What is the best (from a 3D Warehouse point of view) way to model relatively simple structures that consist of metal beams and tight (i.e. essentially straight) wires?

Like the one here: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=51.621706,79.013672&ie=UTF8&hq=&ll=60.228056,25.027853&spn=0.00399,0.009645&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=60.22798,25.027804&panoid=lsLi3kWn4-FRZ5BPyDk7Zw&cbp=12,136.74,,0,-4.21

I can think of three ways: model each beam and wire as a couple of really narrow faces (suitably textured), or extrude a small rectangle along them (very small one for the wires), or (mostly empty) alpha textures for each plane that contains wires, and for the faces that the beams form.

I would tend to think the first alternative is the best? The second one sounds it could be expensive, and in the last one the wires then disappear if you look at them edge-on.

Can somebody explain the effect seen (in Sketchup 8 on Windows 7, in case it matters) in this model: http://tml.pp.fi/Untitled.skp .

All six rectangles are instances of the same component, just a single face with the same semi-transparent texture (a fully opaque black cross and squiggle on a 4% opaque background) on both sides of the face. Yet depending on from which side you look at the row of rectangles it looks different.

Thanks in advance for any insight in what I am missing...

--tml

Note that the above results in just a fairly nice approximation, though. (And I don't know if it matches the subdivision used in your example image.) Only for the (not really sphere-like, as they have so few faces) Platonic solids are the vertices in a strict sense evenly distributed, though. See http://www.cgafaq.info/wiki/Evenly_distributed_points_on_sphere and especially http://www.math.niu.edu/~rusin/known-math/95/sphere.faq .

@thomthom said:

I'm looking to generate the points for the sphere on the right.

Start with a octahedron, divide each edge into half and thus each face into four equal smaller triangles, move the new vertices to the desired radius, repeat.