Jitterbug Animations

By Greg -

I used the programming language, Ruby, and SketchUp Make 2017® to create the following animations demonstrating the geometrical transformation known to its discoverer, Richard Buckminster Fuller, as the Jitterbug.

The jitterbug transformation is typically modeled as hinged vectors and rotating triangles. But as the vectors are meant to model the joining of sphere centers, I've here replaced the vertices with spheres.

The doubling up of edges at the octahedron phase of the jitterbug is here represented by merging and diverging spheres. Different views and rotations reveal some interesting characteristics of the transformation. If the view rotation is synchronized with the rotation of the top and bottom triangles, the transformation resembles a pump with spheres orbiting around its equator.

A different angle and without rotation, the spheres merge and diverge at right angles.

Finally, the conventional view of the jitterbug, with its synchronously rotating triangles replaced with spheres.

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