 6, 2010 at 9:04am

Sorry for the delay, guys...

I've attached the definition, didn't have time to clean it up though.
The maths/physics of carbon nanotubes are were explained here.
Fig. 3.2 shows the relationships between the flat hex net, the chiral and translational vectors and the resulting nanotube structure.

As for the dynamic rolling up part of the definition - I didn't map those point on a cylinder, but used simple rotations instead - see attached ghx.

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