Until now we have departed from the world of the ground-plan Mapping only in exceptional cases, but this chapter will show that the results of iterative calculations can be represented in other ways. The emphasis here should not be only on naked power: for the understanding of complicated relationships, different graphical methods of representation can also be used. If ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’, perhaps two pictures can make clear facts that cannot be expressed in words at all.

Up Hill and Down Dale

Among the most impressive achievements of computer graphics, which we encounter at every local or general election, are 3D pictures. Of course we all know that a video screen is flat, hence has only two dimensions. But by suitable choice of perspective, projection, motion, and other techniques, at least an impression of three-dimensionality can be created, as we know from cinema and television. The architectural and engineering professions employ Computer Aided Design (CAD) packages with 3D graphical input, which rapidly made an impact on television and newspapers. Although we certainly cannot compare our pictures with the products of major computer corporations of the ‘Cray’ class, at least we can give a few tips on how to generate pseudo-3D graphics, like those in §2.2.3.

The principle leans heavily on the mapping method of the previous chapter. The entire picture is thus divided into a series of parallel stripes. For each of them we work out the picture for a section of the 3D form.