Gaussian and mean curvature on surfaces, color-coded to show elliptic, hyperbolic, and parabolic regions
The Gaussian curvature K and mean curvature H of a surface encode its intrinsic and extrinsic bending. This program computes these curvatures at each point and color-codes the surface accordingly, making it possible to see where the surface is positively curved (elliptic), negatively curved (hyperbolic), or flat (parabolic). The torus is a natural example, with positive curvature on the outer rim and negative curvature on the inner rim.
Controls: Click and drag to orbit, scroll to zoom.
