Repeated Augmentations of a Dodecahedron With More and More Dodecahedra

Here’s a single dodecahedron.

A new “cluster polyhedron” can be made by augmenting each pentagonal face with another dodecahedron.

If you can do it once, you can do it again, augmenting each pentagon with a new dodecahedron.

Once more.

I made these polyhedral clusters using Stella 4d: Polyhedron Navigator, which you can try for free at http://www.software3d.com/Stella.php.

Binary Dodecahedra

I made this .gif, of two dodecahedra orbiting a common center of mass, using a program called Stella 4d: Polyhedron Navigator. This program may be tried for free at http://www.software3d.com/Stella.php.

A Polyhedral Journey, Starting with the Compound of Five Dodecahedra

This is the compound of five dodecahedra, a shape which is included in the built-in polyhedral library of Stella 4d, a program you can try for yourself, free, right here.

I wanted to see what I could make, starting from this compound. My first modification to it was to create its convex hull, which is shown below.

The next move was to use Stella‘s “Try to Make Faces Regular” function, which produced this:

Next, I augmented this figure’s thirty yellow rhombi with prisms.

I then created the convex hull of this augmented polyhedron.

Next, I used the “Try to Make Faces Regular” function again, producing a solid that looks, to me, like a hybrid of the rhombicosidodecahedron and the rhombic triacontahedron.

This polyhedron has yellow faces that are almost squares. Careful inspection reveals that they are actually isosceles trapezoids. The next thing I did was to augment each of these trapezoids with a tall prism.

The next step was to, again, create the convex hull.

That was the end of this polyhedral journey, but I am confident there will be others.

Spectral Dodecahedra

Stella 4d: Polyhedron Navigator has a “put models on vertices” function which I used to build this cluster of 101 dodecahedra. If you’d like to try this software for yourself, there is a free trial download available at http://www.software3d.com/Stella.php.

A Dozen Dodecahedra, Surrounding an Icosahedron

I made these virtual models using Stella 4d: Polyhedron Navigator. If you’d like to try this program for yourself — free — the website to visit is http://www.software3d.com/Stella.php.

Two Images of a Toroidal Rhombic Triacontahedron Made of 212 Dodecahedra

I made these using Stella 4d, a program you can try as a free trial download at http://www.software3d.com/Stella.php.

The Third Stellation of the Pentagonal Icositetrahedron Is a Compound of Two Irregular Dodecahedra

Here’s the pentagonal icositetrahedron. It is the dual of the snub cube.

And here is its third stellation. As you can see, it’s a compound of two irregular dodecahedra.

I made these images using Stella 4d: Polyhedron Navigator. You can try this program for free at http://www.software3d.com/Stella.php.

Stellar Array

A great dodecahedron (red) sits in the middle of this polyhedral cluster. The polyhedra touching the one in the center are blue small stellated dodecahedra. Finally, there are yellow great stellated dodecahedra on the outside.

I assembled this polyhedral cluster using Stella 4d, which you can try for yourself at http://www.software3d.com/Stella.php.

Three Versions of a Compound of the Great and Small Stellated Dodecahedra

In the first version of this compound shown here, the great stellated dodecahedron is shown in yellow, while the small stellated dodecahedron is shown in red.

Small Stellated Dodeca and Great Stellated Dodeca.gif

In the next version, each face has its own color, except for those in parallel planes, which have the same color.

Small Stellated Dodeca and Great Stellated Dodeca 2

Finally, the third version is shown in “rainbow color mode.”

Small Stellated Dodeca and Great Stellated Dodeca 3

All three of these images were created using Stella 4d: Polyhedron Navigator, software you can try for free right here.