Since the COVID-19 pandemic, many classes have been forced to adapt to online teaching. I myself am adapting some mineralogy lab materials to online and found that this blog can provide a platform for supplemental material. This includes a new page in the Mineralogy Course Links page: “Bearded Geology’s 3D Crystal System Model” page.
This new page includes interactive 3D models of the six crystal systems (sorry, trigonal). These are designed to provide interactive examples of the rotational axes and mirror planes in these crystal systems when the infamous wood block models are not available.
All but two models were designed by me using Microsoft Paint3D, and all rotational axes and mirror planes were added by me as well. The tetragonal model is from Microsoft’s 3D Library and the triclinic model is modified from the SketchUp 3D library. Next to each model, I’ve included a link to download each of them in .GLB format for personal or educational use on their own computer, or to print a 3D model for your own (although each model needs to be scaled appropriately).
I’m not sure if I’ll be including more 3D models or other lab material just yet. But, in the meantime, brush up on your crystallography here.