Jess,
I was a little surprised to see your model as I was very close to posting something similar. I based my model on the offset surface of the file I included in this thread:
Now, you can see the similarity would be rather striking. So much so, I figured you had acquired my model as some previous date.
Your reference to the Math Plugin, and some investigation via “wayback” of your library page, leads me to believe that you had derived the concept quite a bit earlier than I.
This may be hard to believe, given the same circular subdivision and 4pi based parameter, but I did not have prior knowledge of your offering when I developed the program for AutoCAD (as demoed in here: Screencast Title)
As fascinating as I thought the concept was – and conceivably you think/thought as well – it garners little attention from anyone else on the planet. Oh well. It does appeal to my sense of purity.
Sean