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Thread: Yet Another Spirograph Generator

  1. #1
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    Default Yet Another Spirograph Generator

    I've always wanted to build a laser spirograph with more than two motors to see what would happen, but since I got my Spencer projector I wondered if I could just simulate a 4-motor spirograph in software and display the result. So, I'm working on the alpha software pictured below:

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Right now you can control the RPM and "deflection radius" of each motor. Motors are reversible, just dial in negative RPM. If you set the radius and speed of motors 3 and 4 to zero, you have your classic two-motor spirograph. The third motor adds some interest. The fourth motor really makes a mess.

    You can dump a single frame to a text file suitable for import in to LaserBoy for processing. Right now the color is hard coded to blue, but you can change that in the text file or in LB.

    You can choose keyframes and the software will animate between them to a text file suitable for import into LaserBoy. I use LaserBoy to output ILDA files, but eventually I may just write them directly.

    Here is a video (maybe too long) of some sample output. Skip from 5:00 to about 6:10 to see some better patterns.

    http://youtu.be/l-eaKHE4fmo


    Version 3 (2014-08-05):
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    Last edited by tribble; 08-05-2014 at 16:26.

  2. #2
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    Thats great! I would definitely have interest!
    Will there be three phase!!!!

  3. #3
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    That's one of the coolest new developments I've see in a long time. I like the approach of emulating rotating mirrors using math. Really nice job!
    Last edited by james; 01-25-2013 at 10:35.
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  4. #4
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    Default

    Looks neat.

    If I may make a suggestion, it might be nice to add a button to generate a random/amplitude rpm ratio. Not completely random, that will create a mess for sure, but at fixed rpm ratios 1:2:5:6 or 1:3:3:4 or 2:-3:4:-5 etc.
    If you're out of inspiration, it may take you to places you wouldn't have thought of yourself.

  5. #5
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    That looks mega! I like it...

    You might be interested this book I picked up a few years back:

    The Harmonograph
    - There is no such word as "can't" -
    - 60% of the time it works every time -

  6. #6
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    I am thoroughly impressed.

  7. #7
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    mixedgas is offline Creaky Old Award Winning Bastard Technologist
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    Yep, really, really decent stuff.

    If Tribble needs to see "Harmonograph," I might set that up.

    After looking at the video, well, I dont see him needing it.

    Steve's favorite ratio is 3:2 with lots of variable amplitudes and selectable 90' and 270' phase.

    I can see Tribble likes that ratio too.

    Steve

  8. #8
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    Thanks for the feedback and ideas, everyone! Since there's interest, I will work on the ILDA export and polish the interface, then post it here. It's written in Java, so you should be able to run it on any platform.

  9. #9
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    Very nice! Brought back memories

    Back in the day, I had a "beam chopper" on my first multi-motor projector.

    How about a modulation option?

    Greg
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  10. #10
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    Very impressive. I need to build a PJ some day or get a POS reke

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