I think that I’ve found the general solution to my problem in a number of screen savers for the Mac. My favorite is Hyperspace (Here is the PC version). It’s got exactly what I’m looking for. The problem is that it’s not written in Java, so I won’t be able to integrate the concept into my code, which is pretty much a deal-killer. Here’s a sample image from the program:
I’ve got several options:
1. Contact the developer and engage him to prepare a custom version that I can integrate into my program. That would be expensive, and I’m not sure that the integration process would go smoothly.
2. Figure out how to do it myself using Java. There is a texture-mapping library for Java that is pretty good. I could probably get something up and running myself, which would permit me to tune it to do exactly what I want. But what I could do would never be as good as the professional products. The last time I was a graphics wizard was about 25 years ago.
3. Get something stupid and ugly up and running as an stub. Then, depending on money and success, I can use Option #1.
I’ll probably go with step 3.