 A crystal is a solid composed of atoms arranged in an orderly and repetitive array. As a crystal grows it accumulates layers
of atoms pulled into the proper arrangement and alignment by the attracting forces of the atoms already in place. The atoms of crystals behave in a manner, which is best described as spherical,
as they stack together like spheres and exert forces upon each other that have spherical qualities.
Many branches of crystallography consider solids to be built from the packing together of atoms, which have a spherical shape. Spheres may be close packed in a triangular pattern with layers nestled
into the depressions formed in the previous layers, or in a square pattern where consecutive layers sit directly on top of the previous layer. A polyhedron defines a set of faces connecting
the centers of a set of spheres. If the center of the spheres are linked together by lines, a three-dimensional lattice of polyhedra is revealed. Inside of the lattice, the pattern of points
that compose the polyhedra are identical and exhibit translational symmetry.
When atomic structures are
represented by the faces, vertices, and edges of polyhedra it is called
topological modeling, as the model shows the symmetry of the geometric
elements. Symmetry is one of the best methods for simplifying study
of the various arrays of atoms which make up crystalline solids, as
it enables the solid to be described in terms of patterns. If an object
has an n-fold axis of symmetry, it occupies the same positions in space
after each angular rotation of '360 degrees / n'.
In Visual-Synth a spatial-lattice is used to describe the space of a universe.
The lattice may be packed according to the different spatial-packing modes and may be subdivided into smaller set of planes called Plane-Sets.
The universe's Plane-Sets may hold any combination of polyhedra.
Each polyhedron in a Plane-Set has a rule that instructs the polyhedron how to grow, evolve, die, and respond to its environment.
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