That is indeed amazing. The PC brought us many good things, but a part of the old fun is gone as well. As a student I found my first compound of twelve cubes and it took me more than half a year to calculate (using standard algebra) the shape of the individual pieces. After that I still didn't have any clue of how the polyhedron would look.that someone actually went to the trouble of calculating (apparently without the benefit of a computer) and building paper models of all the figures
Then it took me a few more months to build a model. During that process I was happy to find out that I didn't make any (big) errors during the calculation and slowly I started to see how this compound looked. My point is that because of this long and slow process, the result was much more satisfying as well.
The comparison with mountain climbing is one that suits well here. You can take a lift up to a mountain and enjoy the view for while and then take the lift back to the village at the foot of the mountain, but if you climb a mountain yourself and enjoy the view, knowing that the only way to get this view is by hard work, you will notice that the experience is much more impressive. Not only the view, but the whole journey.
On the other hand I must say as well that I am very happy to be able to check quickly how my ideas will work out by using a computer...
Btw, here is the compound that I was talking of:
Your model of twelve cubes is related to the first if my two models above in a surprising way. Care to take a stab at how? 
