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How to walk through walls using the 4th dimension [video]

marctenbosch.com

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Re: How to walk through walls using the 4th dimension [video]

#72

I was really hoping for a continuous (rather than discrete) fourth dimension. The concept is cool and looks to be well executed, but it's not very different from other alternate reality implementations such as the Dark World in Legend of Zelda.

That would be really cool. The mathematics involved don't seem too difficult; you have to add another axis to your vectors, points, and transform matrices, and you can place and orient your models in 4D space, set up lights and a camera in 4D space, and project the camera's view into 3D space first then onto the 2D display. I think the hard part is creating the models and writing the rendering engine. Creating 4D mod…

We already have 4-dimensional models; we just keep the 4th dimension separate and call it an animation path. In fact, Skyrim has 5-dimensional models: there are two versions of each walking animation, roughly "feminine" and "masculine," but each character actually uses a specific blend-point between the two. Similar analogies with facegen textures. All the pieces are there, they just need to be glued together right.

Re: How to walk through walls using the 4th dimension [video]

#73
post #65
post #64

Can you travel faster then the speed of light if you use the fourth dimension? (my Internet ping is too high)

No, mathematically speaking the 4th dimension is no different than the 3 that we are used to dealing with, and is held to the same physical constraints.

It would certainly looks like you traveled faster than light. But you didn't actually, you just took a "shortcut" as it were.

Re: How to walk through walls using the 4th dimension [video]

#74
Why not consider the idea that any "dimensions" are nothing but "[useful] concepts of the mind", like "universal time" and even "limited space", the way some ancient mystics (?) of various cultures believed?

The simplest example is about time - we (humans) have notion of time "entirely" due to the certain properties of our environment in which we have evolved - that there is day/night, Moon phases, seasons, periodical changes (due to rotation of the planet and its motion around the Sun, of course, but this is a very recent discovery).

Now imagine that you are somehow "suspended" in the outer space without any motion relatively to the Sun. What would be your notion of time?

The time of a certain process (a mass in motion) has nothing to do with time of another, completely different process (like radioactive decay) and the notion of some "common, universal time" is just a "creation of the mind" which is very handy and useful but "does not exist in reality".

Ancient Buddhist notions of "emptiness" or "void", and pre-Buddhist (Upanishadic) notions of "everything is mind" (which is wrong, but very close and accurate) are insights to the same "truths".

Your "dimensions" are "primitive concepts" of the same kind. Any coordinate system imposed on so-called "reality" is nothing but a "concept of the mind".)

Re: How to walk through walls using the 4th dimension [video]

#75

I was really hoping for a continuous (rather than discrete) fourth dimension. The concept is cool and looks to be well executed, but it's not very different from other alternate reality implementations such as the Dark World in Legend of Zelda.

Adanaxis is an open source space shooter game that lets you move in all 4 axis, or rotate continuously along any combination of axis. All models are 4 dimensional. Needless to say, it is confusing to the point of unplayability past a certain point, but utterly fascinating. You can grab a copy from your Ubuntu, Fedora, or Arch repos, and it is certainly worth trying to wrap your head around for an hour or two, if you…

Had a blast with this thanks to your recommendation!

Re: How to walk through walls using the 4th dimension [video]

#76

Why not consider the idea that any "dimensions" are nothing but "[useful] concepts of the mind", like "universal time" and even "limited space", the way some ancient mystics (?) of various cultures believed? The simplest example is about time - we (humans) have notion of time "entirely" due to the certain properties of our environment in which we have evolved - that there is day/night, Moon phases, seasons, periodica…

Thanks for the reminder.

Re: How to walk through walls using the 4th dimension [video]

#77

Why not consider the idea that any "dimensions" are nothing but "[useful] concepts of the mind", like "universal time" and even "limited space", the way some ancient mystics (?) of various cultures believed? The simplest example is about time - we (humans) have notion of time "entirely" due to the certain properties of our environment in which we have evolved - that there is day/night, Moon phases, seasons, periodica…

> we (humans) have notion of time "entirely" due to the certain properties of our environment

That sounds very philosophical and all, but it seems to me that we have an internal perception of time based on the rate that electrical impulses propagate throughout our brains. Perhaps it would be distorted based on the lack of external stimulus, but I believe we would feel the passage of time all the same.

Re: How to walk through walls using the 4th dimension [video]

#78

I've been getting progressively more excited about Miegakure over the past year, but I haven't heard anyone who's played the game talk about how easy it is to "grok". Does moving between dimensions become intuitive over time? Or do you always have to consciously think about what you're doing?

I've also played it semi-recently, and it's really, really intuitive – just like playing another game where you don't quite understand the rules. Things slowly start making sense. Marc (the creator) is an extremely talented designer for building a progression of levels that teaches you the concepts just through level design. You definitely don't get a formal understanding of the 4th dimension, though.

Re: How to walk through walls using the 4th dimension [video]

#79
post #73
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, mathematically speaking the 4th dimension is no different than the 3 that we are used to dealing with, and is held to the same physical constraints.

It would certainly looks like you traveled faster than light. But you didn't actually, you just took a "shortcut" as it were.

There are no shortcuts. The straight line connecting 2 points in 3d space is shorter than any path connecting the points that goes through a higher dimension. The same applies to 2d compared to 3d. If you have 2 points on a sheet of paper, the shortest path is on the paper. Any path that went "off" the paper into the 3rd dimension would be longer, so no "shortcuts".

Re: How to walk through walls using the 4th dimension [video]

#80
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would certainly looks like you traveled faster than light. But you didn't actually, you just took a "shortcut" as it were.

There are no shortcuts. The straight line connecting 2 points in 3d space is shorter than any path connecting the points that goes through a higher dimension. The same applies to 2d compared to 3d. If you have 2 points on a sheet of paper, the shortest path is on the paper. Any path that went "off" the paper into the 3rd dimension would be longer, so no "shortcuts".

Imagine a strip of paper bent into a U. You can travel from one end of the strip to the other through 3D space with a much shorter distance than along the entire paper.
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