Help with 3D matrix, 3D spreadsheet.

[litup]

I have been told something like a 3D spreadsheet is difficult to program.
I am developing a computer game that requires a 3d matrix, like a 3d spreadsheet, so you have X, Y, and Z co-ordinates. The action would be at these intersections, where one XYZ would be one color, say a small sphere placed there, glowing blue and other XYZ's with small spheres glowing red, and they can be turned off an on in either color depending on the moves of the game.
Can anyone tell me how to do such a thing? I am not a programmer, only a bit of VB and HP48 and casio programmable calculator stuff. The matrix size would be under 20X20X20 so it's not like an infinite thing at all. Thanks in advance.

 

[rcgldr]

Maybe you could find source code to a 3d tic-tac-toe program, and start from there. The 3D difficulty is mainly an issue for how to display a 3D matrix on a 2D screen, and have the result be reasonably understandable, especially with 20x20x20 cubes.

 

[Dr Transport]

Isn't this the reason for HDF files?

 

[litup]

What are HDF files? BTW in my game, I want to be able to rotate the playing space around in any direction so you can view what's going on in the game.

 

[Dr Transport]

What are HDF files?

http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/HDF5/whatishdf5.html