Yet Another Spirograph Generator

[rodman1369]

No problem...And Thank YOU for taking the time to create and share.
I DID get it to open from command line.
Really cool designs...Most would probably Smoke my laser!
How about a quick and dirty tutorial on how to animate?
I just woke up and made some key frames...but not getting a moving result...something simple I'm sure.
Thanks Again!
Rodney D.

[ekeefe]

Thanks tribble!

This brings back memories of my second 'projector' (first was a chip of mirror taped to a small speaker).

Here is a kit that is similar to what I built back then:

Ramsey LLS1 Laser Light Show Kit

Thanks again.

ED

[rodman1369]

Ah...discovered the "out" file. Plays well in Zilda viewer. Looks Way Cool! May have to hook up projector tonight and see how it keeps up.
Thanks Again.

[tribble]

How about a quick and dirty tutorial on how to animate?

Sure... basically, you find a pattern you like, hit add key frame, adjust rpm/radius to find another interesting pattern, and do that at least twice. The 'tweens' value is how many frames will be created between the last key frame and the key frame you're adding. Each key frame remembers its own tweens value. The points/frame setting determines how many points will be in each frame created. To get a better idea of what the frame will look like, use the 'draw first N' mode with N set to the number of points in each frame. Adjust the 'resolution' to adjust how much distance the motors move before another sample is taken. lower numbers sample more often and slow your scanners down, but draw more slowly. I like between 1 and 5ms, depending on the RPMs.

If there's no difference in motor rpm or diameter between two keyframes, nothing will change and you'll get a 'static' pattern, except when the pattern is so complex it can't be completely draw before your persistence of vision wears off and it looks like the pattern is moving. That's the magical balance of math and art in the spirograph.

If you create a keyframes file, you can press the load button to load the keyframes from the file. This is an easy way to get a long list of repeatable frames while making adjustments to only some of them.

Show us what you come up with!

[james]

If you are interested in adding color support, there are some neat ways to do that based on the coordinate system itself.

You can span a palette of colors across X or Y. You can also span a palette radially, as a function of the distance from the center of space to the edge, or angularly as a function of rotation around the center of space.

You can also color the vertices in the same order as a provided palette.

The only problem I see with this is that your projector can only do 7 color combinations (8 if you count black) and there are many limitations in most commonly available ILDA readers with reading an ILDA format 2 palette.

Again, Nice work!

James.

[tribble]

Thanks, James!

I have added rudimentary color support on a "keyframe" basis to keep things from getting too monotonous. You can specify a palette index value for a keyframe, and that color will be used when tweening towards that keyframe. I've seen the radial and time-based palette manipulations in LB, and on my projector, they don't produce pretty pictures due to the TTL nature of the unit. It's easy enough to pull the files in to LB and do palette manipulations there; that's at least one possibility for folks looking for better color support sooner than I get to it.

I'm still trying to figure out what the GUI should look like for color support. It's starting to get crowded. I need to read up on Java layout managers.

[rodman1369]

Wow! I must say Wow! Works great with my reke 500rgb and Quickshow! Projecting on my ceiling tonite during the Grammys. Keep up the great work!

[tribble]

Great, I'm glad it's working out for you! Thanks for the feedback. I have some additions planned... animated preview option so you can kinda see where the cycle is going to go. Useful for those more complex settings. Maybe this weekend.

[rodman1369]

Could you possibly do a more beginner's level step-by-step....I get some cool animations...but Your' video looks Way cooler! Transitions not as good in mine...Had some cool effects...But one started my projector whirring...(I deleted that one)

[james]

You might want to include some sanity checking for the sake of scanners.

Take a look at the maximum distance you are getting between vertices.

James.